What are Videotron Security Services ?

Videotron Security Services are a set of subscription services to assure your security and confidentiality when you are on the Internet. These services include a firewall, antivirus software, parental control software, spyware protection, fraud protection, back-up service, performance optimization, pop-up blocker and a confidentiality manager.

• The Firewall service offers optimal protection against computer pirates and other entities threatening your security on the Internet. The Firewall service automatically blocks potential intrusions and malicious attacks against your system so that it is always protected.
• The Antivirus service offers complete, real-time protection against viruses, computer worms and Trojan horses. Our Antivirus service is very effective and constantly runs in the background to ward off any potential attack.
• The Parental Control service is a content filter designed to prevent your child from viewing inappropriate sites. In this way, the Parental Control service helps you monitor your children's activities on the Internet.
• The Spyware Protection offers real-time protection to detect and eliminate traces of information that can be harmful to your computer.
• The Fraud Protection service helps block access to fraudulent Web sites that masquerade as legitimate corporate sites. These sites are commonly called "hooking sites".
• The Back-up and Restore service offers a simple, secure way of backing up your personal files stored on your computer.
• The PC Optimizer service automatically and regularly improves the performance of your system by eliminating the temporary files and automatically defragmenting your hard disk.
• The Pop-up Blocker prevents bothersome pop-ups that interrupt or slow down your Internet connection. Your Internet connection remains clean, quick and obstacle-free!
• The Confidentiality Manager service cleans up traces of useless data produced by Windows or by your browser. It prevents your personal information from being viewed by anyone, while managing cookies.

General Questions

What are the technical requirements of Videotron Security Services?

Technical Requirements:

• Operating System:
  Windows 2000 SP3, Windows XP, Windows Vista . Please note that 64-bit versions and servers are not supported.
  
  
• Internet Connection:
  Minimum: 56 KB or standard Internet Microsoft TC-IP standard connection protocol, as used by your cable modem.
  
  
• Hardware:
  250 MB of free space on the hard disk during installlation.
  
  
• Colour Resolution and Quality:
  At least 800 x 600,16-bit colour.

How can I ensure that Videotron Security Services will protect me?
Several options are available to determine whether you are protected by Videotron Security Services.

• As soon as the Firewall service is operational, check the log file to see whether intruders have attempted to attack your computer.
• Add text (such as your address) to the "Protect Your Personal Information" function as part of the Privacy Protection service. Perform a send test. A window should appear, asking you to allow or prevent the transmission of the message on the Internet.
• Start the Privacy Protection service and see how much space has been recovered on the hard disk.
• Activate the Spyware Protection service. After navigating on the Internet, certain messages will alert you to the deletion of cookie.
• Make sure that you activate the tests planned for your PC Optimizer and Back-up and Restoration service.

How can I make sure that the Videotron Security Service main window does not appear each time Windows starts up or a session is opened?

To prevent the main window of Videotron Security Services from appearing after start-up:

1. From the main window, click General, and then Preferences.
2. Select the Mask Videotron Security Services at Start-up box.
3. Click OK.

The Videotron Security Services window will no longer appear when your system starts up. To have access to the window, click the Videotron icon in the Notification Zone (taskbar).

Note: The start-up page indicating your service subscriptions will appear briefly at each start-up.

Antivirus Service

What is the Antivirus service and why do I need it?
A virus is a small program designed to integrate into your computer without your knowledge and without your permission. This virus may compromise your data and damage your files. The Antivirus service can transparently protect your computer. It works in the background in real time to detect and delete viruses. We recommend running an antivirus system once a week on your computer.

New viruses are created every day. How can I effectively protect myself ?
The virus database used by the Antivirus service is regularly updated. The Antivirus service automatically scans for and installs updates every three hours, which protects your computer against any new known virus or computer worm.

What detection methods does the Antivirus service offer?
The Antivirus service can scan for viruses manually ("Virus Research") or continuously scan in the background. The latter is the default option. A virus scan should be done at least once a week. The Antivirus service also works in Windows Explorer, by right-clicking any file name or directory that you want to scan.

Does the Anti-Virus service scan incoming email?
Yes, the Anti-Virus service will scan incoming emails. It scans the body of the message as well as any attachments. If a virus is found, then information about the virus is added to the top of the message and all infected attachments are disinfected or deleted.

Does the Antivirus service scan incoming e-mail?
Yes. The Antivirus service scans incoming e-mail. It looks at the message body as well as any unencrypted attachments. If a virus is detected, information about it is added to the top part of the message and the attachments are deleted or disinfected.

