PC Maintenance and Security

Tutorial 1: : Explaining Cookies.

One thing that I learned that I would like to share with others is that cookies are small information bites that are placed on your computer and this is how websites keep track of you. There are two types persistent cookies and session cookies. Persistent cookies are ones that track your interactions on a site each time you visit and session cookies only track each individual session separately.

I was surprised to learn that cookies are what track and remember your name when you come back to a site. The example the tutorial gave was that when you set up an account with amazon and make a few purchases and come back in to login into the site it welcomes you with your name and suggested items to purchase based on past items bought. When I completed my online Scholastic book order this morning cookies tracked my previous purchase also an suggested books to buy.

Tutorial 2: Sandboxie

I think it is important to know about this product since it can be downloaded from the Internet and its purpose is for information from the Internet to not go straight back to your hard drive but to this program Sandboxie. You then have complete security on the Internet.

The thing that surprised me the most was that you can use this program through your web browser so that anything you click on or download does not come back to your hard drive but is stored in the Sandboxie.

Tutorial 3: Setting up preferences in Google search

You can filter searches in Google by clicking preferences and then following down until you get to filtering safe searches. Then there are three options and you can pick strict filtering.

I was surprised to hear that you can pick how many search results come up. The default is ten but there could be up to 100. It would be helpful to know this since it would connect with the type of searches a person does and how time is available.

Tutorial 4: Malwear and how you get it

This word is defined as being "malicious software to destroy, wreak havoc, hide potentially incriminate information and and damage computer software." It is meat to "break your computer" and is an umbrella term for many examples of Malwear.

I was surprised to hear how you get it. It can come from downloaded pictures, games, and software. It can come from pop ups, emails, and peer to peer software sharing. These all can include viruses, even Instant Messenger can hurt your computer if your computer is not updated with anti-virus protection systems.