bacre is a new weapon to fight against the informatic plague that the viruses are. It protects your pc against viruses, trojans and bugs.

Active Virus Shield 6.0.0.308

Active Virus Shield is a free system, supported by AOL and based in the powerful antivirus engine of Kaspersky Labs. It is so simple that you can install, config and start using it in minutes.

AntiPharming 1.30

This application was created in order to prevent "Pharming". You can install it in your PC and it will check the websites that you visit and protect your PC against this recent-created activity.

Avast Home 4.8

Avast Home is a powerful, functional and well-known antivirus. It can detect a large list of viruses, trojans, bugs, rootkits and spywares. It also checks your PC with great efficiency, cleaning it in real time.

AVG Free Edition 8.0

Grisoft has recently created the new 8.0 AVG. This corporation says that this version has a lot of facilities and is much better than previous editions. Some of the innovations are a LinkScanner and a WebShield module.

Comodo AntiVirus 2.0 Beta

Altough this antivirus is free, it has a lot of advantages and good options. You can make 3 kinds of analysis: Fasts, Generals or periodics. It has automatic actualizations and support for e-mail analysis.

NOD32 Anti-Virus System

This is, perhaps, the best antivirus in the market, and you can get it for free here. It is one of the fastest and powerful antivirus. It also has automatic actualizations and it works in all versions of MS Windows.

Norton Antivirus 2008

Norton Internet Security is a complete set of security tools for your computer. You will have a full FireWall, internet privacity, e-mail scan, and many other useful applications. It is also one of the most known antivirus.

TrojanHunter 4.7

As its name says, it will defend your computer from Trojans. TrojanHunter checks the Registry files, memory and disk drives, to detect any trace of Trojan, including new Trojans.

Windows Defender 1593

Windows Defender is an utility with which you can easily remove spyware that have infiltrated your PC, while you are protected so that they do not 'enter' more, as do the antivirus software with viruses.

None of these services is an alternative to a virus protection program on your PC but it is always good to check and double check your system using sites like these if you have any concerns over the health of your computer.

Final Words

All these programs can make your life that little bit easier, and hopefull you will give them a shot, and see just how good these programs are. After all their all free, and they are all easy to uninstall should you decide that their just not right for you.

(Photo credit: Dee)

If you're pregnant or you want to be a mother, it's time for you to have one USB Pregnancy Test device. It's 99% accurate to detect hCG (human Chorionic Gonadotropin), hCG-H (hyperglycosylated hCG - for detection before your first missed period), and LH (luteinizing hormone - for detection of your most fertile days). Note that these hormones don't indicate pregnancy or ovulation respectively as the extenuating circumstances may have affected the levels of these hormones in your body. In addition to these hormones, the device will show you the symbol of a baby, no baby, or multiples and your estimated delivery date based upon your concentration of hCG, hCG-H, and LH in your urine via its onscreen interface.

To use it, you pee on a stick, specifically the absorbent test strip at one end, then you remove the cap from the other end of the stick (to keep you away from casually contaminating) to reveal the USB connector. Next, pop it into your computer and you'll see your USB port starts the electrospray ionization process with a created spectrograph of the various masses for your analysis and urinalysis. After reviewing your test results, just pop the device out of your computer and change the test strip. The display will remain lit for five minutes before power off. It is recommended to use the horizontal USB drives for this USB product to avoid accidental moisture transference.

USB Wheel Phone Stand

(Photo credit: TechIT)

Can you feed your eyes with a visual stimulant instead of hearing the phone rings? Of course, with a device called USB Wheel Phone Stand, you can achieve your desire. However, this Ferris wheel only works for VoIP phones.When a call comes in, this device which is connected to your PC will spin. It's indeed an interesting stuff!

Popdrive Bottle Drive

(Photo credit: Simon)

The Popdrive Bottle Opener is a 1GB thumb drive that is both USB 2.0 and 1.1 compatible. This device comes with an attached bottle opener with its entire length in 3.75”, 1.5” in width, and 0.5” in height. Now, you can have this device to transfer your file and open those cold beverages without using your teeth. It also has an attached carabineer-style key chain to enable you to clip to your belt buckle, backpack, purse or set of keys easily. Its unique feature is that it lets you transferring files and opens the frosty beverage with the pesky bottle caps all at a time.

“I Love You” LED Laptop Light

(Photos credit: USBfan)

“I Love You” LED Laptop Light is a device that adds a little more light to your laptop or computer. It might be a perfect gift to give for Techie girl.

