Spyware Removal, Anti Virus, Popup Blockers For Users of Free Teen Chat Rooms

Free teen chat rooms aren't usually associated with things like spyware removal, anti-virus software, or popup blockers. But because more and more of us 'chatters' are trading files like pictures, sound bytes, videos, and more, it just isn't really that uncommon to find file manipulation software used in conjunction with chatting!

A long time ago, chatting was just an act of moving text from one computer to another. Today however, we're moving photos, we're trading audio clips, we're downloading recordings, and we're doing all kinds of stuff with chat. Chat just isn't what it used to be - it's better!

Or is it? Well it can be if you protect your computer from the "Three Nasties": spyware, viruses, and popups. There's nothing more aggravating than to have to deal with one, a couple, or all of these pests while trying to enjoy a nice chat. What are these pests?

Spyware is computer software that obtains information from a user's computer without the user's knowledge or consent (WordWebPro 4.1). That means that some software can steal things like names, passwords, addresses, or credit card numbers and then pass those things onto other Internet users. It's totally lame but it happens, especially if you're not careful about what you download from chat rooms.

What makes the situation even worse is that spyware could be hidden inside a picture, sound byte, video, or program that you get from a friend - and that friend might not even know that the spyware was in it! That's why you need to install a spyware removal tool on your computer and run it from time to time. That way, you can get rid of any name and password stealers that might sit on your computer.

Spyware Removal Programs For Users of Free Teen Chat Rooms

PestPatrol - PestPatrol eliminates over 33,000 Trojan horses, password crackers, and more "pests." Also provides scheduling, quarantines, registry scans, logging, and more. It's compatible with Win 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP and it costs $29.95
www.pestpatrol.com

LavaSoft - LavaSoft offers Ad-Aware products from its website, and they allow you to protect your computer from things like automatic dialers, popups, tracking, trojans, and other spyware technology. It's free AdAware tool of course, costs nothing to use, but this site offers more features for costs as low as $29.99. It's compatible with Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, Windows NT 4, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows 2003 Server.
www.lavasoftusa.com

SpyBot Search & Destroy - SpyBot Search & Destroy can rid your computer from usage tracks, adware and spyware, dialers, trojans, and keyloggers. It's compatible with Win95, Win98, WinNT, Win2000, WinME, WinXP and it's free to use.
security.kolla.de

CounterSpy - CounterSpy costs $19.99 and features an auto-updater, history, and anti-spyware, adware, hijacker, keylogger, spammer tools. It's compatible with Windows 98SE/ME/2000/SP2+/NT4 SP 6a/ and Windows XP.
www.sunbelt-software.com

Viruses work the same way except that viruses don't usually try to steal anything - they just want to destroy everything. Who knows why people make these things - maybe they're bored and haven't found a better way to spend their time (like on a teen chat line)! Whatever. The important thing is that you protect yourself from this particular "nasty" and prevent your computer from spreading them as well.

Viruses operate just like biological germs - and they're contagious unless you destroy them! How? - By installing an anti-virus software program on your computer and running it from time to time. This way - if you do get a virus - the anti-virus program will delete it and prevent you from passing it on to others.

Anti-Virus Programs For Users of Free Teen Chat Rooms

Norton Antivirus - Norton Antivirus removes viruses, horses, and worms, scans email attachments, scans file archives, and automatically updates itself so that it can catch new buggers on the scene. It's compatible with Windows® XP or Windows 2000 and it's available for $39.99
www.symantec.com

Mcafee Antivirus - Mcafee Antivirus features a virus scan, up-to-date virus database, boot-up virus scan, Word and Excel macro scans and more. Available for $29.95, this program is operable on ws 2000 / Me / 98 / XP.
www.mcafee.com

Intego VirusBarrier (For Mac) - Intego VirusBarrier offers background operation, Word and Excel macro viruse scans, and other features that you would find in a typical anti-virus program, except that this particular program offers more - much more. It's operable on the Mac OS X 10.2.8 operating system and it's $69.95 to use.
www.intego.com

AVG Anti-virus - AVG Anti-virus is another good protection program available for 8, ME, NT, 2000 and XP. This program provides a bootup scanner, email scanner, automatic updater and more. It is also free to use.
www.grisoft.com

Popups (those little web browser windows) are in an annoying class all by themselves, but they're still nasty too. If we're not careful to get rid of them quickly enough, they'll slowly eat away our computer's system resources and eventually cause the thing to crash right in the middle of a chat!

Fortunately, you can install a popup blocker and prevent all that from happening. Aside from preventing popups from obstructing the screen of a chat room, they also prevent popups from stealing your computer systems resources so that you can continue to chat without interruption.

Popup Blockers For Users of Free Teen Chat Rooms

Popup Cop - Popup Cop is an interesting little program in that it doesn't necessarily block pop-ups, it instead, attempts to block all internet behavior that indicates advertising behavior - which consequently, includes popups! go figure. It's operable on Windows 95, 98, ME, NT 4, 2000, or XP, and available for $19.95 even though you may try it free for 30 days.
www.popupcop.com

Popup Zapper (Macintosh) - For Macs, there's the Popup Zapper which will kill most pop-ups. It attempts to maintain a database on online ads through your consenting emails, but you can add your own ads to delete as well. Works on Mac OS X 10.1 or above but there is a light version for Pop-Up OS 8.5, 8.6 and 9.x. It costs $20.00.
www.panicware.com

Pop Swatter - Pop Swatter installs itself as an Internet Explorer tool bar and kills ads before they appear. It comes with other products that you may enjoy (like cursors, screensavers, and smiley's) and it's operable on all Windows systems.
www.popswatter.com