I was on my boyfriend’s computer the other day trying to look for travel deals at his place, when I got bombarded by “Your computer is not safe, do you want to renew your antivirus software??” or something like that.  Every five minutes I was asked if I wanted to renew.  Makes me very very glad I splurged  on a MacBook Pro now… I’m so computer illiterate that I couldn’t even protect my old PC from being bombarded by a virus.  I remember I was so technologically challenged that when I thought I was hit by a Trojan (not that kind of Trojan, get that mind out of the gutter!), I had to call my sister to the rescue.  It turned out that it was actually “scareware”.  Scareware tricks you into buying their antivirus software by making you think you have a virus in your computer.  Tricky, eh?  Because of this experience, I thought I would reach out to my fellow computer illiterate folks out there (do I hear crickets chirping…is it just me?) and share what I learned on how to protect your computer with firewalls and antivirus software.

Let’s first explain what antivirus software and firewalls are.

Antivirus software hunts and detects crap in your computer and kills it.  Kind of like what the white blood cells do for you (remember biology class?).  You need antivirus software to help you get rid of spyware, trojans, viruses and the sort.

Firewalls work by filtering the internet and blocking things so that the network can be protected.  Firewalls are especially important for larger companies with huge networks of computers (some people can’t access Facebook or certain websites from their work computer, and that’s why).  How Stuff Works (love that show!) explains in an easy to read format what firewalls are.

I would say that the key to using firewalls and antivirus software is to find something that is easy to use (if you’re just like me, and not computer savvy), because if you screw up, it can cause a breach in your computer’s security and it can be a pain to fix (not to mention cost you an arm and a leg).  Or worst case scenario, your computer will crash and your photos and memories will be gone…forever.

You definitely don’t want that worst case scenario happening to you.  So to protect your computer, you can buy the antivirus software or firewall protection at your local computer/ electronics shop, which can cost anywhere between $20 to $60.  To save money, you can also download basic versions of them for free too.

Here are some free basic antivirus software downloads:

• AVG - this is the most common one, I would say
• BitDefender
• Bullguard Free Antivirus

Here are some cheap (or free) firewall downloads:

• Zone Alarm- this is the one that my boyfriend has on his PC
• Comodo

Of course, if you want added protection against malware, it will cost you.  Also, you would want something that doesn’t ask you whether you would like to download the “non-free” version of the software every five minutes.  It’s a pain in the butt to have to click “remind me later” while you’re busy surfing the net.  Not having to click “remind me the next day” was one of the primary reasons that drove me to switch to a Mac (sorry PC!).  I heart my Macbook Pro.

I hope that helps save you some money (and not to mention a headache) with protecting your PC computer from the crazy crazy internet world out there.

Have you had an experience where you’ve had to deal with a virus on your computer?  Any PC die-hards or Mac die-hards out there?

Sooo Wind Mobile has officially expanded to Vancouver, BC as promised this June.  I was really excited to hear about Wind Mobile when it first came out in December of ’09 and even did a pros and cons list on it (you know I love those pros and cons lists!).

Initially the coverage was Toronto & Ottawa, then Calgary & Edmonton, and now coverage is in Vancouver.

They have certainly been doing tons of marketing- I was watching Karate Kid the other day in the movie theatres and they had a huge ad on for Wind Mobile.  Ads have been on the free circulating daily newspapers too.  And on television.  They have really funny and creative ads, I’ll give them that.  The hot dog vendor one always cracks me up, no matter how many times I watch it.

Their push for marketing is that Wind Mobile is different from the big three aptly nicknamed ROBELLUS (*ahem* Telus, Bell, and Rogers), they listen, and that what you see is what you get.  Side note: Whoever came up with the term Robellus is a genius!!

However, I think there are still a lot of kinks to work out…and I know that they are making a concerted effort to fix them.  Despite this, I know there are a lot of happy customers out there.

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In an earlier post this week, I wrote about a step by step guide on how to negotiate with the contract yielding wireless providers.  Today I’ll reveal the actual flow of the conversation I had when I called in for my sister.

Here’s the Scoop on my Conversation with Rogers recently:

My sister was paying about $31 a month including tax (from a previously negotiated contract by yours truly two years ago) for:

• 10 voicemail
• 200 day time minutes
• Rogers to Rogers
• Unlimited evening and weekends starting from 6pm

Being the young-un that she is, many of her friends text.  As you know, texting can add up!  She wanted text messaging included in herr next plan.  She was paying an extra $3-5 more a month just for text messages sent and received (texting on the very very low end hence restricting herself from unleashing the texting beast).  She had one more week left on her contract.