Does the Antivirus service store the details of its scans in an activity log?
Yes. After each scan, data are stored and include information about the deleted and disinfected files.

I do not understand how the Antivirus service scans for viruses. I never see it working when I use my computer.
When the antivirus protection is activated in real-time mode, it continuously runs in the background and monitors any activity of your computer to detect viruses. If a manual or regular scan is performed, the Antivirus service icon will appear in the lower right corner of the screen.

Firewall Service

Why do I need a firewall?
Firewalls are designed to block intruders attempting to access your computer while letting you enjoy the Internet.

How can I tell that my firewall is working?
When the Firewall service is active, messages such as "The program is trying to establish a connection... " will appear on screen. This tells you that your Firewall service is indeed working and protecting your network connections. You will also be alerted when a suspicious connection has been rejected. If a connection is blocked, the "The firewall prohibits..." message will appear. You can view blocked connections in the activity log from the Preferences page.

I have high-speed Internet. How does the Firewall service protect me?
The Firewall service monitors any network activity and manages connections. It protects you against external attacks. A firewall is necessary, since it prevents unauthorized data from entering or leaving your computer. Any computer connected to the Internet is vulnerable, but the most sought-after computers are those connected to always active high-speed connections, such as cable modem, DSL or ADSL/LNPA connections. These modes make it easier for someone to connect to your computer to view or corrupt your data. These connections are easy to detect, and since Internet service providers tend to assign them a permanent IP address, it is easy to return to the scene of the crime.

Parental Control Service

Why use the Parental Control service?
The Internet is full of wealth and resources, many of which we want to explore. But it also contains a lot of information that you may want to protect your family against.

The Parental Control service is a content filtering service that limits access to suspicious sites. This system does not replace supervision, but helps you control the access of the different users of your comptuer in terms of navigation and access to software .

Can I view or edit the list of controlled sites in the Parental Control service?
There are more than 400 million sites identified as containing inappropriate content, so it is not feasible to download the list of controlled sites. However, you can still manually add specific sites to the blocked or allowed list to meet your needs.

Do other users of my computer know that I am using the Parental Control service?
Yes. If any other user tries to access a site with inappropriate content, a new Web page will appear, warning them that they area trying to view a site governed by the Parental Control service.

How can I be sure that the Parental Control service is truly protecting my family?
You can test the Parental Control service by visiting a site that is not in appropriate, but that may contain terms associated with adult content, such as "Super Bowl XXX". The Parental Control service will grant you access to the site, since it runs based on an intelligent system for detecting inappropriate content, and not by strict recognition of inappropriate words.

Can I control the times that gaming and chat applications are used?
You can create a schedule allowing the use of these programs for a specific period. It overrides the functions of the Parental Control service during this period. Normally, the Parental Control service blocks access to inappropriate content as well as controlled programs.

Can the parameters I set be modified by other users?
Upon initially activating the Parental Control service, you must choose a password, which will be required for any future changes. If another user tries to change the parameters of the Parental Control service, the application will ask this user to enter the password.

Does the Parental Control service protect my computer against viruses and pirates?
No. The Parental Control service is only an initial step. We recommend using the Antivirus service to protect you against viruses and computer worms, and the Firewall service prevents intrusions that may lead to data theft.

How does the Parental Control service work?
When a request for access to a site is made, the given site is checked against a database containing references to millions of inappropriate sites. If the site appears in this database, the request is refused and the site cannot be accessed.

Spyware Protection Service

How does the Spyware Protection service work?
The Spyware Protection service offers protection in real time and runs on the background to protect your personal data against spyware. When automatic detection is set to protect you against cookies, these cookies are deleted so that a third party cannot follow your movements on the Internet. When a spyware is identified, it is quarantined and a copy is listed in a log. To keep the computer environment as secure as possible, the spyware database is continuously updated. This update thus prevents any new spyware from installing on your computer.

At any time, you can manually start the scanning process to detect spyware on your computer. Regular scans may be useful to establish a routine that checks your computer every week. Note that if the Delete Spyware preference is activated, the cookies detected automatically will not appear in this list.

Why do I need the Spyware Protection service?
Internet connections that are always active may, without any security measures, leave the door open to invasions into your privacy and make your computer vulnerable to other dangers created by spyware.

