Incognito, according to Wikipedia, from the Latin incognitus, refers to a person who wants to remain anonymous to the world and others, in hiding or shut off from humanity.

Web surfers have the option to enable privacy mode or “Incognito” mode on their browser.  Each of the main browser type offers some level of private browsing.  It is known as Private Browsing, InPrivate Browsing, and Incognito depending on the type of browser used.

Basically – this is a privacy feature that quite simply provides some privacy on your local computing device but, DOES NOT provide hidden detection or stealth beyond that.  Your ISP (Internet Service Provider) and other agencies connected on the Internet can detect your activities via your unique IP address on the web servers.

Disabling functions such as the web cache and browsing history make this a relatively private way of browsing the web.  Cookies, the data holders sent by web sites to recognize or track your online activity, are also disabled.

Items Deleted or Not Saved:

The list  of items that are deleted or not saved when you browse during Incognito or Privacy  mode are:

• Website history.
• The cache of files stored during your browse session.
• History of files downloaded.
• Search history stored by the browser.
• Cookies from browsed sites.
• Data on forms you have filled out.

Items That Are NOT Private:

There are items that are not deleted and the ways you remain exposed to detection:

• Search histories stored from search providers like Google are not deleted.
• Websites can identify you and keep a record of your visit.
• Your ISP can detect your network traffic and identify your IP address.
• Any malware on your PC or device can track your activities.

Also, it is important that you keep in mind the browser does not likely perform a secure delete and items from your browsing session can be recovered.  Until that data is overwritten with other data it can be undeleted using special recovery software.

Pros and Cons?

So why would you want to use Incognito?  It doesn’t seem entirely private after all.

Pros

The reasons for using this more of browsing include:

1. Reducing the history, browsing, and personal data stored on your PC or device.
2. You can prevent storage of sensitive data such as log-in credentials.
3. You can also use multiple accounts simultaneously using several tabs at once.
   Tip: You can let a friend check their email or log onto Facebook without you having to log out.  Just start up a new Incognito window.
4. You can perform searches that are not influenced by any prior browsing history.
5. Browser extensions are disabled so that Facebook and Google and other services can’t track you.

One of the main reasons however is to hide your online interactions on the computing device you are using from those sharing the same device.

In a busy household full of people… using Incognito mode can prevent others from seeing potentially embarrassing items.  It also prevents others from revealing your search history or the cache of browsed files.

Cons

We’ll, conversely, you may want to monitor online activities on your PC or device.  You may be concerned that someone will incur a malware infection or that they are browsing to websites that could be considered risky, unethical, or harmful. This is when you would want to disable Privacy / Incognito functionality as described below.

Also, having a false sense of protection can lead to consequences.  ISPs pass data to copyright holders (such as music, videos, books, or games), who are cracking down on the downloading of copyright materials.  The ISP is required to forward notices from the copyright holder alleging infringement of that work.

And, as we have pointed out, you are not completely stealthy.

How to Go Incognito

So now that you have a better idea of what the limits and benefits of this mode of browsing are, you can follow the easy steps outlined below to activate it.  Of course it will depend on which browser you are using.

• Chrome: Click on the ellipsis menu (…) at the right end of the menu bar, and select: “New Incognito Window”.
• Firefox: Click on the icon with three horizontal lines near the top right corner of the browser, and select: “New Private Window”.
• Internet Explorer: To change to an “InPrivate” session in Internet Explorer you would hold down Ctrl+Shift and press P (Ctrl+Shift+P).
• Microsoft Edge: Click the button with three dots (…), called the “More” button, and select: “New InPrivate Windows”.

Disabling It

As we mentioned above, you may want to disable this function so that you can detect for yourself the online activities of others in your household. Click the links below to take you to the specific directions for your browser type.

• Chrome
• IE / Firefox / and a freeware tool for Chrome
• Microsoft Edge

Warning: most of these procedures require a change to the registry.  We recommend you do a backup beforehand and proceed with caution.

For Parents:

If you’re a parent worried about your kids and their private online activities (for example, pornography or social networking sites), then you can first try to disable the functionality as mentioned above.  That way you can check the search and browsing history items.

You can also take the next step and look at filtering software such as NetNanny that will block porn and whatever else you want to filter even when the browser is in Incognito mode.  They have it for computers and mobile devices.  It’s not free but could be worth the peace of mind.

Last Note

We’re in favor of providing information that in the right hands is used with good intent.  To reach a higher level of stealth you would need to look at using a VPN solution.  A VPN masks your physical location and IP address so the website you’re visiting doesn’t really know who or where you are.

