JTJ's Web Survival Resources (Updated 3-25-2005)
Suggestions? Mail to: t o m @ j t j o h n s o n . c o m -- Department of Journalism - San Francisco State University

A fact of cyberspace and cyberlife is that viruses are with us. Like the flu, we can pass them around unconsciously. These are a nuisance, at best. At worst, viruses can destroy all your work and/or your hard drive. The good news is that there are some highly sophisticated programs, available for moderate cost, that can scan for viruses coming in to your system, usually via e-mail, and going out in files you send to someone else. (Like me! Grrrrrrrr.)

I have had good luck with McAfee's Anti-virus programs. It costs, initially, $20, and you get automatic alerts and updates when a new virus comes on the scene. Also, many people like Peter Norton's Symantec programs. There are also some free ones at the SFSU Computing Services site, but my impression is that they are not updated as often. Still the price is right. Here are the links:

You will need a browser, Adobe Acrobat and, possibly, the PowerPoint viewer to see many of the files on my sites. Download to your harddrive whatever you need, but understand that these are updated at least annually, so be alert for appropriate new versions.

Not all browsers are created equal. Web pages viewed through Microsoft's Internet Explorer look, or respond, a bit differently than those viewed via Netscape. While I prefer Netscape, for reasons I won't go into here, the reality is that the eCollege class website is best seen with Internet Explorer

There is a suite of files that everyone needs to have loaded on their hard drive and desktop. Always install the latest version and, usually, go for the upgraded versions, especially if they are free. Go get 'em.