Charter High-Speed Security Suite Version 7.0

This article answers some of the most commonly asked questions about the Charter High-Speed Security Suite®. You can choose one of the quick links below to jump quickly to the question and answer that you are looking for, or scroll and read through all of the questions to gain a better understanding of Charter High-Speed Security Suite®.

If you cannot find your answer, please Contact Us

General Information

What is Charter High-Speed Security Suite^® and why is it important?

Charter High-Speed Security Suite^® is a security software that includes firewall, anti-virus, anti-spyware, and spam control which are essential in protecting your computer from viruses and hackers.

Does the Charter High-Speed Security Suite^® work with 3rd party anti-virus or firewall software?

No. You must remove ANY and ALL anti-virus, anti-spyware, and/or firewall software programs before installing the security suite to avoid computer problems.

Can I just disable my current anti-virus/firewall and install the Charter High-Speed Security Suite^®?

Disabling your current security software programs will cause installation problems and may cause your PC not to start correctly. There is no real benefit to run any other anti-virus software, since the security suite includes multiple scanning engines that work in unison to provide you with the latest active heuristic scanning and disinfection engine. If you are already using an older version of the Charter High-Speed Security Suite^®, the installer automatically removes it before installing the latest version.

Is the Charter High-Speed Security Suite^® available for Apple Macintosh O/S?

No. The Charter High-Speed Security Suite^® is available only on Microsoft Windows operating systems to include Windows 2000, XP, and Vista.

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How to install Charter High-Speed Security Suite^®

Before installing the Charter High-Speed Security Suite^®, you must complete the following steps:

1. Check your computer for the following system requirements:

2. Uninstall any and all anti-virus and firewall programs currently on your computer. This can be done by doing the following:

• For Windows 2000 and XP: Click on Start>Control Panel. Double-click Add/Remove Programs, select the program you want to remove, and click Change/Remove to start the uninstallation process.
  
  
• For Windows Vista: Click on Start>Settings>Control Panel>Programs. Double-click Programs and Features, select the program you want to remove, and click Uninstall/Change to start the uninstallation process.

3. Click here to go to an Online Virus Scan to detect and remove infections that your former anti-virus programs may have missed. If you cannot remove the virus with the Online Virus Scan, please contact your computer manufacturer for support with virus removal. After your computer has been cleaned you can install the security suite.

4. Install Charter High-Speed Security Suite^® by doing the following:

• Click "My Account" at the top right corner of this page to go to My Account login page. If you have already registered, enter your Username and Password, and click Login. If you have not registered your account, click Register Here. If you do not know your Username, contact Charter at 888-438-2427.  If you do not know your Password, click here and provide your Username, Secret Question and type your Answer.
  
  
  
  
• Click High-Speed Security Suite link on the left side of your screen under My Account.
  
  
  
  
• Click Activate. A license key will be generated which is used to register the Charter High-Speed Security Suite^® software. You receive three licenses per account. We suggest you write the license key down for easy access; however, your license keys are available anytime by accessing My Account page. The license key will also be e-mailed to your contact e-mail address.
  
  
  
  
• Click Download. This will prompt you to remove any anti-virus programs you currently have in your PC.
  
  
  
  
• Click Continue & Install to begin the installation process.
• A File Download box will open. Click on Run to start the installation process.
• If you are using Windows XP and Vista, a security warning may appear. Click Run.
• Choose English or Spanish version for the installation language. Click Next.
  
  
  
  
• Accept the agreement by clicking the Accept button.
  
  
  
  
• A subscription key window will appear with the subscription key in the boxes. Click Next.
• Select Full Installation to install the security suite with the Parental Control feature OR select Full Installation without Parental Control and click Next. Parental Control enables parents to control access to Internet content that might be harmful for children or teenagers.
  
  
  
  
• Click Next to accept the default installation directory of C:\Program Files\Charter High-Speed Security Suite.
• Wait until the installation process is complete.
• Select Restart to complete the installation.
• Once your PC reboots after the installation, a Subscription Validation screen will appear. If you selected Full Installation without Parental Control during the installation process, the installation is complete and the Subscription Validation screen will not prompt you to setup Parental Control. However, if you selected Full Installation, continue the Parental Control setup by clicking Next.
• Select Children, Teenagers, or Both and click Next.
• Enter a Parental Control password for Parent and/or Teenagers and click Next.
• Click Finish to complete the Parental Control setup.

  Have additional questions? Click here to contact our On-line Support Team.

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How do I know if I installed the Charter High-Speed Security Suite^® successfully?

