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Are you wondering how you can keep your private life offline? Here are ten tips for personal privacy on the Internet.

1. Set the Ground Rules:

Make protecting your privacy a regular and important part of the online habits for your entire family. If you spend even a little bit of time thinking about the best ways to protect your personal privacy online, then it only requires a small amount of effort for you to prevent large problems from occurring. Create a written use agreement for the Internet and have your entire family sign it, so there will be less debate about what family members can and cannot do online.

2. Use Security Features:

Make use of the security features that your wireless network affords you. By taking advantage of these built-in security features, you can better control who has access to your Internet connection and when.

3. Control Pop-Ups:

Use the capabilities of your web browser to control the pop-ups and cookies that you are exposed to. Pop-ups may not be capable of causing harm by themselves, but they tend to also be associated with aggressive forms of advertising that can fraudulently attempt to obtain your financial and personal information. Use your browser capabilities to control what pop-ups and cookies you deal with while browsing the Internet.

4. Use Security Software:

Use privacy protection software applications, including anti-spyware, anti-virus and firewall programs. These kinds of programs are often bundled in when you purchase a brand new computer. Some are even offered by your Internet service provider for free. If you do not already have them, they are well worth the investment if it means protecting your privacy online.

5. Schedule Regular Updates:

Update your operating system and your privacy protection applications on a regular basis. These updates tend to be free to download, and can mean a lot for increased protection on your computer.

6. Use Strong Passwords:

Learn how to create the right types of passwords. Passwords should not be dictionary words, and should combine letters, numbers and special characters as well in order to be the most effective.

7. Keep Passwords Safe:

Keep a private record of the passwords, usernames and other vital information for every member of your family. Keep this information away from your computer, rather than storing it online where other people can potentially get a hold of it. I recommend using RoboForm, a password management software program - not only does it generate passwords for you but it will store them all in one place that you can access with a master password.

8. Don’t Share Personal Information:

Do not volunteer any personal information for any reason. If it is not required of you, simply do not provide it.

9. Use an Alias:

Use online aliases and nicknames whenever you can. Unless inputting your name is legally required, there is no reason to use it. Do not give out your true name, your phone number or your address to someone online unless you absolutely must.

10. Keep Family Internet Use Transparent:

Review the activities of your family as often as you can. If you find out that a family member is practicing bad habits for online security and privacy, set them straight and change those habits before a problem is born. You do not want the wrong people to find out important information about you or your family, so act accordingly when you spend your time online.

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Virus infection on your computer may cause a very serious damage and even loss on your business. You can just imagine it may wreck your system registry or your entire computer (with all your receivables data on it!) or all your HTML programs! It will come to total black out screen, it will not boot at all. But that is actually the worse scenario that may happen. Are you going to wait for this worse scenario in your life to happen? I guess NOT, right?

Here are the 10 smart ways that I personally do to protect my computers against viruses, malicious dialers and spywares.

(1)If you are using Windows XP, always turn on the firewall.

(2)Always run all necessary latest updates & service packs (all windows! including all your programs & software!—keep them updated)

(3)Run your anti-virus program everyday (some do it every week) There are many virus programs that you can get for free scanning.

(4)Run your anti-spyware/adaware once a week (I run Spybot Search & Destroy & Lavasoft Adware Personal — they are shareware, meaning it’s free!). What I do is that, I run the Lavasoft Adware first, then run the Spybot Search and Destroy (I also run it with “immunize” tool). These two tools are always on top of my desktop for easy access.

(5)Turn on the pop-up blocker - this feature is available on Windows XP (you can see this under tools>Internet Options >Privacy>click Block Pop Ups. In addition to this, I also download another pop up blocker, the Google Toolbar. I find their pop up blocker the most effective in blocking pop ups.

(6)Never open mails that are suspicious to you or not known to you. If they are in your bulk mail, send it back to your provider as “spam”! I never enable my bulk mail. I automatically delete emails from my bulk mail.

(7)When using messenger (IM) services, be very careful with files being sent through instant messenger. Rather choose to have it emailed it to you. Most of email services now has virus check and clears it if the file has virus or not.

(8)Be very careful when downloading files or any programs from the internet, pay attention on the instructions while downloading it. Downloading may sometimes cause error on the system registry or the entire computer system (one example, my nephew got his computer badly infected with viruses because of heavy downloading of games and music! - I guess!)

(9)Be careful with files that come from a floppy disk or any other external storage when you open it in your CD ROM of floppy drive. You should know its source, or better yet, when you insert it, have it scanned with your anti-virus program before you open the files.

(10)Run defragmentation, disk clean up, registry scanner at least once a week. You can find defragmentation by simply pointing your mouse on drive C: (which is usually the hard disk main logical drive)> right click the mouse>click on properties>click on tools>click on defragment now!

There are so many shareware on the internet that you can get for free! (that is the reason it is a shareware!). Keeping your computer healthy can make you more productive (if you have a business!) or it will make you enjoy more surfing and browsing the internet!

