Well, I'm setting a new goal for myself - I'm going to try to update this page at least once a month. We'll see if it works =). So first things first today, I want to extend a big Congratulations! to my brother Michael and his wonderful bride-to-be, Mandy McGuire. They will be married on Saturday, August 7th, 2004 at 1:00 in the afternoon at Holly Spirit Catholic Church in Fresno, California. For those of you who do not know Mandy, she is Sierra High School graduate and is currently a senior (I think! I may have to correct this later =) at Fresno State University. She grew up with her mother, father, and brother just down the road from our home, on lower Burrough Valley Road. Mandy is an athletic, outgoing, outdoorsy girl who complements Mike perfectly. I don't have any pictures of Mike and Mandy yet, but I promise I will post some pictures and news soon! We all wish Mike and Mandy all the best in their future and are looking forward to attending their wedding. We love you guys!
Now for the less exciting stuff. This last weekend I went up to visit Mom and Dad and spent quite a bit of time ridding computers of unwanted intruders - viruses and spy ware. And so I thought it might be a good time to urge you all to take care of your computer. So here is my advice. First if you don't have a anti-virus program, shame on you! Go get one now! There are a few good free ones out there, two that are highly recommended are Anti Vir and AVG. Anti Vir can be found at www.majorgeeks.com or www.free-av.com/. AVG FREE Edition can be found at www.majorgeeks.com or www.grisoft.com. Once you have you virus program you have to do two things, keep it updated (probably at least once a month) and scan your computer at least once a week (perhaps less frequent if you spend little time online, or do no downloading). You might not think that your computer is in danger of getting a virus, but you'd be surprised easy it is to get one, so its best to be prepared. Also to cut down on your vulnerability make sure you have your windows patches up to date. Go to www.windowsupdate.com to make sure.
Next you should make sure your computer is clear of spyware. "Spyware" can be benign little tracking cookies that report your browsing activities or nasty programs that shower you with pop-ups or hijack your browser. Either way they are not welcome on my computer and probably not yours either, so I recommend downloading Lavasoft's Ad Aware. It scans your computer for these programs, reports its findings, and gives you the option to rid your system of these nuisances. You can go to Lavasoft site to learn more at www.lavasoft.de or download the program at www.downloads.com.
Lastly you may want to look into downloading a firewall. This will help protect you from viruses, hackers, and all kinds if nasty internet menaces. ZoneAlarm is a highly recommended firewall, but I have had problems to get it to work on my computer, mainly because I have two networked computers accessing the internet through the same line. But if you don't have your computer hooked up to a second computer, this may be a good choice for you. A great place to check how secure your system is ShieldsUp (www.grc.com). Look through the rest of the site for additional nifty information.
I hope this help you all have a more enjoyable internet experience. If anyone needs help, you can always e-mail me Morgan[at]TheMcGrathFamily.com. Later on I'll probably add some more to this and post it under "Information Articles." As always, if you have anything to submit, advice to give or instructions that you have written, please e-mail it to me, I'd love to post it!
And one last thing before I go for the night - a belated congratulations to Khara and Jeremy Turner on the birth of their daughter Cora. I was lucky enough to see her this weekend and she is a beautiful, healthy baby girl! Take Care Everyone!
Lots of Love!
Morgan
