Simple Tweak To Monitor Your PC Connections

September 9, 2010 — Mrs. Mecomber

Many programs on your computer make connections to your network or to the Internet. There are some programs you want to connect to the Internet: your instant messenger, your email, your browser, and so on. But there are also some other connections you do not want leaching out, such as bandwidth-hogging software and spyware. Here’s a terrific tweak to check up on all connections on your PC.

1. Go to the Start Menu. Click “Run.” Type “cmd” and click the “OK” button. This will open the DOS Command window.

2. Type in the following, including the spaces:

netstat -b 5 > activity.txt

3. Wait two or three minutes. Press “Ctrl” and “C” on your keyboard.

4. Go back to the DOS Command window. Type in the following: 

activity.txt

This will open Notepad or your default text editor.

5. View the Internet activity in the file.

Of course, the next step is being able to interpret the data. :D

Hat tip to Digital Inspiration for the tweak.

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A Review of McGruff SafeGuard Internet Monitoring Software

September 1, 2010 — Mrs. Mecomber
mcgrudocrime09713

I’m not too pleased with this one. It messed up my computer! That’s too bad, because I think it is, overall, a very effective program when it works correctly.

A discussion by young mothers on Twitter caused me to look into Internet filtering software again (see my brief review of Blue Coat K-9 software). Their kids are just beginning to stretch their wings and go on the computers. There’s a lot more to be concerned about today, than when my kids were just starting out on computers, even 10 years ago. Back then, the filth wasn’t in one’s face… today, a LOT has changed.

So I wanted to test out a free Internet monitoring software program that I’d heard about, McGruff SafeGuard. I signed up for an account and downloaded the program.

From there, it was about two hours of screaming at the computer as it rebooted and rebooted and rebooted. It was possessed. I still don’t know what happened!

OK, back to the beginning: I installed McGruff SafeGuard, using all the “recommended” configuration choices. One little window among dozens popped up, saying that McGruff SafeGuard might experience problems because the computer had Vista Service Pack 2. I had the option to stop the installation, or continue. Well, I’ve dealt with programs that have had all sorts of problems with Vista! If the SafeGuard software seemed buggy, I’d just uninstall it. So I clicked “Next.”

Whoa. Bad move. The thing went bananas. It wanted to uninstall all sorts of stuff from the operating system, including my NVIDIA App Filter. The thing rebooted, and Windows went wonky. Data Execution app closed, a number of other online programs (IM, web browser, anti-virus) closed, and then Windows said it was restarting in one minute. And it kept restarting, again and again! I tried to get into Safe Mode to uninstall McGriff SafeGuard, or at least do a System Restore.. nope! I was livid– I couldn’t even get into Safe Mode?!

Now, I understand that it must be difficult for software vendors keep up with ALL the Windows operating systems, updates, and service packs. And it doesn’t help that *some* software makers intentionally make it very difficult to install and maintain monitoring software (not to mention, a wholesome computer environment). So it must be tough for McGruff and others to constantly be changing their software. But for heaven’s sake, PLEASE mention this on the website or something! I scoured the website for mention of fatal errors and problems with Vista the program… nothing. The only slightest heads up I had was with the “you may experience some problems with Vista Service Pack 2″ while I was installing it. :-p It said I may have “problems.” Didn’t mention that the program would kill my computer!

I finally dumped the software. Windows only gave me one minute to do anything before it shut down and restarted again, so as soon as it booted up, I typed very quickly to uninstall McGruff SafeGuard. It took me 6 tries (the computer is kind of slow, lol). In the end, I wasn’t able to fully uninstall the program in one minute’s time, but I uninstalled enough files to force McGruff SafeGuard to abort itself. This allowed me to go into System Restore and roll back the computer files.

Whew!

I again searched for any mention of such problems (any problems) on the McGruff website. Not a peep. Too bad. There’s no telephone support, either. I had to email my urgent message. I got an email response in about 2 hours, but by then, I had figured out a way to disable the program.

I hear good things about McGruff SafeGuard among Windows XP users. But if you have Vista, beware. Who uses XP anymore?!

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Everybody Can Be a .007

September 1, 2010 — Mrs. Mecomber

About a week ago, a buzzword amongst some of the Twitter moms was filtering and monitoring software for the kids. You really can’t be too careful. The Internet is a wonderful place, but holy cow is it full of trash. What a shame. Like television– what a wonderful tool for ministry and education– but rather for enriching people’s lives, it makes them poorer by filling their thoughts and hearts with evil, degenerate trash (most of the time). I certainly hate to see the Internet becoming this way!

Anyway, there are some very good reasons for installing filtering and monitoring software on the computer. The word “keylogger” has negative connotations, but for keeping an eye on kids and keeping an eye on wayward employees, monitoring and filtering software is a good idea. I’ve tried out a few freebies in my time. I haven’t been terribly happy with any of them. They are either lacking something, too bloated, or so buggy that I wind up fixing my computer! I am heartily in favor of purchasing software of this nature. You have more leverage with the company, should something go wrong, and free software makers rarely offer any kind of meaningful support. SpyAgent or SentryPC look like something good for children’s computers– it’s a simple program that blocks unsuitable Internet content, logs activity, and notifies parents. I’d really like to see a very sophisticated filter that would, say, allow kids to view good YouTube videos but block bad YouTube videos. I know that’s probably too specific for any software. Only a good parent/child relationship can do that. But still, I HATE it when my kids accidentally stumble onto disgusting images and videos!! Grr!!

Remember, in some cases it is illegal to install spyware on a computer. For parents and business owners, it is a good idea– just make sure you inform the computer user of the software.

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Malware Killers Software

April 6, 2009 — Mrs. Mecomber

Continuing my series on securing your computer, I’ve talked about the importance of a good firewall, an anti-virus program, and now I’m going to address the necessity of good malware and spyware programs. While a firewall and anti-virus are absolutely necessary for a computer on the Internet, you can live without a malware/spyware protection. But I guarantee you that at some point you will need one. As you surf the Internet, your computer collects loads of small files (cookies) and other files (tracking files, etc). And your computer also may pick up a worm, trojan, or virus. Spyware and malware programs detect these files and the good ones will wipe them out.

All the ones I mention here are free as of this writing:

MalwareBytes
a-Squared Free
CrapCleaner
Lavasoft Ad-Aware
Spybot Search and Destroy

There are many more. And programs like WinPatrol and Spybot’s TeaTimer monitor your computer activity for changes in the registry.

Unlike firewalls and anti-virus programs, where you can only have one software program running– you can have multiple spyware/malware programs installed and running on your computer. In fact, it is recommended. Some programs are better than others at finding bugs and threats. I have five various programs installed on my computers. Always check for updates before scanning your computer.

In the next few posts, I’ll be addressing the issues of safe surfing, safe email handling, and other things you can do to protect your computer from harmful threats.

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Posted in anti-virus, firewalls, free programs, security programs. Tags: , . 2 Comments »
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