Be Your PC For Business or Pleasure, Security Comes First!

I work on computers for a living. You would be alarmed at the information your hard disk keeps, even after you have "deleted" it. Credit card numbers, account numbers, passwords, customer information, it's all in there and the right people can get it out whether you want them to or not. I proved it to a customer today by showing him the kind of sites his employees have been frequenting. National crime statistics show than only 10% of identity theft cases last year were from transactions done on-line. The overwhelming majority are still done the old fashioned way, by dumpster diving for receipts, bills and invoices. Safe as that sounds, it still sucks to be in that 10 percent. Today's post is offering you a way to avoid that.
Heidi's Computers Ltd. has offered a great little program called, aptly enough, Eraser. This program allows you to securely erase important and sensitive files from your recycle bin with the same gusto as the Department of Defense (US DoD 5220-22.M Standards). When you right click your recycle bin to empty it, you are given a choice of seven different levels of thoroughness. I use it and recommend it to all my clients.
For secure browsing, it is my personal choice of Opera. Firefox is great, but with it's increased popularity comes increased targeting by malware, spyware and viruses. Opera is like "I'm not the baddest kid on the block, but every morning the kid who is calls me to make sure we're still friends". It has some nice features that makes it unique from the other browsers, like Speed Dial. Speed dial is an opening screen on an empty tab that has snapshots of nine webpages you choose. I find that feature very handy indeed. Like Firefox, Opera has the ability to delete personal info and browsing history upon closing. Opera only does it more in depth and offers more customization of what data is deleted. Last month, there were 20 security advisories for Internet Explorer, 17 for Firefox, 6 for Safari (Apple), 14 for Conqueror (Linux) and 4 for Opera. Of these advisories, IE patched 60%, Firefox patched 71%, Safari patched 50%, Conqueror patched 86% and Opera patched 100% of their vulnerabilities according to Secunia.com. Now you know why I recommend it to all my customers, clients and now to you.


Heidi's Computers Ltd's Eraser
Price: FREE
Size: 7.9 Mb

Download Eraser HERE



Opera Web Browser
Price: FREE
Size: 6.3 Mb (International Version)

Download Opera HERE