You will see the ongoing installation progress. After the installation completes, you will be asked to restart your computer. A green shield icon with the Charter logo will be displayed at the bottom right corner of your screen in your system tray (as shown below). You can double click this icon to open the security suite and customize your settings or schedule scans.

Charter High-Speed Security Suite^® icons and their meanings

See table below for the description of each of the icons:

Icons	Status	What To Do
	The product is working properly. Your computer is protected.	Use your e-mail and browse the Internet as normal.
	Installation in progress. Your computer is not yet protected.	Wait for the installation to finish. The icon will appear when the installation is complete.
	Download in progress.	Download progress is displayed on any download event, such as virus and spyware definition databases, software or security level updates.
	Error state. An error has occurred.	Place your mouse pointer over the icon to see the reason for the error. If necessary, restart your computer.
	Warning. A protection feature has been disabled or your virus definitions are out of date. Your computer is not fully protected.	Place your mouse pointer over the icon to see the status tooltip. Enable the feature that is currently disabled or check for updates. You may see this warning icon for example if you are defragmenting your hard drive, as some system functions by default cause all downloads to be suspended.
	Critical Warning State (flashing icon)	This icon is shown when the virus definitions have not been updated lately or the subscription expires. If your subscription expires, you need to renew the subscription to continue using the product.
	Unloaded. The product is deactivated and your computer is not protected.	Right-click the icon and select Reload to activate the product.
No icon	The product is not installed or there was an error that prevented loading the program. Your computer is not protected.	Restart your computer and if the icon still does not appear, re-install the product.

Why is my computer slow after installing Charter High-Speed Security Suite^®?

Your computer running slowly after installing the security suite could be caused by the following:

• Not meeting system requirements. Click here to view the system requirements.
• Software conflict. Other anti-virus, anti-spyware, and firewall software previously installed was not removed or completely removed.
• Viruses in your PC may not have been completely removed.

Uninstall Charter High-Speed Security Suite^®, check your PC for the possible causes that are listed above, and re-install. If the problem still persists, call Charter for support at 888-438-2427.

After I installed Charter High-Speed Security Suite^® and re-booted, the computer seems to lockup. What is happening?

You most likely installed the application on top of an existing anti-virus and/or firewall application. You’ll need to restart the computer and enter into Safe Mode. Once in Safe Mode, you’ll need to uninstall the Charter High-Security Suite^®, any old anti-virus and/or firewall application. Click here for instructions on how to boot in safe mode. Once the uninstallation of the programs are complete, re-install Charter High-Speed Security Suite^®.

How to uninstall Charter High-Speed Security Suite^®

Uninstall the security suite by doing the following:

1. Reboot your PC in safe mode. Click here for instructions on how to boot in safe mode.
2. Uninstall the security suite. This can be done by doing the following:
   
   

• For Windows 2000 and XP: Click on Start>Control Panel. Double-click Add/Remove Programs, select Charter High-Speed Security Suite^®, and click Change/Remove to start the uninstallation process.
  
  
• For Windows Vista: Click on Start>Settings>Control Panel>Programs. Double-click Programs and Features, select Charter High-Speed Security Suite^®, and click Uninstall/Change to start the uninstallation process.

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Why can’t I access the Internet after installing the Charter High-Speed Security Suite^®?

Check the Application Control setting to make sure that Internet Explorer or your current web browser is allowed to access the Internet. This can be done by doing the following:

1. Open the security suite by double clicking the green shield icon located at the bottom right corner of your screen. If you can't find the icon at the bottom right corner of your screen, open the security suite by clicking on Start>Programs/All Programs. Click on the Charter High-Speed Security Suite^® folder and select Open Charter High-Speed Security Suite^®. Click on the Internet Shield tab on the left hand side of the window.

2. Click on Advanced to open the Internet Shield advanced window.

3. In this example, the web browser is Internet Explorer. Select Application Control which is located in the far left of the window. Under the Connecting tab, look for the Internet Explorer icon under Application and make sure that it is set to Allow under Access Out. If Internet Explorer is set to Allow under Access Out, launch the Internet by clicking on Internet Explorer found in your desktop.

If it is set to Deny, you need to change it to Allow. To do this, follow the instructions below:

• Click on Details to open Application Properties window.
  
  
  
  
• Select Allow by clicking on the radio button and click OK to save the changes. After the change was made, launch the Internet by clicking on Internet Explorer found in your desktop. If you are still experiencing Internet connection problem, contact Charter for support at 888-438-2427.
  
  
  
  

How do I scan my computer if it’s infected with a virus/spyware?