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Spyware is a scourge for many PC users. Spyware not only covertly runs in the background and steals personal information of the user it is a potential security threat of which the extent of the damage cannot be determined. Though it is important to install anti-Spyware and anti-Adware on your system there are other utilities that must be used to clean the system registry every month or two. These tools include good free Spyware removal software among other security measures the user can take to protect the computer from malicious attack such as Viruses, Spyware and Adware.

Windows Inbuilt Internet Security Settings

Microsoft has built into its operating system and Internet Explorer many settings that enhance the Internet security of the system. In addition to this there are settings that can prevent, to a great extent, Adware and Spyware from installing on the system. It is however, imperative that there be anti-Spyware and anti-virus software on the system to prevent serious and more consistent Spyware and virus attacks. The security settings on the system serve to aid this front-end security software. The firewall settings on Windows wards off many attacks though this is not always effective as third party security software.

Anti-Spyware and Registry

Anti-Spyware is third party software that constantly watches over the operating system. It also scans the system on a regular basis or preset intervals such as every time the system boots or shuts down. It mainly scans the activity of Internet Explorer. If it detects any activity not initiated by the user it immediately sounds an alarm and removes the cause of the activity, the Spyware. Once the Spyware has been removed the remnants must be cleaned from the registry. Free Spyware Adware remover tools can do the job efficiently. This software scans the registry for Spyware and redundant entries and deletes these entries. If traces of Spyware are left in the registry they will serve to slow down the system and may also download the Spyware again from the Internet. A Spyware removal utility is another free Spyware removal software that scans and cleans the registry very efficiently. This free Spyware Adware removal tool also has a registry backup function to restore the registry to its original state if things go awry.

In the final analysis it is determined that no amount of security measures are enough to protect the system from malicious attack. The internal security measures of the system must be set as high as possible without hampering the efficiency of the system as well as having third party software such as anti-Spyware and anti-adware software installed on the system to enhance the system security.

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Your computer contracting a computer virus is one of the biggest nightmares most of us could face. A virus could delete data from your computer, replicate itself and send it to everyone in your email address book, or even make your computer inoperable. A professional computer repair service can help you should any of these problems arise, but there are steps you can take beforehand to prevent this from happening.

Install anti-virus software on your computer and any computers that access your network. Make sure that the anti-virus software you’ve chosen is able to be updated when new viruses are found and then make sure they are kept up to date. It is important to update your anti-virus software both regularly and in a short time after the virus updates become available. Computer viruses can spread rapidly and attack with no notice, it would be a shame to lose data or a network when all it would’ve taken to make it secure would’ve been the installation of a virus update. If you have a business and some employees use either their own laptops from home or company laptops they take home or on the road with them, make sure that these are also kept up to date when it comes to their anti-virus packages.

Another thing to stay current and up-to-date on is software patches. Many software manufacturers, Microsoft included, offer patches to download and install if there are improvements to their security or to fix holes found in the security of the software they offer. Sometimes, it is easier to be well informed as to the availability of software patches if you join a mailing list from the company the software was purchased from.

An additional level of security can be provided if you can filter emails either at the network gateway, or at the Internet Service Provider’s (ISP) end of things. If spam and malicious email are filtered out before they reach a user’s computer there is a much better chance that their effects will be negated.

Being aware as to the signs of a virus is another piece of knowledge that all users should have. By being aware of your computer’s operating performance and alerting the proper people when that performance changes you may stop the damage from being done if a virus infection does occur.

Keep an eye out for email attachments that contain a file with more than one extension. If a file ends in .jpg.vbs it may appear to be a graphic image of some kind but it most likely is not. This is another method virus writers use to fool people into voluntarily downloading a virus. If you ever question whether a file you are going to download from a website or open from an attachment is legitimate or not, don’t download or install it until you can get the advice of a computer professional. For investigative purposes, it is also possible to type in the name of the file into the search field of your favorite search engine and if it is a virus it may come up with a link to a forum where people are discussing it.

It is also a good idea to protect your gateway with a firewall. This is true for a personal computer, company or home network, and for laptops that are used away from the office. These laptops that are used from home or from hotels will not be protected by the company’s network firewall and will need protection installed directly on them.

Making regular backups of your data is another way to protect yourself from at least the damage that some viruses can do. Although this step will not protect you from a virus, it will make it so that if a virus were to strike and delete your data, all would not be lost as you would have a recent backup in the form of a zip drive, online storage, cd-roms, or some other type of data storage.

While the damage a virus can do can be extreme, there are ways to protect yourself so that it doesn’t happen to you. Though there are some instances when a well protected system will be infiltrated by a computer virus anyway, you are definitely improving your odds by being well informed and having a computer system that is well protected.

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There was a time when you could connect to the internet and did not have to know what a computer virus is. Nowadays you cannot browse the internet without having anti virus and firewall software protection. Here are a few questions related to computer viruses, anti viruses and firewall software:

What is a computer virus?

A computer virus is a software program that is programmed to steal personal data, destroy computer files or just create chaos. It usually infects a file so that it is not a stand alone file anymore but is copied and activated together with the host file. It is called a computer virus because of its replicating nature.