We hope this information has been of help to you and enhances your web browsing experiences.  For more information on this topic see our past posts:

• Privacy – Don’t Give It Away
• What Is a VPN, and Why Do You Need One?

Feel free to contact us with any questions or comments on this and other subjects.  Simply send us an email at: newsletter@compuclever.com

The post Going Incognito – Browse Web in Privacy Mode appeared first on CompuClever.

The Test Results

We’ve had four positive test results from the VB100 test lab, one of the few independently operated testing facilities focused on providing comprehensive examination of security software and solutions.  Let’s start with an overview of these four tests that are available for online viewing.  These tests were conducted between August 2015 and October 2016 on various Windows platforms.

Overview & Breakdown

The specific results of each test are based on test markers which you can get an idea of when you mouse over the column title (RAP Score, Performance impact %, etc.)  We define them here:

• Platform:  This is the selected operating system that VB100 performs its test on. VB100 tries to cover a spectrum of the most popular Windows OS with their tests focusing on one version at a time.  Note:  CompuClever Antivirus PLUS supports Windows 10, Windows 8, 7, Vista, & XP.
• Result:  This is the overall result; simply put, it reveals if the antivirus software passed or failed the test.
• RAP Overview:  “Chart shows RAP scores with weighted average overlaid.” Note: The difference in scores is explained below.
• RAP Score:  “Weighted average detection rate over recent malware samples, including retrospective coverage of new malware (Reactive and Proactive).”  Basically, this means the ability for the AV product to detect and react to malware threats.  This is the most important measure of how effective any AV product is; the higher the score, the more effective the product.
• Performance impact (%):  “Increase in time taken to complete a set of common tasks.”  This is the impact to system performance by the AV product when in operation. A lower score is better here.
• Stability Rating:  “Rated on a five-level scale from Solid (no problems) to Flaky (severe issues).”  This is the rating given by VB100 based on the test results. This tells you the quality of the AV software apart from the previously mentioned effectiveness or performance impact measurements.

What is evident in these results is a consistent pattern of high RAP Score – detection of AV threats – and a low performance impact.  Once again this means that CompuClever antivirus PLUS works to protect your PC from online malware threats all the while operating in the background.

In this way, you won’t notice it and it won’t have an impact to overall system performance – something CompuClever dedicates itself to accomplishing!

Overall Conclusions

Based on analysis of detailed test data, we are very pleased with the results of the tests. These results are in line with our original goals:

• Total protection against any form of online threats: CompuClever Antivirus’s high RAP score is among the list of top security solution providers, like ESET, Kaspersky, Bitdefender, and AVG.
• Minimum impact to PC performance: CompuClever Antivirus’s extremely low % in Performance Impact to PC performance outperforms most of our top competitors.
• A solid and well-built antivirus product: It is easy to install without reboot, has an intuitive user interface, and is extremely intelligent and quiet. CompuClever Antivirus is regarded as a “solid” antivirus solution.

This is what VB100 lab says about us in one of its test remarks:

Check Your AV Product

We invite you to examine the results for your AV product.  You can trust VB100 as it a free service that performs regular independent reviews of malware solutions and provides test results for AV software that handle both known (reactive) and unknown (proactive) virus samples. You can see the latest test results for any product or you can use the Search field to quickly find test results.

CompuClever Antivirus PLUS

CompuClever Antivirus PLUS offers unparalleled security technology against malware threats. It is designed to deliver the best performance for your PC and it is built on the most advanced antivirus technology available today. Exceptional in its ease of use, it allows you to handle security with a single click. The intuitive technology also guards your online privacy and digital identity with specific protection when doing online banking and online shopping.

Browse the following topics to learn more about Antivirus PLUS:

• Do you have to sacrifice PC speed for protection?
• How to safeguard online banking
• How to protect your personal identity
• Does your antivirus bark all the time?
• How to surf the web safely

The post CompuClever Antivirus PLUS – VB100 Award! appeared first on CompuClever.

Here are the key facts that you should be aware of regarding this breach:

• In August 2016, a person codenamed “Peace” attempted to sell what he claimed to be 200 million Yahoo user information.
• Back then, Yahoo only said they were investigating the legitimacy of the claim.
• On Sept. 22^nd 2016, Yahoo issued a statement acknowledging the legitimacy of the claim. Furthermore, Yahoo confirmed the scale of the breach is actually 500 million accounts.
• Yahoo also confirmed that the information stolen contains name, username, lightly encrypted passwords, date of birth, and for some accounts, security questions and answers.

Nevertheless, till this moment, Yahoo hasn’t issued a notice to all of its users advising them to reset their passwords.