If you have Charter High-Speed Security Suite^® installed, you can do the following:

1. Open the security suite by double clicking the green shield icon located at the bottom right corner of your screen. If you can't find the icon at the bottom right corner of your screen, open the security suite by clicking on Start>Programs/All Programs. Click on the Charter High-Speed Security Suite^® folder and select Open Charter High-Speed Security Suite^®. Click on the Virus & Spy Protection tab on the left hand side of the window.

2. Click on Scan My Computer.

3. Select Perform full computer check to start the scan wizard.

4. The Scan Wizard window should appear as shown below. The scan can take an hour or so to finish. After the scan is complete, you will be prompted to select a recommended action to clean the infection.

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What do I need to do if my virus definition is old?

Check the time and date and verify that it is set correctly on your PC. To do this do the following:

1. Place the mouse cursor on top of the time in your system tray to view the current time and date. If this is correct, continue onto step 2.

2. Open the security suite by double clicking the green shield icon located at the bottom right corner of your screen. If you can't find the icon at the bottom right corner of your screen, open the security suite by clicking on Start>Programs/All Programs. Click on the Charter High-Speed Security Suite^® folder and select Open Charter High-Speed Security Suite^®.

3. With the Home tab selected, click on Check now to download new virus definitions.

Note: If the problem still persists, contact Charter for support at 888-438-2427.

I have subscribed to the Charter High-Speed Security Suite^® but cannot install my software because my system is already infected with a virus. What can I do?

Use the F-Secure Online Virus Scanner to scan and delete viruses, malware, spyware on your PC. Click here to scan your PC.

If you cannot remove the malware with the online virus scanner please contact your computer manufacturer for support with virus removal. After your computer has been cleaned you can install the Charter High-Speed Security Suite^®.

Note: You must have Internet connection to run the Online Virus Scanner. If you have any trouble connecting to the Internet, contact Charter for support at 888-438-2427.

Can I give a copy of Charter High-Speed Security Suite^® to friends and family?

No. Distributing the Charter High-Speed Security Suite^® without permission is against copyright laws. The Charter High-Speed Security Suite^® server will detect that the subscription key is being utilized by two different users and your installation will become invalid.

I formatted my hard drive. Do I need to register again?

No, you do not need to register again for Charter High-Speed Security Suite^®. As long as you still have your active license key number (xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx) you can reinstall the security suite and use the same license key. However, if you have lost your license key, you will need access to your My Charter Account to obtain it. Go to http://update.charter.com to log in to your My Charter Account and click on High-Speed Security Suite^® and the list of active subscription keys is located at the bottom of the page.

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I don't remember my Parental Control password. How can I reset it?

You can reset your parental control password by knowing the subscription key that you used to register the Charter High-Speed Security Suite^®. If you do not know the subscription key you used to register the product, call Charter at 888-438-2427 to request your subscription key. Once you have your subscription key, follow the directions below.

1. Click on Forgot your password? link.

2. Type the first 4 digits of your subscription key to reset your password.

3. Enter your new password and click on OK to save the changes.

4. Your password has changed successfully when you see the window as seen below. Click OK to close the window.

What is Virus & Spy Protection?

Virus & Spy Protection stops malware, including viruses and spyware, from attacking your computer by e-mail, removable media or downloaded content from the Internet. It quarantines and removes viruses, spyware, and other malware that are installed on your computer. It also blocks intrusive ad pop-ups and protects your system settings and detects riskware and quarantines or removes it. For more information, click here.

What is Internet Shield?

Internet Shield monitors and filters network traffic, thus preventing unauthorized access to your computer from the Internet. Furthermore, it hides your computer from Internet hackers and network worms. For more information, click here.

What is Spam Control?

Spam Control monitors incoming e-mails and removes unsolicited bulk e-mails (spam) from your inbox. Once an e-mail is identified as spam, it is tagged and filtered to a separate spam folder. For more information, click here.

What is Parental Control?

The Parental Control component enables you to setup profiles so that you can control when access to the Internet is available and determine what websites each computer user can access. You can set up the Parental Control profiles during product installation with the Startup Wizard, or later by running the Profile Wizard. For more information, click here.

What is Automatic Update?

The Automatic Update component activates transparently in the background any time you connect to the Internet so that you can receive the latest updates to your computer behind the scenes. For more information, click here.

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Virus & Spy Protection

Basic Overview: Virus & Spy Protection

Virus & Spy Protection works automatically and in real-time in the background while you are using files in your computer or browsing Internet web sites.