Star Wars USB Hubs

(Photos credit: akihabara)

For both computer Greeks and Star War's fans, the invention of R2-D2 and Darth Vader USB Hubs seem to be good news for them. Undoubtedly, the addition of these USB hubs will bring more joys to the computer users. Once you plug one of them into the USB port, it will operate automatically. You will see its eyes get blinking, its head moves and you will listen to sounds actually to what you listen in the Star War movie.

USB Fridge

(Photos credit: feiyang)

This USB Fridge will keep your beverage chilled while you're at your computer. It gets 5 minutes to bring the fridge down to 8 degree Celsius (47 degree Fahrenheit) after plugging it to your laptop or computer.

USB Illuminated Roll-up Keyboard

(Photos credit: Simon)

This USB Illuminated Roll-up Keyboard is made by high-quality silicone and it is washable, water resistance, soft touch while typing without creating sounds and foldable. It comes in white and pink color. This device is so convenient that it can be rolled up and put easily in your briefcase, notebook carrying bag or backpack.

USB Data Injection

(Photo credit: pcjunky)

This is not made for the injection purpose; rather it is used for data junkies. It might be simply made your daily data storage easier and interesting.

Stethoscope looks like USB

(Photo credit: Erfan)

Please don't be mistaken! This is not a stethoscope that a doctor uses to place on your stomach to diagnose to sounds of your heart, breathing, intestines and blood flow in arteries and veins. This USB is used for a direct individual data connection. It is equipped with the properties of hearing, scanning and checking.

Strange looking USB Drive

(Photo credit: 123pc)

This is a very creative designed of a USB drive, featuring in a delicate art in its design. It is a tool for theft prevention on a laptop or a computer that is essential for data security, virus protection, industrial or individual espionage and video piracy.

USB Apple-shape Speaker

(Photos credit: link)

This is an interesting design PC speaker used particularly for a notebook. That means the desktop computer users cannot use this device at their computer desks.

USB Monster Hub

(Photos credit: link)

This monster has six-legged attached beneath its body. It has the ability to hook up to USB devices via any of its highly adjustable limbs. Its furry legs are pretty cool looking. This monster resembles the Dark Star that I watched from the Slayers series.

USB & FireWire Hub

(Photos credit: Hume)

This stylist USB & FireWire combination Hub is designed by Ora-Ïto for your PC or Mac. The hub is round in shape, and has a white polycarbonate appearance. The add-in 4 USB ports and 2 FireWire ports allow you to connect iPod, PSP, mobile phone, movable keyboard, camera and printer simultaneously. That means you can connect up to six devices at a time. It comes with 8 flexible and twistable cables (5 USB 2.0 & 3 FireWire 400), a USB fan, a USB light, a USB extension cable and a FireWire 400 extension cable to make it fully equipped for all the connections the computer users required. Indeed, the connectivity with this interesting USB hub will let you experiencing the creativity and beauty of the art.

A Purse's U-disk

(Photo credit: KimJong)

Nowadays, a USB is like other fashionable hairstyle and clothing has become a modern trend to suit different requirement and situation. Like what you see in the picture, this is a female-like modern purse U-disk. It is particularly favored by females, spy agents or female detectives.

A Porcupine fish's U-disk

(Photo credit: Jack)

Hey, you, SpongeBob, don't make me angry; I'll stab you!

Christmas Cake USB Hub

(Photos credit: Yaujima)

This creamy cake is a product of Japan. It has 4 ports that are decorated with four USB strawberries, measures 120x120x130mm, and weights 650g. It offers up to 1GB memory and is compatible with OS Window 2000 and later. This sumptuous like creamy USB Hub cake looks like a real cake but unfortunately you're not tempted to have a slice of the cake.

Wooden USB Memory Sticks

(Photos credit: Joana)

These wooden USB Memory Sticks are available in memory sizes of 512Mb, 1GB, and 2GB. They're USB 2.0 Memory sticks which are compatible to Window, Linux and Mac. These memory sticks are useful to have around when transferring files from a computer to another computer.

The above listed features are just a part of all the uses. There are many other advantages of using Linux like:

• Workspace
  

  Enables you to swap your desktop, so that you can open many windows without Confusion

• GIMP
  

  A photo editing software which is as good as Adobe Photoshop, and for free

• OpenOffice
  

  Has applications for word processing, spread sheets and presentations, hence can easily replace MS Office that costs you so much.

