Post your computer problems and questions here

Ok, here's a good one I don't think has been covered.

Every has been touting Mozilla FireFox­®, but what are the best and most useful plugins to get with it?

KS:

Ok, here's a good one I don't think has been covered.

Every has been touting Mozilla FireFox­®, but what are the best and most useful plugins to get with it?

It's the same as with Internet Explorer: whatever apps you use now, you can use with Firefox. The plug-ins that I use are : Macromedia's Flash , Adobe's PDF Reader , Shockwave , Java (I recommend Sun Java) , and QuickTime Player . Just about every app that is available for IE is also compatible with Mozilla and Firefox .

There are also many advanced tweaks to speed up or change the way Firefox browses and responds that I won't go into here . You can also change the width of the Search Bar (which is annoyingly small in the standard config) by adding text to the userchrome.css sheet document .



F~

But the best feature is, of course, tabbed browsing..

patrickk:

But the best feature is, of course, tabbed browsing..

Agreed , especially if you're like me and have 50 pages open at the same time . And thats another thing about Firefox , it wont bog down or freeze when multiple pages are open like IE does . They should call it Internet Exploder®. Good point Pat

F~

Ok , as promised I will outline the programs I currently use on my computer . For many years , I built and tested industrial computers for a company that configures custom systems for major corporations and organizations . These systems were installed and used in extremely high-stress settings including the NASA Space Station , Boeing 777 and Stealth Fighter , helicopters built by Hughes Aircraft , and many jet fighters built by Lockheed and McDonnell Douglas including the F-16 and Harrier . Part of my job responsibility was to test and implement security software into these computers . They were far different programs than those used in home computers , but along the way I got to test and use nearly every program available today . These were very exhaustive and long-term tests , not a simple one or two week trial run-through . Here is what I found to be most effective , after years of testing and comparing :


Sygate Pro® Firewall - This is a comprehensive and very well thought out security program , that in my opinion is the best firewall available today . In all the years I have used the different versions and builds it has never let me down . It is comparatively light on system resources , has an excellent GUI (Graphical User Interface) and is extremely tough to get past for hackers and others that want to enter your computer . It also includes a Backtrace feature and a WhoIs back-scanner so that you can determine exactly who tried to scan your computers ports and when the attack occurred . Overall a great firewall is your best defense . If you have Microsoft XP installed on your computer turn off the built-in firewall . Not only is it basically crap , but if used with another firewall at the same time , it will battle with the other program , effectively rendering both useless .

Command® Antivirus - Command is a custom shell/GUI built around the F-Prot Professional scanning engine . F Prot / F Secure is the same engine preferred by companies that depend on virus programs to secure millions of dollars worth of data every day . Microsoft , The FBI , Boeing , are just a few companies that rely on this anti-virus to guard critical data in their countless servers and storage systems . It is fast , light on resources , very straight-forward , and draws upon the best virus definition database in the industry .

The Cleaner Professional® Trojan Scanner - The Cleaner is perennially a top pick of reviewers on the net , and for good reason . It combines a solid trojan definition database , a sharp and well-designed GUI , and proven effectiveness . It also includes TC Monitor and TC Active which monitor in real-time , everything that attempts to enter or exit your computer , as well as any files that are installed on your hard drive that suspiciously change or *morph* into another form . It compares the characteristics and file content against all of the definitions in it's database and stops the program from loading and/or executing and alerts you .

Tauscan® Trojan Scanner - Much like the Cleaner above , Tauscan provides another layer of defense with it's real-time trojan detection program called Tau Monitor which does much the same as TC Monitor . Tauscan boasts one of the most complete trojan definition databases in the industry . I have found that using 2 trojan scanners is a good idea because one might detect a problem that the other doesn't have included in its definitions .
Stopzilla® Pop-Up Stopper - The absolute king of pop-up stoppers . I think at last count I have tested over 40 different so-called pop-up stoppers , killers , slayers and on and on . Trust me , Stopzilla is far superior to them all . It has an amazing algorithmic processor that stops 99.9% of all pop-ups but lets through everything else . Some products stop websites from acting properly and prevent Java windows and other needed applications from executing , at the same time letting bad windows open at will . Stopzilla will amaze you , I couldn't go online without it .

