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Can You Restore Your Data From Your Backup?
Can You Restore Your Data From Your Backup? -By Per Strandberg (c) 2003 data-backup-and-storage.com Making backup is vital! For small business people the value of their business is often stored on their computers. Emails, contracts, PowerPoint...
Event Planning Software: A Beginners Guide to Appointment and Event Management
When you enter the world of event planning, the one thing you
realize very quickly is that flexibility is a necessity. Your
event planning software will need to track appointments you have
set, events you are planning, your journal or diary...
Finding Free Help Desk Software
Many companies recognize the benefits of help desk software. From streamlining technical inquiries to responding quickly to customer issues, help desk software has become a basic part of most company's business strategies. Pricing can vary and some...
Movable Type 3.2: A Blogging Software
Movable Type 3.2 is one of the best weblog publishing platform
for organizations businesses, web developers and developers. It
has powerful customization features that give the control over
everything you publish and the elegant interface keeps...
The Metaphors of the Net - Part I
I. The Genetic Blueprint A decade after the invention of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee is promoting the "Semantic Web". The Internet hitherto is a repository of digital content. It has a rudimentary inventory system and very crude data...
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Who's Peering Into Your Computer?
Have any passwords, love letters, naughty pictures or sensitive business information stored on your hard drive? It's almost embarrassingly easy for a hacker to break into a networked computer and retrieve your personal information.
Does your computer have an interior microphone or an interior video recorder? If yes, these technologies can be activated without your knowledge. Hackers can not only get your data files, but they can record sound and video files of the conversations and activities taking place in your work area.
Almost everyone knows the importance of protecting their system against viruses. My anti-virus software knocks off at least 3-4 viruses every week. And most people with a direct Internet connection (i.e. cable, ADSL) know the importance of installing firewall software. My excellent (and free) Zone Alarm firewall (www.zonelabs.com/) protects me from hacks coming through open computer ports.
But recently I learned about a third threat -- the potential danger of malicious codes coming in through ports that I must leave open in order to access the Internet. Hostile ActiveX codes, Java codes and Windows scrap objects can be buried in Rich Text email, embedded in documents, hidden in games and electronic postcards, or downloaded from web sites.
It's a safe bet that no responsible webmaster has knowingly placed hostile code on the site. However, many sites are vulnerable to attacks from hackers, and hackers have no such scruples. Imagine logging on to your favorite sports site and unknowingly downloading hostile code that damages your operating system, installs software that allows third parties to use your computer for denial of service attacks, or makes your personal data available to prying eyes. For full information, refer to an article recently published on ZDNET. http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/stories/story/0,10738,2764074,00.html
To discover whether your system is vulnerable, visit Finjan web site and try their three online tests. They'll check your system for vulnerability to hacks from malicious ActiveX, Java and Windows scrap objects. I was shocked to discover that Finjan's code was able to hack my system easily and quickly. As proof, it created a desktop folder and named it You Have Been Hacked. The folder contained a sampling of Word documents found on my hard drive and a ten-second .wav recording of the sounds in my workstation. Scary. This information, and more, would have been readily available to anyone who wanted to hack in. Needless to
say, I installed Finjan's free SurfinGuard Pro software for protection. I'd recommend any Windows users try these tests. You might be glad you did (http://www.finjan.com/).
Interested in knowing just how much information a skilled hacker could get from your machine? Check out this web site called Beyond Enemy Lines: http://belps.freewebsites.com
The webmaster, Man in the Wilderness (MITW), claims to be an Internet security expert. MITW is apparently a "white hat" hacker who uses his skills to protect his customers from attack.
As the story goes, the head of a professional spamming operation repeatedly forged MITW's domain for spamming purposes. (Professional spammers typically hide their identities by using forged domains.) Finally, in retaliation, MITW hacked the spammer's computer and published his findings on this web site. The details make fascinating reading.
After breaking into this woman's system, our white-hat hacker obtained and published screen captures of spam software while it was using his forged domain name to send thousands of emails. MITW also obtained copies of email messages discussing various spam operations, ICQ message logs and much more. Similarly, he found and published semi-nude pictures of the woman and her colleagues and samples of erotic writing found on the computer.
Some might say that this woman deserved what happened to her. Perhaps she did. If the content on the site is true, she was involved in some particularly nasty activities. However, the real message is just how vulnerable our computers can be to hackers if we aren't more than a little careful.
This woman and her cohorts were running a professional spamming operation. You might think they, of all people, would have protected themselves against hackers. But they did not. Perhaps, like me, they thought they were protected. Remember that my computer was vulnerable in the Finjan testing, despite running up-to-the minute virus software and a firewall that is rated as one of the best.
How about you? Could you stand up to a hacker attack? Protecting a computer is now a three- pronged fork. We need anti-virus software, firewalls and malicious code blocking software.
About the Author
June Campbell Writing Services by Nightcats Multimedia Productions -- FREE eBook, "Beginner's Guide to Ecommerce" -- Newsletter, business articles, email marketing course -- How-to guides for business proposals, business plans, -- JV contracts, brochure designs http://www.nightcats.com
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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. |
www.shareware.com |
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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. |
www.jumbo.com |
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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. ... |
www.apple.com |
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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, ... |
www.sun.com |
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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, ... |
www.amazon.com |
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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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