Here at CompuClever, we felt it is necessary to inform you about this event because there is a high possibility that either you or someone you know might be impacted by this incident.

Yahoo is currently working with law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, to deal with this breach. Nevertheless, we recommend you immediately take the following measures to protect your online security and personal privacy:

• Immediately change your Yahoo email password.
• If you happen to be using the same combination of username and password across multiple (non-Yahoo) online accounts, change all of the passwords. Make sure that you use a different password for every account.
• Ensure you have a legit and reputable antivirus protection with active subscription to protect your PC from any forms of cyberattack.

Further readings:

• How to protect yourself in a post-password world
• How to create a good password
• Safe guard your online banking
• Stay safely connected

The post Breaking News – Yahoo Admits Breach of 500 Million Accounts appeared first on CompuClever.

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past few months, you must have heard about the Ashley Madison account hack. This was where hackers released the entire user database of names, email addresses, billing information, and account details of 38 million users tied to the site. Some described the historical hack episode as an extinction-level event for privacy.

Attack Aftermath

We were shocked when we first learned that hackers managed to steal close to 40 million users’ records from Ashley Madison, which made claims shortly after the incident that its members remained anonymous. However, in early August 2015 it was clear that this was not the case as hackers released details of millions of email addresses, billing information, and account details tied to the site^[1].

As a group of seasoned IT professionals who have been actively involved with security R&D for a number of years, we can tell this hack event was different from all previous data leakages that impacted large corporations and national-level government agencies. This time, the privacy of many ordinary people – with repercussions to job, relationships, family life, marriage, and personal life – was exploited, ripped apart, and taken away.

What was the impact to this? Heartless spammers sent extortion emails to people demanding ransom in return of “wiping records clean”^[2]. Adding salt to the wound, class action lawsuit experts and divorce lawyers are circling victims smelling hefty legal fees in the air. The rippling effect of the biggest privacy invasion in human history will be felt for a long time to come. Sadly, we CANNOT be fooled by those spamming extortionists; data leakage is just like waste water leakage – there is no way to retract or wipe absolutely clean what’s already there.

A Personal Encounter

Just a few weeks ago, the core group here at CompuClever was caught in a “personal” encounter with the Ashley Madison aftermath. A seemly normal support email came from a user requesting help with opening a very large (approximately 10 GB), compressed file. The technical support specialist who was dealing with the ticket noticed something abnormal – the origin of the file resides on “The Pirate Bay”, a controversial pirate website usually referred to as part of the “darker side of the web”. Due to the security concern, this case was quickly escalated to our co-founder and Chief Product Officer Yida Mao, who is also our in-house security expert.

Using an isolated environment, Yida led our security analysts to identify the contents of the large compressed file which actually contained the entire dataset of the Ashley Madison user account database. Due to security pre-cautions and with suspicion of possible computer virus contamination within the compressed file, we immediately notified the user to delete and quarantine the file without her having to opening it. We were told by this user that she had strong feelings that her partner had been active on the Ashley Madison site and wanted confirmation. We utilized alternative and safe methods to fulfill her queries and she was grateful.

When global-scale security breaches like that of Ashley Madison happen, we always have mixed feelings of horror and sympathy, along with a sense of responsibility. The magnitude of the hack, for both the number of people involved and the level of impact is HUGE. Can you imagine if the privacy and secrecy of the entire nation of Canada (approximately 36 million) was hacked, exposed, and ripped apart? Meanwhile, as IT professionals who are actively involved with R&D in the realm of PC security and optimization, we also feel deeply compelled to reach out to our families, friends, and to our users and readers in order to awake their sense of online security. Cyber security breach and privacy invasion is no longer something you only read about in cold war novels or watch in Jason Bourne movies, it is happening to people around us or may have already impacted you and your family.

Recommendations

So what can you do instead of just being paranoid? “Be vigilant and aware of your digital surroundings, just as you should be aware of your physical surroundings” says Yida Mao who has managed multiple R&D teams in the cyber security field and published research findings at several international software consortiums. He offers three core principles for protecting your cyber security and privacy:

We urge you to take time and assess what protective measures you have put in place to safeguard your information and your privacy, regardless what software or tools you choose to use. Do not delay or procrastinate, cyberattacks do not wait for you – instead, they catch you off-guard.

In Summary

We are excited to be able to provide an AV product that can equip you with tools designed to safeguard you from cyber attacks. Together with our prior technologies such as PC Clean Maestro you can be more proactive in protecting your privacy and securing your personal information in order to safely enjoy your PC computing practices. We plan to continue covering this theme of protection and security in upcoming articles and welcome your feedback.

