Over the years, I have tried just about every free and commercial antivirus software available; in my day job I manage a corporate antivirus system which cost thousands of dollars a year for licensing alone and provides nearly the same protection that Microsoft is offering for free.  For the purpose of this site we will only focus on the free or low cost solutions.  In the past I have used AVG, Avast, and other now defunct free antivirus that provided at least a basic layer of coverage, but none can compare with MSE.  Let me add that I am not a Microsoft “fan boy” in fact, I use Linux and other alternatives to Microsoft software every chance I get.  So, to say that I think MSE is the best antivirus product on the market says a lot.

In the latest release, Microsoft has enhanced their malware detection engine which does not rely on solely on definitions, but also looks for characteristics of a malware infection and protects against unknown risk.  No antivirus/antimalware software is going to be 100% effective, but MSE gives you the best chance at stopping infections before they happen.

The installation process is straight forward simply go to Microsoft Security Essentials download page and run the executable.  I should note that if you have any previous antivirus products you will want to remove them before installing a new one.  It is never a good idea to use more than one product.  To uninstall your old product you will need to go to Control Panel and either Add/Remove Programs, or Programs, depending on your version of Windows.  Find your product in the list and select to remove it.

By using MSE on all of your ministry computers you can save yourself hundreds, or even thousands of dollars that can be much better used by your organization.

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How it works….

To use Dropbox you must first sign up for an account here, I have included my referral link which will give both of us extra free space. Having signing up go through the Getting starting steps on dropbox.com, this will give you even more free space. You will need to install the Dropbox client on each of the computers you use. You may not want to use the same account on all computers, I will explain this in a moment. After the install is complete you will find a “My Dropbox” folder in you’re my Documents, anything placed in this folder will be synced between all of the other computers you have with your account.

Other Uses….

As I mentioned above, you may not want every file you put in your Dropbox to be placed on other computers, for instance the one you use for PowerPoint in the sancturary does not need to have your personal notes. To accomplish this you can create a separate Dropbox account for that computer, you may need to use a different email address, and you can setup a shared folder between the accounts to place the files you need in. All of this is explained in the Dropbox getting started tutorial.

I hope this helps you to work more efficiently without the hassle of copying files between different computers. If you have any questions feel free to post them in the comments.

Getting Started

The first step in creating a website for your ministry is to find a good domain name.  Domain names are the easy to use names that allow people to find you, for example this site’s domain is processthis.net.  There are several keys to pickign a good domain name. 

1. Your domain should reflect you ministry, church name, etc, but you want to be careful that it is not to long.  A good domain name is between 3 and 12 characters.  Having a domain like  www.FirstbaptistofPittsburgh.org is simply to long and the chances that someone will mistype it are great.  Often times when someone mistypes a domain name they will end up at a site that is not yours, these are often times called domain squatters, they pick sites similar to yours and then setup fraudulent sites attempting to pray on people who were looking for your site.
2. Make it catchy and easy to remember.
3. Most ministries will seek a .org domain name, this originally meant that the site was a non-profit organization, this is not the case today, as anyone can register a .org,.net, .com address  for their sites.  Search all of these for the name you want.

After you pick a domain name it is important to move quickly, by searching for a domain name on sites such as GoDaddy.com it shows domain squatters that someone maybe interested in that site and they will move to buy it before you do. 

Buying a domain name is a good first step, they are not that expensive, usually less than $10 a year, and give you a more professional look than hosting your website off of someone else’s domain, such as your ISP or other free sources.

Getting Hosted

After you have chosen a domain you will need to get hosted.  There are a lot of companies out there that offer cheap hosting and include the domain name in the yearly cost.  Many of these companies will require a one year payment which usually equals out to less than $10 a month.  Some hosting companies you may wish to try are www.bluehost.com , www.1and1.com, www.godaddy.com, and www.dreamhost.com.  These companies are good choices for starting your website with, they will provide easy to use tools to get you started, allow you to manage you email, and will manage your domain name for you.

What’s next?

We will look into setting up your website in the next installment of Making a Web Presence.

We will be looking at:

• Interactive, dynamic, websites
• Using Social networking (Facebook, Twitter, etc)
• Using Social Media outlets (Youtube, Tango, Godtube, etc)

These are just a few of the topics we will be looking to over the next week as we begin this journey into a new generation of ministry.