This article is reprinted from The Consulting Journal
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Techniques: Helping home users
by David Blakey
You can give some simple advice to home computer users.
[Monday 10 May 2004]
A friend recently had her home computer infested with malicious code that disconnected from her ISP and reconnected to a number that charged her for each minute and billed her through her telephone account. She had very little protection on her home computer against such attacks.
These situations arise often for people who use a desktop at home for all their access to the Internet. Sometimes, they ask a consultant for help. If you are a management consultant who specializes in IT, then you can be asked to diagnose computer ailments in the same way that physicians are asked to diagnose human ailments. These requests are often at dinners or parties, and you are not expected to charge for your diagnosis. It may help if you have some immediate answers that you can give them, as physicians might say ‘Take two aspirin and call me if it persists’.
There are some tools that people can download that are free for personal use and that offer enhanced versions for professional users at a small cost. I personally recommend all of them.
For a reliable email client, home users should consider switching from Microsoft Outlook to Eudora. It has not suffered the same security problems as Outlook and has not caused the same embarassment for users when their address books have been used to send spam. Eudora offers a sponsored version, with advertising, for free.
SpamPal may be a little tricky to install for people who are not used to configuring email clients. For people who use the free version of Eudora it is very useful, and the documentation is quite clear if it is read carefully. SpamPal is free, although its author accepts donations.
The free and the professional versions differ considerably. The free version provides strong protection from malicious code, probes and attacks. The professional version provides pop-up blocking and other features for more protection.
Ad-aware detects and removes code and components that collect tracking information and send it to another user through the Internet, usually without the home user's knowledge. It is especially useful for a home user who has the free version of ZoneAlarm. The professional version prevents tracking code and components from being installed.
These products are available free for personal use only. They are all of such a high standard that it is unfair to use the free versions for commercial use. You should give this warning and its justification to people when you recommend these products.
As I said earlier, the upgrades to the professional versions are so inexpensive that business users can easily afford them.
I have no business relationship with any of the suppliers of these products. I have listed them solely because I have tried them and liked them and am happy to recommend them to others.
The opinions expressed are solely those of the author.
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