Please keep in mind… if you have some ideas of topics you would like us to cover or have other feedback to offer, email us at: newsletter@compuclever.com

The post A Personal Encounter with Ashley Madison appeared first on CompuClever.

Identity theft

A recent study conducted by Bitdefender, a leading European security technology provider, discovered that more than a quarter of a million email addresses, usernames, and passwords can be found easily through social networking platforms like Facebook, Twitter, personal blog postings, chat forums, and download sites. Surprisingly, 87% of these compromised credentials still provided valid access to personal email and social networking accounts. What’s more astonishing was that 75% of the people in this study use the same password for all their accounts. Hackers really didn’t have to look too hard to gain access to your identity and private information.

Online scams

Users of the social networking site Facebook are informed through a notification system and by e-mail that they have been made administrators of an unknown page and are directed to click on a link that takes them to a fake Facebook page. Once a user has landed on the fake Facebook page, they are re-directed to a different, malicious site where they are asked to provide their e-mail and shipping address in order to take part in a test session of the new Apple iPad. The scam states that Apple is giving away a total of 10,000 iPad2s for review. Making it even more believable, some of the notifications came from emails and posts sent by family members or friends whose PCs were also compromised. You trust your friends, but can you trust their computers as well?

Stay connected safely

Security experts recommend the following guidelines so that you can avoid security risks while staying connected online:

Introducing – Data Protection

CompuClever Antivirus PLUS features an ironclad information safety mechanism called Data Protection. Data Protection prevents sensitive data leaks when you are online. Based on the rules you create, Data Protection scans the web, e-mail, and instant messaging traffic sent by your computer.  It looks for specific character strings, for example, your credit card number. If there is a match, the respective web page, e-mail, or instant message is blocked.

You can create rules to protect any piece of information you might consider personal or confidential, from your phone number or e-mail address to your bank account information. Multi-user support is provided so that more than one person can log on to Windows using different user accounts and can configure their own rules. If your Windows account is an administrator account, the rules you create can be configured to also apply when other users of the computer are logged on to their Windows accounts.

Define what data you want to protect

Define how you want the data be protected

Extra peace of mind

Rest assured, personal information provided to the Data Protection tool is encrypted and cannot be used by anyone else but you. Also for extra safety, you can just enter part of the information that you like to protect. For instance, if you want to prevent leakage of your credit card number, you can just enter the last four digits of the card number so that any web traffic leaving your computer with the same combination of digits will be blocked. It’s a smart way of safeguarding data without any compromise.

The post Stay Safely Connected appeared first on CompuClever.

Jaw-dropping

The cases presented below are a couple of example of classical cyber-attacks that are conniving, stealthy, and almost ingenious.

Would you believe that the waterholes scheme was so effective it even captured victims from cafeterias inside high-tech companies such as Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft? More than likely, those techies have some sort of antivirus solution on their laptops. But the reality is harsher – a bare bones antivirus software without proper web protection is not going to cut it.

Proper web protection

So what types of web protection can help fend off and defy cyber-attacks? You need exactly two types of protection:

Web protection in CompuClever Antivirus PLUS

CompuClever Antivirus PLUS Web protection ensures a safe browsing experience by alerting you about potential phishing web pages. It provides real-time web protection for popular web browsers including:

The web protection feature provides two functions:

The web protection feature is seamlessly embedded with your default web browser. It is always at your side protecting your web surfing experience without being in the way.

Check out the detailed information about CompuClever Antivirus PLUS Web Protection:

If your antivirus solution doesn’t provide web protection specifically, you should still follow these best-practices to protect yourself against cyber attacks:

The post Surf with Confidence appeared first on CompuClever.

Known or Unknown

There two types of malware: Known and Unknown.

Using a medical analogy, Hepatitis A virus (HAV) is a known virus and there has been vaccine available to rid the virus; meanwhile Ebola, first discovered in 1976 but unknown to most of us until the outbreak in March of 2014, was as a virus that typifies a zero-day attack. When it comes to encountering computer viruses, you want to be protected from both known and unknown malware.

The important difference

It now boils down to getting an answer to the key question: how well does your antivirus handle both known and unknown viruses?

In theory, a legitimate antivirus program should detect, immunize, and remove any known malware where signature, behavior, and characters are known. There is really no excuse for a security application not to proactively handle a known virus, either by detection or by removal. This is the expected similarity across mainstream antiviruses; although one would be surprised to learn that a couple of very popular antivirus programs are actually not that effective in terms of dealing with known viruses.