CD burning, Torrent file downloads, Photo viewing and managing, encryption of files and folders with password, Memory Monitor, Taking Screenshots etc. are all in-built features of Linux.

So when are YOU shifting to Linux?

What was the solution?

Before installing Internet again, I installed AVG Antivirus. I used to buy computer magazines so it was easy to install it without Internet access. I installed Zone Alarm firewall as well as Spybot Search and Destroy.

Zone Alarm stops more than 1000 attacks a day. As soon as I turn off Zone Alarm and I surf the Internet, I see the lights flashing even if I am not using the Internet anymore. I turn on Zone Alarm and I see the insane amounts of programs that are trying to access the Internet and were not supposed too.

It's very difficult to keep XP secure and running properly without spending so much money on extra software. It's more profitable to buy Vista instead.

When I bought my laptop with Vista I saw the diference. Vista already has firewall and anti spyware integrated. It was built on security and a free anti virus such as AVG is more than good enough for it.

If you can afford I really recomend you to upgrade your operating system immediately. The only problem is you need at least 2.5 GB of RAM for it to run properly. Even with that amount of RAM I press CTRL+ALT+DEL and I see that there is less than 32 MB of Free RAM left...

This is a complete free security guide which gives you instructions and links to some of the best free security programs. After you have followed all the instructions your computer will be a lot safer surfing the internet and from online hackers/virus and other malicious software.

Ok first you need an antispyware program and the best from research is AVG Free. Please click the following link download and install the program.

Next you need to download a firewall to keep hackers and virus from accessing your computer and all of its connections. Download this firewall and install it. note (This is a 30day free trail after its over it becomes the free version with less features) Sunbelt personal firewall

After you have download and installed that need to download an antispyware program. Note you need to click on free version when installing this program: Ad-aware

Final program you need is CCLeaner which cleans up old files and fixes registry errors on your pc 

After read and followed all the instructions in my guide please run a virus scan with AVG Free and a Spyware scan with Adware. Once you have ran the both scans you can run CC cleaner to clean up your pc. The best way to run scans is using your systems built in safe mode. To use safe mode you have to reboot your computer right on the first sign of boot up tab F8 until the option “run safe mode” shows up. In safe mode your system will scan a lot more accurately and faster as there aren't any programs to slow it down.

Thank you, and good luck!

This is by far the best advice any security expert can give you. No anti-malware device can offer 100% detection rates. You are the best anti-virus. Always understand what the motive behind advertising free software is: it can be either to advertise a paid version of the product or such, or it can be spyware (serve ads on your PC as means of financing the author). Be wary of free smiley packs, toolbars, antispyware products, etc.

• Understand the EULA - Let's admit it, most of us skip the EULA (license agreement). After all, there can't be malware there. Well, you'll be surprised. Many malware vendors choose to spread their programs using "legitimate" methods, so as to avoid legal trouble - e.g, there is an ad on a certain site, your attention gets caught by the ad - you download the software and install it right away without going over the EULA, only to discover that there are ads popping up on your desktop, and no, they can't be removed through Add/Remove programs. That was written in the EULA… EULAlyzer will help you with this by analyzing key phrases and sentences that talk about possible advertising, limiting of rights, privacy violations and more. It will point you out suspicious sentences, and there's not need to read the EULA itself. EULAlyzer by JavaCool software (Freeware)
• Always GOOGLE before downloading - There is a lot of malware out there, concealing in legitimate software. So, before you download any kind of software: Google it. If the software is legit, there shouldn't be any mention of it on security forums and anti-virus vendors. If there is, don't download and/or install it.
• Watch what you download - Many people download cracks to bypass protection in software and games, and make it "work" as if it were legit. Besides the legal factor, by far this is the most common method of infection. Especially beware of files called crack.exe, keygen.exe, serial.exe and such. Watch what files you download through P2P (Peer To Peer) software.
  • Free antivirus - There are several free solutions on the market. They all are good anti-viruses. Avast! 4 Home Edition (requires free license registration), Avira Anti-Vir Personal , AVG8 Free. Occasionally, you may also want to scan your computer to get a second opinion, using an online scanner that won't interfere with the local anti-virus software, such as Kaspersky Online Scanner.
  • Free anti-spyware - MalwareBytes Anti Malware (MBAM): combines real-time monitoring with excellent detection and removal rates.
  • Free firewall - Comobo Free Firewall: provides excellent protection and is also light on the system. ZoneAlarm Firewall: offers good protection with a large set of tools, but is heavier on the system.

