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A Hacker Inside Your Computer?
Imagine this nightmare scenario... You check your e-mail program and it reports your username and password as no longer valid. You call your Internet service provider (ISP) to discuss the problem and they tell you they turned off your account due...
Hall of Shame - The Bad Boys of UCE
The majority of Unsolicited Commercial Email (UCE), or “spam” is sent by a relatively small group of dedicated professional spammers. The Register of Known Spam Operations (ROKSO) indicates that 80% of all spam comes from just 200 known spam...
Step by Step Troubleshooting RAM
It's rare but RAM modules can cause problems. Unfortunately, it's not always certain that the memory errors being reported by your system is actually due to problems with the RAM modules. Even worse is that an unstable system can be due to many...
Success Stories - 12 Doers Share Their Secrets: Interview with Milana Nastetskaya
This week we have another great interview - the third in the series - with a lady who is taking the Internet by storm. Milana Nastetskaya is the author of the highly regarded ebook "65 Instant Web Design Answers!". Milana currently lives in Central...
What is Open Source Software and Why is it Used ?
What is Open Source Software?
Open Source Software (OSS) is software that is available under a
special license that allows everyone to access the program code
as well as the executable program. This means that anyone is
able to edit the...
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It's War I Tell You!
As you may or may not know, a new computer is extremely vulnerable when you first get online with it. There are ways to insure security though. You can get the Windows Update CD from Microsoft and install that before you get online. You can also get most Antivirus Definitions dnloaded and save em to disk and then install those before you go online. Course you have to be using that Product in the first place. And you can get AntiSpyware on a disk and do the same. But how many people do that in their excitement to take it out of the box and hook it and see what She'll do.
Sans Internet Storm Center says those people will have their Puter infected with adware or worse in less than 20 min! Virgin Puters online stick out like a sore thumb. And the pain from that sore thumb will be considerably less that the person who soon realizes their brand new puter is sick. First comes the shock, then the anger, then the question. How do I fix it? If they are lucky they can fix it fairly cheaply. It might involve a lot of time listening to elevator music while you're in the hold queue. Either way it’s no fun.
Education is what’s needed here folks.
In this Article I plan on touching on simple easy steps you can take to keep your Puter Happy and safe. First lets talk about your online connection itself. Dialup, Satellite, DSL, whatever you have, make sure they are secure. Call em and ask em. What kind of Security do they employ to keep your Websurfing secure? Most often they have the info at their site. Read their Privacy Policy.
Ok, now the Browser part. A touchy subject with many. I use Firefox mostly and IE only when I have to. Unless you've been living in a hole you know IE has its Vulnerabilities. Nothing against IE folks. It gets targeted so much because that’s what people use most. Hackers, Spammers, Phishers, and the rest know this and swarm like sharks. Firefox has its problems too. They are getting noticed and they are having to work harder too at keeping their browser safe too. Whatever you use, keep it updated. Whatever you use, get some monitoring software, like Bigfix or Winpatrol. Learn how they work and you'll be a happy Websurfer.
While we're talking about software products, let’s think about what you do online. There are many Products out there that try and cover all aspects of protecting your puter. It’s hard to write software though to do all that. I've found a mixture of products do well for me. Right now I use Win patrol, Sygate Firewall and AVast Antivirus with Ad-Aware SE to cover my bases. But what works for me may not work for you. So how do you find the
right combination or if you're lucky the single product that will do the job? Education. Pure and simple. You have to become educated in what is going on out there on the WWW and be prepared for it. We're not talking a lot of money either in most cases. There is some great products out there that are free! The Web is diverse, with Forums, Blogs, Instant Messaging, Video Conferencing, and of course Websites. Especially the new .XXX ones. Each has its own uniqueness as far as vulnerabilities. Whatever your preference, make sure you're safe.
Chances are though, you'll pick up some spyware. It’s hard for the Hardware and software Suppliers to keep up to the minute patches available. Although I've seen patches available in under 3 hours from some suppliers. Hopefully what gets you will be harmless, just annoying. This kind just puts a cookie on your puter and tracks you as you go from website to website. Marketing info is what they are after. But some Spyware can be Nasty. They log your keystrokes, and this means your logins and Credit Card numbers.
