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Overview of Online Safety Rules for Families:

Teach your children to never give personal information over the Internet, such as name, home address, telephone number, cell number, password, parents' names, the name of any club or sports team he/she is involved in, name of his/her school, or after school job.

Disallow chat rooms / Recognize that chat rooms are the playground of today's sexual predator.

Limit your child's Instant Messaging to a parental approved buddy list. Regularly check your child's buddy list to ensure that it has not been altered.

Place your computer in an area of your home where you can easily supervise your child's Internet activity. If you allow your child to have a webcam, place it in a public area of your house.

Know your kids’ online activities and friends. (Regularly ask your kids about their online friends and activities. Role play with your child various dangerous scenarios that they could encounter online.)

If you allow facebook or myspace, create a facebook account and/or myspace of your own and become your child's friend so monitoring myspace and facebook is easier and an everyday activity for you.

Use parental controls/filtering or monitoring technology which block access to dangerous sites and activities. The following online monitoring utilities and software have been reviewed by our staff and deemed better than average.

• SoftwareTime
• I am Big Brother
• GuardianMonitor
• WebWatcher - Child Monitoring
• PC-Tattletale Parental Control Software
• My Nabyoo - Family Friendly Filter
• iProtectYou
• F-Secure
• Norman Parental Control
• Net Nanny
• Webroot
• MyChild Online Child Protection Software
• Kids Watch Parental Control Software

Establish online rules and an agreement with your child about Internet use at home and outside of the home (i.e., at a friend's house, at school, at the library, etc).

Monitor the amount of time your child spends on the Internet, and at what times of day. Excessive time online, especially at night, may indicate a problem. Remind your child that Internet use is a privilege, not a right.

Instruct your kids never to plan a face-to-face meeting with someone that they have met online.

Report any content or activity that you suspect as illegal or criminal to local law enforcement and to Cybertipline at 1-800-843-5678.

Labels: Child Safety, Computers and Software

The CyberDefender Early Detection Center Solution consists of five (5) important products. Some of them better than others.

• Spyware Removal - detects and removes spyware, badware and adware from personal computers. EarlySpy
• Virus Protection - detects and removes viruses from your computer. EarlyVirus
• Spam Killer - blocks email with spyware and viruses - with more features included. earlySpam
• Intrusion Controls - get the latest Microsoft updates and remove personal information stored on your computer. earlyMonitor
• Scam Shield - identifies and warns you about phishing sites and other potentially dangerous websites. earlyScam

Last November, StopBadware.org released an Alert about a product that is bundled in the Early Detection Software: CyberDefender ‘Early Detection Center’ application is badware because it fails to disclose the principal and significant features of the bundled ‘MyIdentityDefender’ Internet Explorer toolbar, which monitors users’ web browsing behavior and transmits users’ URL history to CyberDefender. .... Once installed, CyberDefender Early Detection Center may exaggerate the threat of harm from certain kinds of ‘spyware infections’ in order to induce users to purchase a license for the software.

CyberDefender seems to have corrected the error and discloses this upon installation.

MyIdentityDefender is a security toolbar which works with Microsoft internet Explorer and protects against identity theft. MyIdentityDefender is free and does not require you to purchase an identity theft software package.

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Every Personal Computer on the CyberDefender network is constantly on the lookout for suspicious files and problems. Each PC reports them to the Early Alert Center which then quickly analyzes and provides the latest virus threat definitions update to the entire Early Detection network. An Internet security suite, CyberDefender Early Detection Center easy-to-use features include earlySPY, a spyware removal tool that removes known AND unknown spyware and malicious adware that can hijack your Personal Computer and steal personal information.

This is an excellent software pick - CLICK HERE for coupons and more information on CyberDefender Suite of products

Labels: Anti-virus Software, Computers and Software, Michigan Viruses, Spam Solutions

As each day passes, our businesses and homes are becoming more dependant on computers…. and that is an understatement.

At home, pictures of our children, grandparents and important moments in our life are stored digitally on our computers. Our tax information and resumes, Christmas address books, passwords and more are all at the mercy of a computer that stores our data.

And at work, the data is even more important. Files and databases that reflect the core of our businesses and jobs are stored on computers.

It is a terrifying thought and a terrifying moment when we fear that our data was lost in a crash or virus attack or other misfortune.