The Holy 3

In this case, the more is NOT the better. If you install multiple anti-virus programs and firewalls, you are guaranteed to get sluggish performance, false positives and lesser detection rates, since each anti-virus program will conflict with the other. Same for the firewall, but not for anti-spyware software - it's OK to install more than one anti-spyware product, but I recommend staying with one. Never download unfamiliar anti-spyware, firewalls or anti-virus software, and if you do - Google it first and find reviews of it. Many of these are considered rogue, and once installed - will detect false positives and nag you to purchase the software using annoying popups.

When Unsure - Scan

If you have downloaded a file, and you suspect it - don't open it. If not triggered by another process or user input, downloaded files will usually remain inactive. Scanning it with your local anti-virus will not give you definite results, and you should scan the file with an online scanner, which uses tens of virus scanners to check the file for known infections (and unknown ones, using heuristics). Two such websites are Jotti s Online Malware Scan and VirusTotal. While nothing can guarantee the safety of a file, scanning the file with one of these online facilities gets close.

If All Hell Breaks Loose - Ask The Experts

There are a lot of volunteer websites online that will help you to remove malware online (even tough ones!) using community-developed tools that are not commercially available or automated, for free. The help is professional and friendly, but remember that the helper's response can take time, depending on the helper's and website's workload. GeeksToGo, BleepingComputer are two such boards which I personally like. There are a lot of others. Be sure only to post in one board, so as not to waste multiple helpers' time. You can find more links to such websites here,

You might have seen VirusTotal in the American edition of PC World Magazine s 100 Best Products of 2007. For those of you that didn't, Virus Total will scan the file you uploaded with 33 different virus scanners updated every few hours including AVG, avast! and McAfee. VirusTotal has no upload limit, but don't be surprised when a 200mb file takes half an hour to upload.

Jotti's Malware Scan

Jotti's Malware Scan is similar to VirusTotal, but it only has 20 virus scanners. But because of this Jotti's Malware Scan will be a little faster. However, the Malware Scan only accepts files less than 10 mb.

VirSCAN

This multi-engine scanner has three more scanners than VirusTotal, but it seems to take twice as long as VirusTotal and Jotti's Malware Scan. Not only that but it only has a 10mb upload limit. One feature that might be useful to some users is the ability to see how harmful or harmless an infected file may be (I personally get rid of an infected file if I see one).

That concludes this article, but remember that none of these scanners replaces a good antivirus client that is actually installed on your system. You can get some good free ones pretty easily here and here.

Engineers have for example been attributing many of the “unexplainable” errors, flaws and imperfections of technology directly to the presence of bugs. So what is a computer bug and what can we do about it?

Figure 1: Computer Bugs

Bug

In computer circles a computer bug (including bugs of both hardware and/or software origin) is an unplanned error, flaw, failure or other (usually undocumented) aspect that prevents the machine from behaving as intended.

The cause of the production of these incorrect answers/results and unwanted behaviors by computers can often be directly attributable to computer bugs of one type or another.

Buggy

The term “Buggy” refers to software and hardware components containing large numbers of bugs. Their performance, reliability and trustworthiness are thus not 100% guaranteed are all times.

Bug Reports

Names given to reports dealing with bug related issues vary depending on your current locale and include bug report(s), fault report(s), trouble report(s) and change request(s).

Issues not Bugs

It is a question of semantics. The term “bug” has been in common usage by engineers for quite some time now but many organizations and developers deliberately avoid using the term.

One reason recently cited for this is as a direct result of the negative baggage that accompanies the term. Microsoft for example uses the term “issues” in replacement of “bugs”.

Computer Bug Origins

The origins of the term “computer bugs” stretch back a long way. Some of the events, circumstances and people put forward as being the source of the term “bug/bugs” differ considerably.

One popular tale that does have some basis in fact concerns an early computer pioneer named Grace Hopper, who back in 1947, was working on a system called the Mark II (an early electromechanical computer).

She is supposed to have found a moth trapped in a relay among the computer's vacuum tubes. Hopper readily concedes that she was not the one who actually found the moth.

She was however, the one who publicized the event. It would seem that the operators who did find the moth were familiar with the use of the engineering term “bug” and thought it amusing to tape the moth to their report of the incident with the following notation "First actual case of bug being found." See Fig. 2.

Figure 2: “First actual case of bug being found.”