Virus & Spy Protection:

• stops malware, including viruses and spyware, from attacking your computer by e-mail, removable media or downloaded content from the Internet.
• quarantines and removes viruses, spyware, and other malware that are installed on your computer
• blocks intrusive ad pop-ups and protects your system settings.
• detects riskware and quarantines or removes it

You can directly change the protection level and real-time scanning, e-mail scanning and scheduled scanning settings from the Virus and Spy Protection tab.

You can view your scanning reports and scan for viruses and spyware manually from the Virus and Spy Protection tab. For more information about Virus & Spy Protection, click on the Help button at the bottom left corner of the Charter High-Speed Security Suite^® user interface window.

The table below contains a brief description of each component.

How to schedule a scan

1. Open the security suite by double clicking the green shield icon located at the bottom right corner of your screen. If you can't find the icon at the bottom right corner of your screen, open the security suite by clicking on Start>Programs/All Programs. Click on the Charter High-Speed Security Suite^® folder and select Open Charter High-Speed Security Suite^®. Click on the Virus & Spy Protection tab on the left hand side of the window.

2. Click on Configure to open Scheduled Scanning window.

3. Select from Daily, Weekly, or Monthly. It is recommended that you select Daily. You can then specify a time to start the scan or you can select After computer is not used for:. Click OK to save the changes.

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How to do a manual scan

1. Open the security suite by double clicking the green shield icon located at the bottom right corner of your screen. If you can't find the icon at the bottom right corner of your screen, open the security suite by clicking on Start>Programs/All Programs. Click on the Charter High-Speed Security Suite^® folder and select Open Charter High-Speed Security Suite^®. Click on the Virus & Spy Protection tab on the left hand side of the window.

2. Click on Scan My Computer.

3. Select Perform full computer check to start the scan wizard.

4. The Scan Wizard window should appear as shown below. The scan can take an hour or so to finish. After the scan is complete, you will be prompted to select a recommended action to clean the infection.

What to do if the security suite detects a virus

Select the Recommended action to clean the infection.

What is a Scanning Report?

When the scan is complete, a scanning report is created. There are two different scanning options that the security suite creates based upon which action you have selected. If the security suite is set to Scheduled Scanning, the report will contain details of specific scanned files and action taken. However, if you run a Manual Scan, the report will contain details of every scanned files and action taken. Click Show Report to view the scanning report.

What is Real-time Scanning?

Real-time Scanning scans incoming and outgoing traffic automatically in real time. If it detects a virus, spyware or other malware or suspicious item, it will prompt you to select a Recommended action to clean these found items. For more information about Real-time Scanning, click on the Help button at the bottom left corner of the Charter High-Speed Security Suite^® user interface window.

What is E-mail Scanning?

E-mail Scanning is designed to protect you from viruses you receive by e-mail and to make sure that you do not send them yourself. For more information about E-mail Scanning, click on the Help button at the bottom left corner of the Charter High-Speed Security Suite^® user interface window.

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Internet Shield

Basic Overview: Internet Shield

Internet Shield monitors and filters network traffic, thus preventing unauthorized access to your computer from the Internet. Furthermore, it hides your computer from Internet hackers and network worms. For more information about Internet Shield, click on the Help button at the bottom left corner of the Charter High-Speed Security Suite^® user interface window.

The table below contains a brief description of each component.

What is Firewall?

Firewall monitors and logs incoming and outgoing network traffic on your computer. The monitoring is based on firewall rules.

Every security level is composed of pre-configured firewall rules. The rules are a set of firewall services: Internet traffic parameters that control which type of traffic is allowed and denied. One rule can apply to multiple services.

The default rules are well suited for typical home use. Expert users may create their own firewall rules to modify the security level. For more information about Firewall, click on the Help button at the bottom left corner of the Charter High-Speed Security Suite^® user interface window.

What is Application Control?

Application Control is an excellent tool for preventing attacks by trojans and other network malware as it does not allow them to send any information to the Internet or to any local network. When Application Control is set to Prompt, it checks all applications connecting from your computer to the Internet and asks you whether the application's connection attempt should be allowed or denied. You can allow safe and known applications to connect to the Internet and deny the connection from untrustworthy applications. For more information about Application Control, click on the Help button at the bottom left corner of the Charter High-Speed Security Suite^® user interface window.

What is Intrusion Prevention?

Intrusion Prevention is a component of Internet Shield that scans incoming network traffic for certain patterns that indicate an ongoing network attack. For more information about Intrusion Prevention, click on the Help button at the bottom left corner of the Charter High-Speed Security Suite^® user interface window.

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Spam Control

Basic Overview: Spam Control

Spam Control monitors incoming e-mails and removes unsolicited bulk e-mails (spam) from your inbox. Once an e-mail is identified as spam, it is tagged and filtered to a separate spam folder. If you want to check that no valid e-mail is filtered out as spam, open the Spam folder and browse through the messages.