Enter Stellar .. the unchallenged leader in Data Recovery - CLICK HERE to get discounts and Coupons for Stellar Data Recovery Software

• Stellar Phoenix is a Post-Crash Data Recovery Software that helps you in recovering your data that was lost after an accidental format, virus crash, partition loss, software malfunction, deleted file/directory or even sabotage!
• Phoenix - Disk Data Recovery Software is one of the best file recovery software available which examines your hard drive for damages and depending upon the status, shows you the files that are present in the storage media.
• For lost data and deleted file recovery, you can select the files or directories and transfer them safely to the secondary media.
• Stellar offers a complete solution for file recovery and lost data restoration for windows (windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, 2003, XP), Macintosh, Novell, Linux operating system and FAT, NTFS, NTFS5, HFS, HFS+, NWFS, EXT2, EXT3 and Reiser FS file system.

For a complete list of Stellar Recovery Software Options and Bundles - CLICK HERE. Here is a few popular software titles they offer:

• -Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery
• - Stellar Phoenix Macintosh - PC
• - Stellar Phoenix Linux
• - Stellar Phoenix CDROM
• - Stellar Phoenix Mailbox Standard
• - Stellar Phoenix Outlook Pst Repair
• - Stellar Phoenix Word Recovery
• - Stellar Phoenix Excel Recovery
  - Stellar Phoenix Access Recovery
• - Stellar Phoenix Zip Recovery
• - Stellar Phoenix SCO OpenServer
• - Stellar Phoenix SCO UnixWare
• - Stellar Phoenix BSD
• - Stellar Phoenix Solaris Intel
• - Stellar Phoenix Solaris Sparc
• - Stellar Phoenix HP UNIX

Don’t let the unthinkable happen - Get Stellar today!

Labels: Computers and Software

Labels: Computers and Software

A novel idea in computing - just in time for the holiday! The Zonbu is a dream come true for many. For only $99, you can buy this innovative new desktop computer that is preloaded with FULL versions (not trials) of 20 popular software packages. Sound too good to be true? Well read on...

The software that is included with the Zonbu is Open Source software that emulates the popular Microsoft packages:

• Word Processor - Open and save Microsoft Word documents.
• Spreadsheet — a powerful spreadsheet program with all the tools you need to calculate, analyze, and present your data. Open and save Microsoft Excel spreadsheets.
• Presentation — fast, powerful software for creating effective multimedia slide presentations. Open and save Microsoft PowerPoint presentations
• Draw — a drawing program that lets you produce everything from simple diagrams to dynamic 3D illustrations.
• Database — create and modify tables, forms, queries, and reports. (Similar to Access)
• Math — an advanced math program lets you create mathematical equations with a graphical user interface or by directly typing your formulas into the equation editor.
  Adobe Acrobat Reader — view PDF files.
• Personal Finance Manager - Manage your checkbook and your personal finances.
  Web Browser Firefox
• Full-featured Email and Calendar program - Emulates Outlook
• Single-stop Instant Messenger that works with AOL, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ and IRC networks.
• Pre-installed Internet phone service Skype Coupons -- Skype provides free calling from your Zonbu to any PC and low-cost calls to landline and mobile phones.
• Peer-to-Peer clients supporting Bit Torrent and other standard protocols such as eMule and eDonkey. Share video, music and other large files over the Internet.

This new PC, called Zonbu, automatically receives free updates of its software when new versions come out. It doesn’t require antivirus or other security programs like Norton or Nod32 because it runs on the Linux operating system, which has attracted very few viruses or spyware programs.

Zonbu’s overall goal is to simplify the process of buying and using a computer.

The biggest catch (if it is a catch at all) is that the Zonbu computer doesn’t include a hard disk for storing files (that’s one reason it uses so little energy). Instead, all of your files are stored online on the company’s servers similar to Mozy. That offers several advantages, such as the fact that the files are automatically backed up.

But you have to pay for the online storage. (Not alot, but still there is a cost). The $99 price for the Zonbu computer requires you to commit to a two-year contract starting at about $12/month.

If you opt to pay month to month instead of two years in advance, Zonbu will cost about $249.By comparison, you can get a Dell Inspiron 531s for just $529, after rebate. Dell Coupons

Also, the Zonbu monthly service fee is offset by some savings.

The $99 machine uses so much less energy than a typical PC that you can save noticeably on your electric bill - in addition to not paying for anti-virus subscriptions and other PC maintenance items. I strongly support Zonbu’s goals of making computing simpler, cheaper and more energy efficient.

The way I see it, the Zonbu can be perfect for:

• Teenagers and Children
• Elderly parents or people who are new to computers and need something a bit simpler to learn.
• People who travel alot or have vacation homes.

Labels: Computers and Software, Teen Christmas Gift Ideas