We know that the term “bug” was used during World War II to refer to faults and issues with the development of radar electronics. In fact, engineers were using the term “bug” in relation to defects long before the Hopper event. For example, early 1890s editions of the Oxford English Dictionary included the following quotation from an 1889 edition of the Pall Mall Gazette:

“Mr. Edison, I was informed, had been up the two previous nights discovering "a bug" in his phonograph-an expression for solving a difficulty, and implying that some imaginary insect has secreted itself inside and is causing all the trouble”.

Figure 3: Thomas Edison

The Mr. Edison (Fig. 3) referred to here is none other than Thomas Alva Edison. Edison was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of mass production to the process of invention. He is therefore is often credited with the creation of the first industrial research laboratory.

Human Error

Bugs generally result from human error somewhere along the way. The design, product development and production implementation stages of all forms of computer technologies are the major areas in which bugs tend to creep into the system. They also happen to be the areas in which human involvement is maximal.

Hardware Bugs

While a larger percentage of computer bugs have their basis in software, there are still many instances where hardware is at fault. As with any other piece of hardware a computer's hardware can components can fail, thereby producing erroneous results.

Events from the past show that it is also possible for the computer hardware to have bugs built into them (we must assume not deliberately). A classical case of this was the Pentium FDIV bug.

Back in the early 1990s, a number of Intel Pentium processors contained hardware errors that resulted in erratic performance and unreliable computation of floating point division operations. The result was that Intel had to recall a considerable number of the faulty Pentium processors.

Impact

The consequences resultant from bugs varies considerably in terms of the severity of impact. They also vary in terms of frequency and in their potential to produce far-flung collateral damage.

Some bugs are innocuous due directly to their minimal impact or rarity. Others are quite noticeable as a direct result of their capacity to interfere with a system's functionality and responsiveness.

Then we have that most critical group of bugs that render systems inoperable or contribute directly to fatalities. One such event occurred during the 1980s when a bug in the code controlling the Therac-25 radiation therapy machine was directly responsible for some patient deaths.

Another more disconcerting incident in 1983 nearly caused World War III. This incident was a direct result of software bugs in the Soviet Union's early warning system.

The early warning system falsely reported that the US had launched five Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) armed with nuclear warheads and their current course and trajectory indicated that they were heading towards targets in the Soviet Union.

Fortunately, the system duty officer at the time, Lt Col Stanislav Petrov, questioned the warning by reasoning that if the US were in deed launching a pre-emptive strike they would most certainly be sending more than five ICBMs.

The cause of the fault was faulty software, ironically meant to filter out false positive missile detections caused by satellites detecting sunlight reflections off cloud-tops.

Figure 4: Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) Launch

In June 1994, a Royal Air Force Chinook crashed into the Mull of Kintyre, killing 29 people. On closer investigation, the accident, originally attributed to pilot error, proved to be due to a software bug in the aircraft's engine control computer.

Then in 1996, a bug in the on-board guidance computer program of the European Space Agency's unmanned US$1 billion prototype Ariane 5 satellite-launching rocket saw the rocket self-destruct less than a minute into its maiden flight. The rocket launch site was Kourou, French Guiana.

On board were four scientific satellites designed and purpose built to study the interactions between the Earth's magnetic fields and Solar Winds. The four satellites cost over US$500 million. This particular computer bug cost in excess of US$1.5 billion on top of the US$8 billion already spent in developing the Ariane 5 rocket.

The European Space Agency had now invested over US$9.5 billion and was yet to see any return.

Leading up to the year 2000 we saw quite a stir concerning the Millennium Bug. This one was due to using a two-digit year naming system. While acceptable for early machines that had very limited memory and storage capacities this bug/issue should have seen full resolution long before the year 2000 when there was no alternative. You cannot stop time.

Today

Today we find that the term bug in respect to computers has taken on a completely new meaning. If you were to contract the influence virus or a stomach upset, you might say to your doctor, employer, colleagues, friends or family “I seem to have caught a bug” or “I have come down with a tummy bug”.

Computers can also catch bugs, which usually come in the form of a computer virus. Just as there are numerous “strains” of the influenza virus so too are there many different species of computer viruses.

Here is a list of some of them. I have compiled this list alphabetically and not upon such criteria as damage done, prevalence, epidemiology, persistence, dollars and frequency and geographical distribution.

Application and File Viruses (e.g. email, document, embedded etc.), Boot Sector Viruses, Combination Viruses, Hoax Viruses, Operating System (OS) Viruses, Polymorphic Viruses, Rootkits, Spyware, Trojan Horses and Worms