The following links are for useful software which is freely available for non profit use

Periodically Microsoft release updates for their operating systems and software products, Box Technic recommend that you take advantage of this service as these updates may prevent damage to your system by a virus or a malicious third party. If you do not use a broadband connection it is possible to request CD's containing the updates but you must contact Microsoft directly for this service.

• Microsoft Windows Update

A firewall protects your computer from access by persons or programs from the internet by controlling the automated responses it makes when an attempt is made to access the machine.
Windows XP users have a built in firewall and do not need to install any other, but it must be turned on to be effective. See the Microsoft Windows XP Firewall page for details on how to do this, also see the Microsoft Windows Security page for more information on security in general.
Box Technic recommends the use of a proprietary firewall to protect your PC, however if you do not have one and are not using Windows XP then below are links to free firewall software.

• Comodo firewall, Comodo also provide several other free software products
• ZoneAlarm Personal Edition

Viruses are programs designed to exploit the way the operating system on your machine works in order to spread themselves further. They perform no useful function and slow your machine down, use your disk space and may damage information held both in memory and on your hard disk drive. A worm is a specialised form of a virus that uses your internet connection to spread to other computers.
These programs must execute on your machine in order to be effective, this is generally accomplished by attaching the virus to an email or hyperlink on a web page and you clicking on it to activate it, sometimes the virus has infected a useful program and running that program will infect your machine. A virus scanner prevents these programs from running on your machine and further removes the virus from any infected programs on your hard disk drive. It is vitally important that the virus scanner is kept up to date with frequent updates from the vendors site in order for it to be effective Box Technic suggest that a successful update should be performed at least once a week as a minimum.
Box Technic recommends the use of a proprietary virus scanner, however if you do not have one on your machine then below are links to free virus scanning software.

• Alwil avast! 4 Home Edition
• Grisoft AVG
• Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware, resident component only available on purchased version

Spyware is software or cookies or settings in your registry designed to monitor the way you use your machine and report this information back to a third party possibly for malicious purposes, for example a keystroke logger is spyware designed to capture passwords as you type and enable a third party to access your machine at a later date without your knowledge. Adware is similar but your web site preferences are monitored in order to target you more specifically with advertising, it's market research by stealth.
Both spyware and Adware take up space on your hard disk drive, use your processing power to perform their monitoring activities further they may steal bandwidth from your internet connection to report these activities. All of this costs you money and slows down your system even if you don't notice it.
It is important that the spyware and adware removal software is kept up to date with frequent updates from the vendors site in order for it to be effective Box Technic suggest that a successful update should be performed at least once a week as a minimum.
Box Technic recommends the use of proprietary software to remove and prevent installation of spyware and adware, however if you do not have such software then below is a list of software which will remove spyware and adware. To the best of our knowledge and information all of these products may be used together as complimentary products.

• Lavasoft AdAware adware removal tools
• SpyBot Search and Destroy

Email spam is the bane of email systems, consisting of unsolicited, useless and frequently obscene material sent to your mail account it obscures the emails you wish to read by simple weight of numbers, occasionally these emails are also used to deliver viruses and spyware and the world would be a better place if they didn't exist
ISP's frequently offer spam blocking as a free service for their customers Box Technic recommends the use of such services where available or proprietary software packages to block spam delivery, however if your ISP does not provide such a service or you do not have such proprietary software then below is a list of free software which can help block spam delivery.

• Pop Tray Email notification with antispam filtering capabilities
• Spamihilator anti spam filter

HiJackThis is an extremely powerful system analysis tool which will also allow you to repair any problems you detect, you should not use this tool unless you are an expert or are being directed by an expert, it is very easy to render your system totally unusable with this tool

• HiJackThis system analysis and repair tool (TrendMicro)
• Alternate download (majorgeeks)

CCleaner is a freeware system optimization and privacy tool. It removes unused files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space.

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