PerfectDisk® Defragmenter - This is the Rolls Royce of defrag programs . If you are one of those who still uses the built-in defrag in Windows , try this program and be astonished . Not only is it more effective , but it also uses an amazing patented process called *Smart Placement* which analyzes how a file was used in the past , and moves it to a place on the disc where it can execute quickly and reliably . *Smart Placement* mode takes longer to finish , but the results are worth it . Frequent defragmentation will not only keep your computer running faster and smoother , but it will also greatly increase the lifespan of your hard drives . Here is an analogy of what a defrag basically does . Let's say you are doing laundry and it is *whites* day . You have a laundry basket , but your socks are strewn all over your room and you have to walk back and forth to pick up the socks and place them into the basket . If they were all in one neat pile you could scoop them all up and save not only time , but also your legs and arms from getting tired . This is exactly what a defragmenter does with your files . After weeks of use and access they get placed all over the surface of the disc and are not grouped tightly the way they were initially installed , hence the term *fragmented* . Defragmentation puts them all together again , side by side , so that your hard drive can easily and quickly access them .

Win Patrol® An awesome little free program that monitors your start-up entries and alerts you whenever something tries to pin itself to your start menu to execute every time you turn on your computer . You will be surprised how many times a day this happens . Have you ever noticed how your computer takes forever to start-up after awhile and the amount of little icons on your taskbar (by your clock) keeps growing larger and larger ? Get Win Patrol and end that forever . The only items you should have in your start-up menu are those that you actually need . Not Yahoo Messenger , not MSN Messenger , not Weather Bug , etc . All of these can be started as you need them , and saves your computer the strain and time of loading them at start-up . Weather Bug , although cute and fairly useful , is spyware by the way , and should be uninstalled .



OK there you have it , 6 programs that will guard and condition your computer for max performance . With proper use and updating , the above applications will not only make your computer faster and immune to annoying freeze-ups , but you will rarely , if ever , have a major problem again . Hope this helps some of you .



F~

WoW thats the best i ever seen Fucktard your the best great.


Schnitzel always loves you.


the beginner

Well , like I thought , this thread is dying in here . That's why I put it in General so people would actually see it . Guess I just wasted my time with this one .



F~

Nah, I appreciate it.

Well , like I thought , this thread is dying in here . That's why I put it in General so people would actually see it . Guess I just wasted my time with this one .



F~

I appreciate it also FT!...I will try them.
Thanks

...Gemini37

Well , like I thought , this thread is dying in here . That's why I put it in General so people would actually see it . Guess I just wasted my time with this one .



F~
ill also give it a try thanks m8

Welcome guys


F~

Thx for the help in chat, FT!!!!

K

OK... I got Sygate Personal Firewall like you recommended. It's working great because I've noticed alot more attacks being blocked then my old CrapAfee™.

I'm getting a few "critical" warnings about attacks on RCPSS.EXE

on the net I found this to help block problems

-----
Run REGEDIT

Browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\OLE
and look for the string: EnableRemoteConnect, and give it a value of N.
------

But mine was already set to No, I also have a EnableDCOM key set to yes... Should I set this to N?

Absolutely positively set it to NO . DCOM is a security leak of the highest order and Microshaft™ has been getting flak for it for years and has still never admitted fault in the matter (surpise surprise!). I posted a group of tools on a thread for someone awhile back . Anyways here is a great little tool to auto-close DCOM .

http://grc.com/dcom/

And here is the rest , I recommend getting shoot the messenger , unplug and pray , XPdite , socket lock and running them all .

http://www.grc.com/freepopular.htm

Steve Gibson is the man as you will find out by using his amazing tools for Winblows™


F~

Absolutely positively set it to NO . DCOM is a security leak of the highest order and Microshaft™ has been getting flak for it for years and has still never admitted fault in the matter (surpise surprise!). I posted a group of tools on a thread for someone awhile back . Anyways here is a great little tool to auto-close DCOM .

http://grc.com/dcom/

And here is the rest , I recommend getting shoot the messenger , unplug and pray , XPdite , socket lock and running them all .

http://www.grc.com/freepopular.htm

Steve Gibson is the man as you will find out by using his amazing tools for Winblows™


F~


thats one great site
my mcafee firewa;; passes all tests

thats one great site

please keep this thread alive.
So much info in one place.
Thanks to all especially f~

Mike.

You're welcome Mike . I moved it back to General (where it should have stayed) so more people will see it and get help . 1300 views since July is just weak . It will get that many in a few weeks here . I will try to check this every day so everyone post any questions or problems you have here and there are a few others that are tech-savvy here so they can help as well . Nothing is more frustrating than a shittily configured computer that lets you down time and time again . There is no reason for it either....every system can be streamlined and optimized with the right info and once you see for yourself what great programs , maintenance , and a little common sense will do for your computer....you will never settle for headaches again .

F~