May this new year bring you joy and blessings

I want to apologize for not posting anything for a while but it's hard to come up with new ideas, especially when I don't know what to post about. That and the fact that I usually think to do this when I'm on the road and no where near a computer.

I started thinking about different software that I use and figured you might be interested.

For starters, I'm very big on computer security. So I decided to post about that for my next few posts.

I love to save money, and there are several free programs out there that will protect you computer, but finding the right one can sometimes be difficult. As with other items, when you find a positive review, you can't help but wonder if the person is trying to sell you something you don't want or in honestly just trying to help. I can promise, I'm not trying to sell you anything. You can take my advice or not. The choice is completely up to you.

You need a good firewall to help prevent someone from hacking you computer and getting your personal information to use for their gain. What exactly is a firewall? A firewall is protective barrier between you and the rest of the computers you are connected to. If you do a search this, you'll find all kinds of post on this subject so I won't put more of the same out there.

I use Zone Alarm. (Yes, I put the link, but it's the same one if you searched for zonealarm free on the web.) It's a good firewall that's free as long as you're using it on your personal (home) computer. The main reason I use this one is because I tested it using a link that Symantec has set up that tests just how good your firewall is at protecting your computer from someone trying to hack your computer using the internet. I don't have the link so I can't post it for you. Sorry. I'm sure it's out there somewhere but I'm just not sure where.

I have tried others but some have bogged  my system so badly that I couldn't do anything else with it running. The same goes for some antiviruses, but I'll get into that on my next post. As with all software, make sure you computer can handle it. Make sure your system has at the minimum requirements so you don't have this problem.

Please make sure you have a firewall on your computer. I know there are some posts out there that says you don't need one, but better safe than sorry.

Have a great new year and I hope you and yours is safe and happy.