So I called in to the Retentions Department for her, spoke to Tristan (names have been changed) from the Retentions Department who said that if she added $5, then she can have 250 texts, AND she would have to recommit for another 2 years.  (In my head, I was thinking WTF- what kind of deal is that? Pay more??)  I firmly but nicely said that she didn’t want to pay any more, and that I am with Telus and I get all the above for LESS per month including 100 long distance minutes per month, web browsing, and 200 incoming and outgoing texts (which is true, by the way).

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Here in Canada we are ruled by only a few wireless service carriers.  Namely these fall into the “big three” otherwise known as:  Rogers (also bought out Fido Mobile), Bell (also in May 2009 bought out Virgin Mobile), and Telus (also carrier of Koodo Mobile)… UH… can you say MONOPOLY?? These guys have been fighting head to head with each other, to keep prices of contracts up.  I was paying $40-50 a month for my measly serviced cell phone bill back in 2004 (I was constantly over in talk time, thus getting dinged a 25 cents per minute) until I one day I called in to complain.  I think I fluked it by calling when my contract was up (unbeknowst to me at the time, it was when I was un-edumacated in personal finance  still).

I called back then and said I didn’t like how much I was paying.  The CSR (customer service rep) then told me that they can reduce my bill and increase what I was getting (e.g. minutes, texts, free long distance).  I was like “what??” why had I NOT done this earlier?? I could have saved so much cashola!  I had reduced my monthly bill (and was getting more bang for my buck) to $28 a month- never over.

Ever since then, I’ve been getting good deals on contracts for mr. youngandthrifty, my mom, my sisters, my friends…you could say that I’m addicted to the art of negotiation (on the phone– not so much in person cus I’m kinda shy).

First of all, you need to decide whether you want to be on a contract.  Currently WIND Mobile has come into play and they are straight up no contracts, so you’re not tied down.  They have very competitive rates (much to the Big Three’s dismay) without having to negotiate to get something you’re happy with.

If you’re down with signing up for a 1, 2, or 3 year contract then please continue reading.

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So Wind Mobile opened it’s doors in Calgary and Toronto already for a few weeks now (as of December 16, 2009).  They’re partnering up with Research in Motion (the Canadian golden child and makers of Blackberries) to offer heavily discounted Blackberries.

The Big Three (Telus, Rogers, and Bell) don’t seem too scared yet because Wind Mobile still needs to build their towers and expand their coverage network.  What does that mean?

It means that right now if you call from Calgary to Vancouver, you either wouldn’t be able to, or you would get a roaming signal/ roaming fees (25 cents a minute… ouch!).  Basically if you’re with Wind, you’re limited to calling people in Toronto or Calgary.

Edit: Jan. 18, 2010:  Angry Chinese Driver who has written the motherload-of-all-comments-ever and has firsthand experience with Wind Mobile (he’s been following them from Day One and he’s a happy customer) asked me to edit the above statement to: you can call anyone in Canada (and the US, unlimited with a $10 add-on) as long as you’re calling FROM Toronto or Calgary, though with coverage expansion you will eventually be able to do it FROM Vancouver, Ottawa, Halifax, etc… Same goes for data.

Check out Wind Mobile’s voice plans here

Check out Wind Mobile’s add-ons here (data, voicemail, long distance etc.)

Hmm… since i just LOOOVE Pros and Cons lists, I’ll make one of Wind Mobile:

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So apparently effective Wednesday December 16, 2009, Wind Mobile is set to LAUNCH!

I actually had no idea that there was a new wireless network giant lurking about until I was reading the “Bloomberg News” as to why my Telus stock dipped so drastically (yes, I potentially have been living under a rock because I hadn’t heard of them).

Telus, Rogers, Bell are all going to try to sue because Tony Clement (Canadian Cabinet minister) said it was okay to introduce other competitors (Wind Mobile owned by Globalive) to the market. The big three aren’t happy because they say that Wind is not a Canadian based company (the Globalive  company’s major shareholder is based in Egypt).

Ho ho ho indeed! They’re not going to be happy because I’m sure Wind will be charging much less than the monopoly “the big three” currently are charging now. Wind Mobile has some pretty hilarious ads going on too! (check it out below on youtube). Did you know that Canada currently pays the 3rd most expensive rates for cell phone plans??

What is Wind Mobile, you ask?

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