[AT] OT - Malware blocking program

[Steve W.]

Mike Meulenberg wrote:
> Hi all, I would be interested in finding a program that blocks the
> install of unwanted software. My Mom and Dad are notorious for
> clicking on emails that they shouldn't, and then they call me when
> funny things start popping up on their computer. The latest was
> Personal AV, and was kind of a pain to get rid of. I live 2 hours
> away so everything is done over the phone with my Dad :-0. Any
> suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Best regards, Mike
> 


Well there are 4 ways to stop this problem.

One is to reconfigure the mail program to stop them from even seeing the
 problem E-mails. In XP and Vista this isn't hard to do. You can even
stop ALL attachments and limit what they will even see. Just set them up
with limited user accounts.

You can also stick a third party application in there to stop things as
well. There are a few good free ones.


The other option is to do what I finally did for a similar problem, stop
 being their tech support! I finally got fed up with my FIL always
screwing up the machine and gave him a number to call of a person who
CHARGES him for service calls. Amazing how having to PAY for service
started him on the path to intelligent Surfing/E-Mailing. He now pays
attention and won't open ANY mail that looks suspect. What we do now is
send him attachments (pictures and such) with specific ID in the subject
line about who and what the attachment is. MUCH better now, for BOTH of us.

Of course there is the FINAL option.  Who knows if you keep track of
things they might just call it justifiable....

-- 
Steve W.