And now for Email. How the human race ever did without email we may never know. Its one of the greatest conveniences ever and what a timesaver. You don't need a stamp and there’s no dash to the mailbox in the rain. But as always, along with the good comes the bad. People want to use your Bank account to put money in, They want you to open this attachment, and please just click on this URL! Spammers, Hookers, Phishers Oh My! My advice, scan anything that is not from someone you know with Anti-Virus. Never click on a URL from your Bank. Go there yourself from your Browser. Check to see if your Mail Program has an option to warn you if there is anything in the email that may be a virus, like in Outlook Express. It can be inconvenient sometimes, but worth it. Some of the better Web based services like Yahoo have a Junk Mail Folder that helps immensely. I never even open the folder, I just delete the contents everyday.
Remember, you need to become educated if you're going to be on the Internet. I hope to see in my lifetime the end of Spyware.
About the Author: Doug Woodall has a web site at http://www.spywarebiz.com
There he provides free information and recommended products to combat Spyware.
His Website is recognized by Learning Fountain and ISafe
Doug's Articles have earned him Trusted Author Status at ImpactArticles.com
He is a member of the IWA (International Webmasters Association)
Article edited for proper content by Wendy McCallum
Permission to copy ok as long as about author info remains with article.
Copyright 2005 SpywareBiz
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Tucows Downloads - Download Freeware and Shareware Software |
Download freeware, shareware, and demos. Maintains over 45000 software titles that are tested, rated, reviewed and ready to download. |
www.tucows.com |
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Free Software Downloads and Software Reviews - Download.com |
Download shareware, freeware and Demo software for PC, Mac, Linux, and Handhelds categorized into categories, plus software reviews. |
www.download.com |
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Computer software - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
This includes application software such as a word processor, which enables a ... Application software is often purchased separately from computer hardware. ... |
en.wikipedia.org |
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Shareware.com - Search for shareware programs and free software ... |
Search for shareware programs from more than a dozen downloadable software directories. |
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Jumbo: Free & Shareware MP3 files, Games, Screen Savers & Computer ... |
Source of free and shareware computer programs and utilities for PC and Mac. Evaluate software and read product reviews. Download games and screen savers. |
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Computer Software in the Yahoo! Directory |
Browse categories featuring sites devoted to computer software, including shareware and freeware download sites, operating systems, desktop customization, ... |
dir.yahoo.com |
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IEEE Software |
IEEE Computer Society's magazine covering all aspects of software, including software engineering. |
www.computer.org |
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Free Downloads on ZDNet | Shareware, Trialware, Evaluation Software |
ZDNet's Software Directory is the Web's largest library of software downloads. Covering software for Windows, Mac, and Mobile systems, ZDNet's Software ... |
downloads.zdnet.com |
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FSF - The Free Software Foundation |
Free software is a matter of liberty not price. Think of "free" as in "free speech". |
www.fsf.org |
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Apple - Software |
Software products for your digital life. ... The perfect addition for professional review. QuickTime Broadcaster. Encoding software for live events. ... |
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Open Directory - Computers: Software |
In Partnership with AOL Search. about dmoz | report abuse/spam | help. the entire directory, only in Computers/Software. Top: Computers: Software (38471) ... |
dmoz.org |
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freshmeat.net: Welcome to freshmeat.net |
About: The Web browser is probably the most frequently used software today, ... Web professionals can use the software for functional testing and regression ... |
freshmeat.net |
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Software - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF) |
Listing of the GNU software packages. |
www.gnu.org |
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Sun Software |
Get enterprise-class software--Solaris 10 OS, the Java Enterprise System, ... Sun Java StorageTek Software reduces cost and complexity with a single, ... |
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Internet Real Estate.com -- owns and operates a portfolio of the ... |
SOFTWARE.COM · SWEEPSTAKES.COM · PHONE.COM PODCAST.COM ... Software.com | Sweepstakes.com | Phone.com | Podcast.com | Shop.com | Safety.com ... |
www.internetrealestate.com |
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Joel on Software |
A weblog by Joel Spolsky, a programmer working in New York City, about software and software companies. |
www.joelonsoftware.com |
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Amazon.com Software: Computer & video games, business, accounting ... |
Online shopping for computer & video games, business & office productivity software, software from Microsoft, Apple, Adobe & more; accounting, antivirus, ... |
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IBM Software - Home Page |
IBM home page for all of its software products, including Lotus and Tivoli, with keyword search, category browse and AZ product names. |
www.ibm.com |
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Opera web browser: Homepage |
Copyright © 2006 Opera Software ASA. All rights reserved. Skip navigation. Opera Software ... Copyright Opera Software ASA . All rights reserved. ... |
www.opera.com |
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Google Directory - Computers > Software |
Search only in Software Search the Web ... Software Categorized by Letter: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z ... |
www.google.com |
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