The most important difference that sets the best breed of antiviruses apart from their less-competitive counterpart is how well it handles unknown viruses. It is indeed very tough to detect and neutralize a malware threat that nobody has identified. But the reality is harsh. Everyday there are hundreds of thousands of new malicious files being detected. Kaspersky Labs, a leading security solution provider, alone reported that they were detecting 325,000 new malicious files a day in 2014 – 125,000 more than what was detected in 2012^[1].

How to evaluate your own antivirus

So the key question of AV effectiveness really zeros in on: how well does your antivirus handle unknown malware? It is very relevant and pertains to your day-to-day computing especially if your PC is connected online.

As we have presented the key metrics through which we can evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of antivirus software, now let’s look at how you can put it into use for evaluating your own antivirus program. Thanks to a few independent IT-security testing organizations like Virus Bulletin and AV-Test, who conduct tests evaluating mainstream antivirus software on a quarterly basis using objective methods, we can make good use of the evaluation comparison reports that are publicly available. You can browse through the most recent test reports and look for your own antivirus software and read about it:

We have to point out to those readers who rely on default antivirus solutions by Microsoft, whether it is Windows Defender or Microsoft Security Essential, you may want to double check the testing results as we are concerned about the lack of protection you may have.  The reality is Microsoft doesn’t even handle known viruses effectively.

What about CompuClever Antivirus PLUS?

Keen readers may find that our own CompuClever Antivirus PLUS is not presented in either of these two reports because the product has just been released when this article was written. We have submitted our product to VB100 for evaluation and the official result won’t be ready until later this year. But here are some facts about how CompuClever Antivirus PLUS:

In a nutshell, you can expect CompuClever Antivirus to deliver 100% protection against both known and unknown viruses, comparable to any first-tier antivirus software like Norton, Kaspersky, Bitdefender, and MacAfee. As a matter of fact, an independent third-party lab test revealed that our antivirus product not only delivers a high level of protection, it also creates a very low impact to PC performance.

If you feel that your current antivirus software is either ineffective or you suspect that your PC is slowing down as a result of running an antivirus program, you should check out CompuClever Antivirus PLUS. Just so you know, we will also be talking about the importance of antivirus and PC performance in future articles.

Our recommendation

The post Are you well protected appeared first on CompuClever.

We have chosen six of the most popular articles from 2014. Here is an overview of these articles in three categories:

Privacy / Security:
– Identify and Clean Cookies (July)
– Virus vs PUP and How to Remove Both (Sept)

TuneUp / Clean Up:
– Improve Startup (Aug)
– Spring PC Cleaning (June)

Support:
– CompuClever Free Functionality (Oct)
– DIY vs. Repair Shop (Nov)

Here are the PC enhancement articles for 2014.

Identify and Clean Cookies

About: Not all cookies are created equal. Cookies are created when browsing to particular web pages. While most are safe – especially when coming from a trusted source – not all are. While cookies cannot infect your PC, there can be potential dangers related to security and privacy.

Action: You can prevent cookies from being stored and you can delete existing ones. We focus on removal beginning with backing up your data. When you data is secure… PC Clean Maestro is well equipped to scan, display, and clean cookies and other items that are security or privacy risks. We also include information on how to set up your browser for DNT – Do Not Track mode.
Read the entire article here…

DIY vs. Repair Shop

About: In this article we give warning to anyone who blindly takes their PC to a repair shop. We highlight one case where a particular gentleman had been ripped off by a technician who blamed the cause of his PC troubles on a computer cookie planted by CompuClever! This brings up the question – who can you trust? Checking credentials is paramount. For example, CompuClever applications have approved Microsoft and Intel certification.

Action: This article assists the reader in determining if the cause of their issues is from unwanted software or from a virus. We empower the reader to take the right steps before putting trust in someone who claims to be an expert.

Read the entire article here…

CompuClever Free Functionality

About: We’re very familiar with the notion of “free” but… with strings attached. We see this whenever we download a free application and it includes around three or more extra bits of software that you have to carefully remove during the installation process. We took the opportunity to introduce our applications and show how anyone can use some of their functionality for free indefinitely.

Action: If you have purchased one of the CompuClever applications and you like what you see… here’s your chance to try out one of the others for free. If you want the full program you can upgrade at any time of your choosing. Here are some examples of the free functionality available:

Read the entire article here…

Virus vs PUP and How to Remove Both

About: This subject matter is complex and involved. We focus on simplifying it as best we can to define virus and PUP – Potentially Unwanted Programs. We find that users often feel that the occurrence of PUPs can mean they have a virus. This is not necessarily true and we want to empower our readers to take action.