Spyware is a program installed without your knowledge that collects information on you without your consent. These applications can list the sites you visit as well as the files you download in order to create a profile on you. This profile is then sold to advertisers or other third parties. These applications can change your home page or modify your system files in order to promote their own sites. This can be done without ever asking for your permission.

Pirates also use spyware. These applications provide access to your computer through a sort of backdoor, allowing pirates to attack your computer or corrupt your personal data .

Other Services

What is a pop-up?
Pop-ups are advertisements that appear on a new page when you navigate the Internet. Many people find them irritating since they pop up often and can slow down navigation. The Pop-up Blocker eliminates these unwanted pop-ups so that you can enjoy the full power of your system.

What is a cookie and how does Videotron Security Services get rid of it?
Cookies are files that certain Web sites put on your computer. The sites use these files to identify you when you return to their site. Cookies are thus used to recognize frequent visitors, as well as to offer "personalized" products or services.

The Privacy Protection service gives you the option of controlling which cookies are authorized to be stored on your system. The Privacy Protection service also lets you add Internet domains corresponding to authorized cookies to a list of trusted sites. This service keeps the cookies chosen on your computer so that you do not have to re-create your profile for your favourite sites, while eliminating useless files that undermine your privacy.

I used the Privacy Protection service to eliminate cookies from my browser, but some of them were not erased from the Internet Explorer Cookies file on my hard disk. Why?
Even if you delete cookies using the Confidentiality Managers, some may persist. This is because:

• The cookie comes from a site that was added too your Trusted Sites list. To view the list, click Manage Cookies on the Confidentiality Manager service. To remove a cookie from this list, select the cookie, and then click Delete.
• Cookies are used by services from your Internet service provider.

Installing and Using Videotron Security Services

Installing Videotron Security Services on Windows 2000, Windows XP or Windows Vista.
You must have Administrator status to install Videotron Security Services on Windows 2000 and Windows XP operating systems.

It takes a long time to prepare for program installation. Is this normal?
The time required for preparing to install the program may vary depending on your hardware and software configuration.

Can I install Videotron Security Services on all computers in my home?
You can install the Videotron Security Services software up to three times on your home computers.

Solving Known Problems

I just activated the Firewall service and one of my programs can no longer access the Internet. Why?
This may happen if you originally instructed the Firewall service to block access to the Internet for this program. You can change the instructions given to the Firewall service by clicking Internet Access Rules in the Firewall service and then selecting in green the program you want to allow access to the Internet. If the program does not appear, restart it. When the Firewall service asks how to treat the connection, select Authorize instead of Block.

The ads on my favourite Web site still appear after having installed Videotron Security Services. How can I block them for good?
Unfortunately, the Web sites and host servers for these types of ads update their content regularly in order to fool ad blockers. You can however get around this in one of two ways:

Add a server using the Ad Blocker service (only works with Internet Explorer):
Right-click your mouse on the unwanted ad and select Block Ad, which will block the ad once the Web page has been refreshed.

Add a server using Properties (works with all browsers)

1. IIn Internet Explorer, right-click the ad and select Properties.
2. Highlight and copy the URL address of the ad using your mouse.
   Note: Be careful not to copy the name of the site. For example, if you enter abcd.com, the site will not appear. You must enter the entire address, e.g. abcd.com/adserver. Copy only known suppliers.
3. In Videotron Security Services, click Block Pop-ups, and then click Blocked Ad List.
4. Click New, and paste the URL address in the "Address" field .
5. Click OK.

Why do Videotron Security Services try to connect to the Internet upon start-up?
The Videotron Security Services application must connect to the Internet to keep up to date the Antivirus service, Spyware Protector service, firewall, Pop-up Blocker service and Form Processing service.

I just activated the Antivirus service and my computer seems to slow down. Is this possible?
This problem may occur if two antivirus programs are running at the same time. In such cases, twice the resources are mobilized to scan your files and system. Simply close one of the programs to recover your computer's regular speed. We recommend using only one antivirus program at a time on your computer.

Kazaa is installed on my computer and the Spyware Protection service continuously detects a specific spyware even after it has been deleted.
Kazaa is recognized as being a major source of spyware. If you do not want to expose yourself to this risk, you must uninstall Kazaa or ignore the software programs installed by Kazaa.

Recommendations

Is it a good idea to install more than one antivirus software on my computer?
No, it does not provide additional protection. Even worse, both programs may conflict and mutually undermine their performance.

Is it a good idea to install more than one spyware protection application on my computer?
No, it does not provide additional protection. Even worse, both programs may conflict and mutually undermine their performance.