*CyberCoyote - March 13, 2008*

NEWS, NOTES and NOTICES

*What to do about Norton*
Today was Q&A day. One question, which led to several others, was why does Norton interfere when I try to open Word or Excel. Norton kept insisting that its signatures were outdated. The best solution is probably to remove Norton. (Friends don't let friends use Norton anyway.)

Of course that led to subsequent questions, some of which were: 1) How do you remove Norton? 2) What's the best antivirus? 3) What do you [you being me] use?

A1: Removing Norton (or McAfee, for that matter) can be problematic to say the least. I'll simply point you at my bookmarks for Norton. McAfee also has a removal tool that you can find at their site.
http://del.icio.us/Snaproll/norton

A2: You'll find my ratings for antivirus programs at my "Anti-malware Programs webpage. I'd stick with paid rather than free software in this role. Even Avast! is marginal.
http://cybercoyote.org/security/anti-malware.shtml

A3: I don't currently use an antivirus program. :D That may change, depending on what I learn about VIPRE, a new combined anti-virus, anti-spyware program. You can read about my personal approach at my page on Squidoo.
http://www.squidoo.com/security2

TIPS, TOPICS and TWEAKS

*Spam-proof Email*
If you want to avoid spam you should never use your primary email address on the Internet. How can you make that work? Just use expendable email addresses instead. There are several ways to go about that -- mine is just one. Spamex is one of the best places to get expendable addresses. I've had enough fun dodging spam to make it worth the effort.
http://tinyurl.com/2crsku -- Spamex review
http://tinyurl.com/youhjr -- Other disposable addresses
http://cybercoyote.org/internet/spam-proof.shtml -- my way

*CNET Online Courses*
CNET offers free online "courses" on a wide range of topics such as digital photography, home theater, Microsoft Office, networking, security and Vista. Most of them give you at least a good start in taking on the projects they cover. The interactive tutorials are particularly good. Also, look for the Course Catalog links (View alphabetically | View by topic) on the landing page.
http://help.cnet.com/?tag=pm -- landing page

ODDS and ENDS

*State of Congress*
http://tinyurl.com/2fzoyr

*Health tip*
Watching what you eat may not be the answer...
http://tinyurl.com/35opjb

*That's all, folks.*

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