Action: It makes sense to work on the symptoms first. If you have unwanted behaviours coming from an unknown source, you can begin by identifying the source. PC Clean Maestro comes with a newly upgraded Uninstaller tool that can assist you to examine what is a trusted application so you can remove what is not. As for viruses, there are free tools available and there are paid applications. We recommend the best place to start is with trusted free tools from Microsoft.

Read the article here…

Improve Startup

About: We focus on one area of poor performance which can be very annoying – the startup time of your PC. Although we can’t expect that our PC will run as fast as when we first purchased it, we can adjust what programs first get started when powering up.

Action: You are instructed on how to use PC TuneUp Maestro’s Optimize PC tool. You will find it easy to review all the programs displayed in the list. Once you have done so you can customize how they perform at startup by disabling or enabling any item in the list.
Read the entire article here…

Spring PC Cleaning

About: This article is one of our favorites as it appeals to our instinct to clean and organize and we have used very easy and straightforward steps. In terms of “clean” we refer to removing clutter and backing up files we want to keep. By doing so we improve the performance of the PC and make our lives a lot easier in terms of accessing the files and data we need.

Action: If you are getting the feeling you have a lot of files on your PC and space may eventually be an issue… here is your chance to follow some easy steps. They include:

By managing your files you are actively preventing performance degradation and you can take comfort in the fact that the files you value highly are safe!
Read the entire article here…

The post New Year’s PC Resolution appeared first on CompuClever.

Here is what we will cover:

Without getting into too many of the details and specifics of this technology we will point out some basics.

Components

We will focus on components related to what we see when we bring up our web browser, namely the user interface.  We will also talk about the items that are referred to as “extensions” that can be added to a browser after you have installed it.

Typically the user interface (UI) consists of three areas:

The toolbar is used for navigational purposes as it has buttons such as back, forward, refresh, stop, and home (to get you back to your homepage).  It also has an address bar so you can type in a web address and you likely have a search bar to enter in words that can bring up a list of applicable web pages to the subject you are interested.

Two Most Frequently Altered Areas of the Browser: We get a lot of feedback and reports of how alterations have been made to the Search engine and the homepage.  The Search engine is designed to search for information and content on the Internet.  Examples include Google, Bing, Ask, Yahoo! Search and the like.  These are sophisticated programs that crawl the web and quickly provide results of your inquiry.  A homepage is the page you first see and want to access when you open your browser.

All users want to make a choice of a Search engine and homepage that they are both familiar with and meet their needs.  It becomes all that more frustrating when installing something that modifies these areas of your browser without consent.  We will show you how to return your browser to its default settings in a later section of the article.

Extensions: Components that can be added to the browser to increase functionality are referred to as extensions.  These can be in the form of toolbars and other add-ons or plug-ins.  Examples include toolbar extensions to provide some specific functionality such as web searching using a specific search engine, better access to installed applications, or providing convenient links or categorizations of media sites.  In some cases they can provide extra functionality as with Ad blockers that block ads on the sites you visit and terminate items that collect and send your data.  The challenge with all extensions is identifying what each of these are, making absolutely sure they are from trusted sources, and knowing that they are not bogging down your browsing experience.

Top Picks:

Google Chrome came into the browser fray in 2008 and this brought about new advances in browser technology in terms of speed, standards, and design which forced the other players to catch up.  And catch up they did.  One review by PCMag put the independent open source Mozilla Firefox at the top of their list for best browser:

But the “best” is a matter of preference and to a large extent will depend on your needs. The three most commonly used browsers are: Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Microsoft IE.  These take top honors and we can focus our attention on them.

Most Popular:  In terms of popularity, at this time Google Chrome ranks number one, with Mozilla Firefox second and IE in third place.^[2]

Speed: Most reports^[3,4] related to speed (startup and web page load times), put Chrome at the top followed by Firefox and then IE.  It is important to note, no browser reviewed here is in any way sluggish and there are trade-offs for speed as described below.  Based on our experience of browsers, we concur with these findings.

Operating System (OS): Finding the right browser can depend to a great extent on what OS you are running on your PC.

Privacy: The three browsers each have private browsing modes.  Firefox and Chrome lead the way in this arena.  Note: browser privacy means not saving cookies or browsing history but does not protect you from websites that can collect or share information about you.  To take it to the next level you need to look into extensions, such as HTTPS Everywhere, Disconnect, or AdBlock Plus.

Extensions:  Firefox takes top place with a combination of add-ons, pin tabs, web apps and more.  Next in line is Chrome which taps into Chrome desktop apps and Google Now notifications.

