The invention of the home computer… an event that changed the course of human history. Home computing wasn’t as flashy as it is today, what with the no Internet thing, but one thing was better back in the day – security risks were minuscule – so small they almost didn’t bear thinking about. Protection amounted to being careful about what floppy disks you inserted into your drive. There simply was no other way to get a virus. And then, our need for instant gratification kicked in.
The invention of the Internet… an event that didn’t just change the course of human history, it enlightened the citizens of the world. Sure, dial-up was all that was available, but still, users now had access to tools and information like never before. Even better, the security risk, which was a bit higher, still wasn’t that bad. With many users concerned about their bandwidth usage and the hours that were required to download even relatively small, by today’s standards, amounts of data, protection was pretty much as simple as before. The only difference was that users had to be careful about what they downloaded.
The invention of mobile technology and faster, dedicated internet access… an event that made users weep – mostly with a large amount of frustration. Faster speeds meant access to bigger and better applications, videos, pictures, peer-to-peer sharing and, unfortunately a veritable mine field of viruses, malware, Trojan horses and other malicious software. Protection today means anti-virus software, spyware, malware and adware software, security updates… and even then some users end up with systems bogged down with extra stuff.
It is important that one has good anti virus software to try to detect these vermin but there are also many valuable freeware programs that are virus free and are a great asset to personal computers. Software that deals with multimedia like movies and videos are essential into today’s world. Freeware programs like Handbrake, Xvid and Virtual Dub are quite safe to down load and have been used by millions the world over. These programs allow you to download any media type in any format so that you can store it to your computer safely for later viewing.
Computer users all over the world are still waiting for the final invention: security software that does it all, keeps systems clean and running at their best with minimal user input and with no gaps in protection. That will be the day that computer users around the world finally weep tears of joy.