Paonia.com highly recommends the following software. We install them for customers frequently and believe they're better than most, if not all, other software for their respective applications. Best of all they are all free. We give you a CD with all of these applications when you sign-up for one of our connectivity services. This software can replace over $1000 of commercial software.

There are two types.

The first is free and open source code applications indicated by this icon. These are collaborative projects like the Linux operating system and not owned by any single company or person. This helps insure the longevity of the software as well as the security, as there are usually many hundreds or thousands of people looking at the code for security flaws, spyware, etc. purely because they enjoy what they are doing.

The other type is "shareware" where a company or individual owns the code and gives the program, but not the source code away for free. Usually these applications are free only for noncommercial use and the owner is hoping that if you like the program you will donate to the cause or upgrade to a pay version. Paonia.com is licensed by the owners of these applications to distribute them. The applications listed here are believed to be spyware free.

• Want a more secure browser? Try Firefox. Firefox is a super fast browser optimized for surfing the net with more features than explorer. It will import your favorites and other settings. It replaces Internet Explorer, imports all of your Explorer or Netscape settings and virtually eliminates spyware.
• Want a great free e-mail client? Try Thunderbird. Thunderbird is very similar in functionality to Outlook, much more secure, will import your Outlook settings including address book and even has an advanced spam filter that learns specifically what is and is not spam to you .
• Want a great free anti-virus program? Try Clamwin. We've had great luck getting out viruses that other commercial applications couldn't. After downloading and installing, update the signatures database. Then choose "tools-preferences" , select "show infected files only" and "move to quarantine folder" before starting your first scan. A faster real-time version is in the works.
• Want good anti-spyware software? Try Spybot. It's free with an option for donation if it helps you.
• Want a great Windows firewall? Try Sunbelt Kerio. Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall 4 stops direct network attacks like worms, and gives you control over which programs you want to let run. You get the full version of Kerio for a month which adds extra security for Internet Explorer, after that it just turns into the free version if you don't want to pay for the full-featured version. Their free version is still better than other pay firewalls for Windows that we have seen, and is all you need if you use Firefox. If you still want to use Internet Explorer you should pay for the full version.

• Want a full-featured, free office suite? Try OpenOffice. OpenOffice is an excellent replacement for and compatible with Microsoft Office and will even create PDF's with one click.

Paonia.com runs extremely effective virus filtering software on your mail. This software renames suspicious attachments so that your computer cannot run them. Although your local antivirus may still complain, these attachments are safe unless renamed back to the original name.

If you are absolutely sure that you want to open such a file, right click the attachment and click 'Save As'. You must rename the file when you save it. Suspicious files are renamed in this convention 'original.12345DEFANGED-exe' where the original name was 'original.exe'. To rename the file, strip out the '12345DEFANGED-' part of the name.

While this eliminates Windows viruses from the Paonia.com email system, there are other ways viruses may invade your system. Viruses can be caught through malicious websites, through your browser, and through other e-mail accounts not on Paonia.com See our Software Tips section for the latest information on software that can protect you. Also, get smart about e-mail attachments on non-Paonia.com email services. Do not open an attachment from an unknown source, even if the message seems of a personal nature. The proliferation of viruses depends on the ignorance of the user, so beware.

Yes. Paonia.com maintains e-mail analysis software that detects, labels, and filters spam e-mail into a special folder within your e-mail account. It is very difficult to identify e-mail as spam, and it is possible that e-mail can be falsely marked as spam. You should check your spam folder periodically to verify that no messages were erroneously identified as spam. Messages identified as spam will be deleted after 30 days to prevent your mailbox from getting too large. The spam and trash messages are not included in your mail storage quota and therefore you are not charged for it.

Login to your e-mail account through http://webmail.paonia.com. Choose "Open Folder" and select the "SPAM" folder. Messages identified as spam will be deleted after 30 days to prevent your mailbox from exceeding disk space quotas incurring you additional costs.

Did someone steal a list of Paonia.com address? Did you sell my address to someone? No, our systems are highly secure, and we never give out or sell our customer info. The spammers have simply sorted address that they have collected by domain name.

Spam irritates all of us. In a one month period the amount of SPAM that Paonia.com tags went from 200,000 to 400,000 messages. Unfortunately, the way that Internet email was originally designed makes elimination of junk mail virtually impossible. The "To" and "From" address that you see are not what mail servers use to route mail and don't necessarily mean anything. The date is set by the sending computer (spammer)- ignore it. Occasionally you may get SPAM claiming to be from Paonia.com--it's not, ignore it.