Price:  When making your choice you will want to know what the costs are and what it takes to try out a new browser.  Internet Explorer is included with Windows operating systems and can be downloaded for free.  All browsers are free to download and run and you simply have to go to the website (such as Mozilla.org or Google.com).  This makes it possible to pick and choose one – or more than one – without worrying about the price tag.

Browser Clean Up with PC Clean Maestro

:
Making a decision about which browser to use could depend largely on how well you can customize it and take advantage of extended functionality.  However, some things have a way of taking on a life of their own.  You can start off small – with the basics – and soon you have more than you bargained for.  This can happen all too easily with browser extensions.  At times these little program tidbits can get installed without our expressed knowledge or consent.  Situations occur where your homepage or our favorite search engine is modified.  In the worst case scenario, rogue or malicious software can make alterations we do not want.

The most recent version of PC Clean Maestro now comes with new functionality to provide you the ability to examine browser extensions and disable them.  Once you open the program you can click on the “Browsers” tab in the left pane and you will see the following:

Now the steps are easy…

You’ll note with the example above that extensions are organized in categories specific to the type of browser you are using.  Also, as in this case, more than one browser can be installed to your system and you can examine these one at a time using the tabs at the top (for example, “Chrome” or “Firefox”).

Restoring Settings:  You can easily restore the browser settings that you had by default when first using your browser.  This is especially useful if they have been altered without your consent.  Frequently, new software installations like to make changes to your search engine or your homepage to direct your web surfing.  To restore your settings do the following:

In Summary:

Being able to pick a winner from the top three most popular browsers is a personal decision for most of us but one that needs to be based on PC capabilities and individual needs.  We appreciate that there are these choices available to us and that the competition spurs on better technology.  We promote good ethics when it comes to PC technology.  Browser extensions need to be installed with our knowledge and consent and from trusted sources.  PC Clean Maestro offers the ability to have you turn off add-ons that are unwanted.

We will continue to provide story lines like this that benefit all of us and we will describe them in a manner that is within reach of everyday computer users.  If you have some ideas of topics you would like us to cover, email us at: newsletter@compuclever.com

The post Browsing for browsers appeared first on CompuClever.

Here is the article menu du jour:

• Background:  We’ll start with the background story of one man’s experience with a not-so-honest repair shop.
• Assessment:  How to assess what’s up with your PC.
• What to Do:  Get the right tools and utilize the services that are available.
• Repair Shop Pointers:  When all else fails and you need to take your PC to a paid professional.

Background

In today’s world, certain buzz words can cause a great deal of stress and concern such as “terrorism” and “virus” (in this case PC virus or “malware”).  We all look on those responsible for the creation of these as being deplorable.  And then there are those that reap a reward by taking advantage of the fear generated from these malevolent and disruptive acts.  In our example we highlight a true case that came directly to us when a PC repair shop accused our software of infecting a user’s PC.  Let’s start with the details.

In the spring of 2013 we received correspondence from a Consumer Protection agency on behalf of a private individual who had been charged a fee for services incurred by a PC repair shop (name withheld).  The specifics begin with a frustrated man who was unable to get an online connection and decided to take his computer to a repair shop.  The technician there said he needed a new hard drive in order to back up his data and that they would need to reinstall his operating system.  This was all done to the excessive tune of $340.

What strikes us as interesting up to this point, and we will put aside how purchasing an external HD can be done fairly cheaply and how it was likely unnecessary to reinstall the OS… what really is of concern is that it could have simply been something related to configuring his online connection.  What is the most outlandish aspect of this story, and how it specifically came to our attention, was that the repair technician had stated that CompuClever Systems had purposefully placed malware on his computer by planting a cookie without the user’s knowledge or consent while he was online.  There was also an accusation that CompuClever software was on his system by means of a silent install.  In the end, this individual put his trust in the repair shop technician, made all these changes to his system and paid a fee far in advance of what was required.

Assessment:

Let’s just say upfront – there are grey areas when determining causes of PC issues.  When it comes to examining symptoms it is a challenge to determine if the culprit is a virus or something else.  Certain conditions such as a slow performing computer, popup messages, applications slow to open, are common to both malware related causes or items referred to as PUP – Potentially Unwanted Programs.  The best thing to do is to retrace your steps and find what the most recent changes were leading up to the issue.  If you can identify some software that was installed on your system you can then begin to examine it more closely – was it from a trusted source or is it a known virus?