The Spam Control tab displays the spam filtering mode, the amount of allowed and filtered senders and the status of the Spam Control. For more information about Spam Control, click on the Help button at the bottom left corner of the Charter High-Speed Security Suite^® user interface window.

The table below contains a brief description of each component.

What is an Allow senders list?

The Allowed senders list contains addresses which are never filtered to the spam folder. You can add individual e-mail addresses and a group of addresses to the Allowed senders list. For example *@example.com would allow all mail that comes from the example.com domain.

What is a Filtered senders list?

The Filtered senders list contains addresses which are filtered to the spam folder. The list can contain individual e-mail addresses and groups of addresses. For example *@example.com would filter out all mail that comes from the example.com domain.

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Parental Control

Basic Overview: Parental Control

The Parental Control tab displays the status of Parental Control and which Parental Control profile is currently active.

With Parental Control profiles you can control when access to the Internet is available and determine what websites each computer user can access. You can set up the Parental Control profiles during product installation with the Startup Wizard, or later by running the Profile Wizard.

Parental Control adds a Parental Control toolbar button to Microsoft Internet Explorer. You can use it to allow and deny webpages and to select which Parental Control profile to use. For more information about Parental Control, click on the Help button at the bottom left corner of the Charter High-Speed Security Suite^® user interface window.

The table below contains a brief description of each component.

Parental Control Profiles

With Parental Control profiles you can control when access to the Internet is available and determine what websites each computer user can access. You can set up the Parental Control profiles during product installation with the Startup Wizard, or later by running the Profile Wizard. The Parental Control profiles are Child, Teenager, and Parent profile.

Teen profile allows Parents to filter content on 11 different subject based categories such as Violence, Sports, Dating, Travel, etc.

Child profile allows Parents to pre-approve websites for younger children.

Parent profile can access all Internet content without any time restrictions.

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Parental Control Passwords

There are separate Parental Control passwords for the Parent profile and the Teenager profile. You can create the passwords during the installation, or later by running the Profile Wizard.

The Teenager password is used only when both Child and Teenager profiles have been created.

The Parent password allows you to change the product security settings and to access the Internet without restrictions. It allows you to specify the time frame when access to the Internet is allowed, and to modify the lists of allowed and denied websites for Teenager and Child profile users. In addition, the Parent password is required every time someone opens the product user interface, views or edits product settings, connects to the Internet with a new application or tries to uninstall the product.

If you have created both Teenager and Child profiles during the setup, the Teenager password allows the teenagers to access a wider range of websites than the Child profile users.

How do you change the Parental Control password?

You can change the current Parent and Teenager passwords from the Advanced Parental Control settings. This can be done by doing the following:

1. Open the security suite by double clicking the green shield icon located at the bottom right corner of your screen. If you can't find the icon at the bottom right corner of your screen, open the security suite by clicking on Start>Programs/All Programs. Click on the Charter High-Speed Security Suite^® folder and select Open Charter High-Speed Security Suite^®. Click on the Parental Control tab on the left hand side of the window.

2. Click on Advanced to open the Parental Control advanced window.

3. Click on Change Password.

4. Select the profile that you want to change the password for and click Continue.

5. Enter your new password and click OK.

6. Your password has changed successfully once you see the window below. Click OK to close the window.

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Automatic Updates

Basic Overview: Automatic Updates

The Automatic Update Agent activates transparently in the background any time you connect to the Internet so that you can receive the latest updates to your computer behind the scenes. For more information about Automatic Updates, click on the Help button at the bottom left corner of the Charter High-Speed Security Suite^® user interface window.

The table below contains a description of each component.

Note: By default, Automatic Updates are scheduled once per hour. This means that an Internet connection will be opened once every hour to download any latest updates.

How often should the virus definition database be updated?

The virus and spyware definition database is updated automatically if the Automatic Updates feature is enabled. If you would like to update the database manually, you should do so at least once a week.

How do I update the virus definition manually?

You can manually update the virus definition by doing the following:

1. Open the security suite by double clicking the green shield icon located at the bottom right corner of your screen. If you can't find the icon at the bottom right corner of your screen, open the security suite by clicking on Start>Programs/All Programs. Click on the Charter High-Speed Security Suite^® folder and select Open Charter High-Speed Security Suite^®. Click on the Automatic Updates tab on the left hand side of the window.

2. Click on Check Now to download any available updates.

If my computer was offline, will I get the latest update once it is online?

Yes. The latest updates are downloaded automatically once your computer is online.

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