Be assured that we are running a spam filter on your email and are constantly trying to make it perform better. To our existing filter we added an artificially intelligent robot that "learns" from the spam we feed it. We throw out at least twice as much junk mail as we send through to you. It is a constant battle to make the filter function optimally, without throwing away mail you really want to read. Believe me, we despise SPAM even more than you do!

A few tips: Surf smart. Don't give your address out unless you absolutely have to, and then try to be sure the site claims to keep your info private. Don't respond to junk messages in any way, including clicking on the "remove me from this list" link. Any response identifies your address as active and sets you up for attack. Don't post your address on any websites- this leaves you wide open. You probably cannot avoid SPAM altogether, but you can control it a lot by having good surfing and shopping habits.

Change your email address if you can't stand it anymore. Some folks like to have one address for personal mail and a different one for shopping. Then if you have to look for mail on the shopping account, you can search for it specifically, and keep your other account clean.

Delete junk email with ease. Using our webmail (go to Paonia.com and click on "email", go to the upper left hand side of the inbox window, drop down the menu under the word "Select" and choose "Unseen". This will checkmark any unviewed messages, you can then uncheck messages that you would like to read and click "Delete". Saves a lot of time- another reason to use the webmail.

Run anti-spyware software (see above). Spyware harvests your email address and all of the addresses in your address book and this is then sold to spammers.

Spyware is software that enters your machine when you download free software (especially games or music), or through your Internet Explorer browser. Almost every Windows computer we see has between 10 and 100 spyware programs running. It used to be primarily concerned with mining your personal data for marketing purposes, but nowadays performs a host of other nasty activities like spreading viruses and pirating your Internet connection. If you surf the Net and are not protecting yourself, you probably have many pieces of spyware running on your computer, slowing down your connection and causing other unexplained phenomena. Here's what you can do:

Run anti-spyware. We have seen a lot of strange Windows behavior remedied by running anti-spyware like "Spy-bot". Spy-bot is free. To learn more visit safer-networking.org and download protection. Note that there is a chance that running anti-spyware could break other programs on your computer, but we have personally only had beneficial results. Also, note that the software should be updated periodically and rerun.

Disable Active X. Active X is a powerful protocol created by Microsoft for enabling active web content, games, etc. Unfortunately, it can give malicious software the power to do anything it wants to with your computer. You can disable Active X in Internet Explorer by going to the bar in the top of the Explorer window and choosing "Tools -> Internet Options -> Security -> Advanced" and then disabling all Active X components.

Use the Firefox or Mozilla browser. Internet Explorer has not had a very good record when it comes to security. See the recommended browsers above.

There are many potential headaches these days in maintaining computers. Viruses and spyware can make owning a computer a costly experience if you have to pay to have them removed periodically in order to keep your computer running. The cost of recovering data and reinstalling software can quickly reach the cost of a new computer altogether. We recommend considering these issues when buying a new machine, since these costs are often neglected in initial buying decisions.

In our experience the Macintosh computers have had a much better reliability and stability record compared to the Windows computers. So our first recommendation is to go Mac OS10 and above if you have that option. While compatibility issues between MS Windows and Apple Mac are greatly reduced compared to the old days, be aware that not all applications run on the Macintosh platform, so you may be locked into Windows for certain specialized applications. But if you primarily use your computer for general business and personal use (browsing the Internet, e-mail, Word, Excel etc.), you should have no problem moving to the Macintosh.

The Macintosh computers generally cost more initially, but they will generally save you money long-term in maintenance. Apple has released a new Mac mini that starts at $499. It doesn't come with a monitor, keyboard or mouse, but if you're switching from a PC platform and already have them, it may be for you. Of course, you can purchase a new monitor, keyboard, and mouse too.

If you are aware of the stability, security issues in keeping a Windows machine running but still want to go that route, we usually suggest going with Lenovo. They are hard to compete with on price, and they usually offer a basic desktop workstation for around $400 (without monitor, keyboard, and mouse). We think their desktop hardware is well designed and great for that price.

If you're looking for a PC laptop, we generally recommend the IBM Thinkpad. Most of our (present and past) staff own one, and we have all had excellent luck with them. IBM recently sold off that division to Lenovo, but hopefully they will keep the same quality moving forward. You might check out recertified machines at tigerdirect.com. They often have good used laptops at a reasonable price that they've cleaned up after a company lease. Expect to pay around $700 for a couple year old model.

If you're thinking about buying on ebay, it's something you want to research well. Look for statements about guaranteed working, excellent condition, no display blemishes (for laptops), etc. Check out the seller's feedback and rating. As far as buying on ebay goes, buying a computer is one of the most cautious purchases we would make. There is much that can go wrong, so choose carefully among the computers for sale and people to deal with.