Trusted Source: If you have done an examination and find that there are PC cookies on your system be advised – this is not an indication of a virus or malicious program.  As our readership is aware from our previous article on this matter, it is not possible to infect a computer using PC “cookies” – they cannot run programs that deliver viruses or malware to your PC and they cannot access your PC.  We recommend removal of cookies from unknown sources and keeping those from trusted sources.

A definite way to tell the source is a trusted one is to check credentials.  For example, CompuClever Systems is certified as a Microsoft Partner and an Intel Software Partner.  As such explicit user consent is required to install software certified through Microsoft and Intel.  In order to get this kind of Microsoft and Intel certification the software must not contain any virus, malware, or other forms of destructive code.  This means the software undergoes rigorous and thorough review.  Not only does this level of software require user consent to install, all certified software must completely uninstall at the request of the user and at his/her sole discretion without any confusion or any complications.  So… if the disgruntled user in our background story was in the least bit uncertain about CompuClever software he could simply uninstall it.  Or, he could have contacted us and we could assist him in uninstalling it.  What other software companies can uphold this level of support and service?

It is vital to use proper discretion when installing items to your PC.  As we have pointed out in previous articles there are cases where you want to install one program and you end up getting a bundle of apps some of which include annoying popup messages.  Reading the fine print as you go from one page to the next during the install process is critical.  In most cases you have the option of selecting only the program you want to install.

Virus / Malware: Without going into too much detail we will revisit this area briefly and encourage you to look more deeply into the differences between virus/malware and other PC annoyances and unwanted programs.   For more information on this see our article: Virus vs PUP. We also have covered “foistware” – the annoying software that has been forced onto your PC.  See this article for more information.

Basically, a virus is a type of malware (malicious software program), that is installed on your system without consent and will replicate itself in whole or in part.  It behaves in a manner that can be thought of as an infection by targeting one or more areas of your PC.  You can often expect to experience harmful activities or negative impacts such as monopolizing system resources (disk space and CPU), gaining access to private data, sending out spam content, corrupting data on the system, and displaying messages on the screen (popups).

The following are definite and true characteristics of a virus/malware infection:

If something has gotten onto your system without your knowledge or consent you have some options available to you: find a solution online, try out a trusted virus removal product, get available technical support (by phone), or… take your PC to a repair shop.

What to Do:

Free Solutions:  Do you have anti-virus protection for your PC and is it active?  Recent Windows operating systems provide anti-virus protection (see article: Virus vs. PUP).  There are also other third-party anti-virus tools available and some are even free.  We encourage you to go online and research this by using customer reviews and finding out whether there is a solution that meets your needs.  We are confident that in the very least anti-virus tools will not steer you in the wrong direction by placing the blame on legitimate software.  The shortcoming here is that they may not get the job done that is specific to your problem.  If so, you can take it to the next level… get some support that is available to you.

Available Support:  CompuClever offers a TuneUp Service for performance related issues as an alternative to taking your PC to the repair shop.  What you get is a one-on-one direct PC tuneup service through phone and remote desktop connection.  With remote desktop connection we are able to view and run your desktop environment from our offices to assist with your issues.

This service is conducted by our senior technical support specialists and our aim is to solve your PC performance issues and enrich your experience and knowledge of our software solutions with our assistance.  The list of symptoms and issues we address include the following:

If your PC issues are outside our scope of items listed here we will give you our recommendation of taking your PC to a computer shop for hands on repair.  We would also give advice on options related to necessity of repair service and whether the cost of repair is reasonable versus purchasing new.

PC Repair Shop:

Be aware – PC repair shops can rip you off!  An easy way to make a quick buck as with our example in this article is to take advantage of a situation where it is difficult to know the root cause of an issue as well as the actual repair effort that went into the fix.  As with any professional that gives you advice and offers their service, you have to ask the right questions up front before any work starts.  Here are the questions you need to ask:

What you should expect to get in terms of answers are:

Other tips:

Keep in mind that you may have to pay a minimum fee – usually the first hour – just for them to look at your PC.  It’s worthwhile to check into this as well.  Also, check to see what the reputation of the company is beforehand.  AND, as with any professional services – get a second quote for purposes of comparison.

In Summary:

At CompuClever we are committed to creating PC utility software that improves the performance of your PC and we also offer support designed to address PC issues related to performance.  You can save yourself time, money, and headaches by looking for solutions that address your PC issues rather than getting stuck with a bill from a disreputable PC repair shop.

We will continue to provide story lines like this that benefit all of us and we will describe them in a manner that is within reach of everyday computer users.  If you have some ideas of topics you would like us to cover, email us at: newsletter@compuclever.com

The post DIY vs. Repair Shop appeared first on CompuClever.