Cyber-thieves use computer viruses and other types of malicious software such as Trojans, spyware and worms. The latest most common goal among the cyber-thieves is financial gain by either stealing your internet banking login details, other passwords or by replacing a legitimate affiliate’s cookie with the thief’s affiliate cookie just before online sales are made.

What is antivirus software?

Antivirus software recognizes malicious software (sometimes even before you download them to your computer) and then does one of to things: It either heals the infected host file by removing the virus from the file or if that is not possible it will quarantine the whole file to a virus vault.

What is the best anti virus software?

You can compare different anti virus software programs and at the end there will be more than one that you might consider being the best for you.

It all depends or your needs and the amount you are willing to pay for the peace of mind when you are online. Since the destruction that is sometimes caused by a computer virus can have you fork out quite a lot, I suggest you look into getting at least comprehensive anti virus protection.

Is an Anti Virus Program 100% effective?

No. I think that it is better if you browse the internet using outdated antivirus and firewall software, than not using any protection at all. But even with the latest virus signatures known to the anti virus software, you may still be hit by a newer virus.

The best combination of antivirus and firewall software is still available as free software and therefore no one can use any excuse other than common ignorance for not having an anti virus and firewall software.

What is a Trojan? A Trojan is a malicious program that usually appears to be legitimate. It’s name is derived from the Trojan Horse that was used in the Trojan War where soldiers were hidden in a horse made from wood and who came out at night and attacked the city of Troy.

A Trojan virus is the name that is given to classify the nature of specific malicious software.

What is a worm? The name Computer worm is given to the computer virus that that is programmed not to attach to other files but to just make copies of itself and to spread as far and wide as possible using every network connection available.

What is the most dangerous virus of all time? That is a difficult question. I would think that is the Sobig.F worm that was activated in 2003. If you know who created this virus you can claim a $250,000 bounty reported by Microsoft to be paid to anyone who can tell who the author of this virus was.

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If you have used a Windows machine for a while, whether it’s Windows XP, Windows 2000, or Windows 98, you’re sure to have noticed desktop icons appearing from out of nowhere. How can icons mysteriously emerge on your Windows desktop?

1. When you buy a computer, many vendors place icons to selected products and services on your desktop, such as links to high-speed Internet Service Providers (ISPs) or add-on services vendors think you may need.

2. As you install software on your Windows machine, icons may appear, either to start the application or link to the manufacturer’s website. Installing just one program could add three or more icons to your desktop!

3. It’s easy to accidentally drag a Favorite, bookmark, text file, or other icon to your desktop, creating an icon.

Normally, it’s easy to delete Windows desktop icons. Just place your mouse pointer on the offending icon, then right-click it and choose “Delete”, clicking “Yes” to confirm if prompted.

However, what if the rogue icons are for adult websites, unfamiliar search engines, or other websites you don’t recall visiting? You may try removing these icons but get an error, or after removal they still reappear again and again and again!

If so, then more than likely spyware, adware, or other malware has infected your machine. It may have been through file trading software, an inadvertent “yes” click when a popup window asked you to install software, ‘freeware’ that included adware, or other means. To remove the rogue icons, you need to remove the malware creating these icons.

Removing spyware and adware can be a time-consuming process, fraught with potential disaster as it is possible to accidentally remove files that render your operating system unusable. However, the following software products can help with this process as long as you read the instructions carefully, make backups, and get expert advice if you’re not completely sure about removing what they ask you to do:

* Ad-Aware: http://www.lavasoft.com/

* Microsoft Windows AntiSpyware: http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/

* Pest Patrol: http://www.pestpatrol.com/

* Spybot Search and Destroy: http://safer-networking.org/

* Spy Sweeper: http://www.webroot.com/

So, how can you prevent these icons from appearing in the first place? Practice safe computing.

* Backup your machine. If it does get infected to the point of being unusable, at least you won’t lose all your important files.

* Install security-related operating system updates so spyware and adware cannot enter your system through well-known exploits.

* Download or buy a virus scanner, and keep it updated! Virus scanners cannot detect all spyware, but it doesn’t hurt to have one. Check online or visit your local computer software store.

* Purchase a hardware or software firewall, and keep it updated! Firewalls help protect your computer from common exploits that spyware or adware can use to infect your machine.

* Consider using a different web browser. Though it is not perfect, Mozilla Firefox is currently less susceptible to spyware than Internet Explorer, mainly because it lacks certain technology (such as ActiveX) that is often exploited by malware writers. Note that depending on your web use, certain websites may not work correctly with other web browsers.

By practicing safe computing and using spyware-removal software, you can help remove rogue desktop icons from your desktop and keep others from appearing.

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As technology has improved significantly over the last decade, criminals have become proportionately smarter and savvier. This is especially true in the online world - the universe where crooks can hide behind e-mails, websites and fake personas. Unfortunately, these same criminals would like to find their way into your bank account. However, there are some simple tips that you can follow to make for a safe online banking experience.

PROTECT YOUR PASSWORD: Your password is the key that opens the gate to your online bank account. As such, crooks would love to know this vital piece of information. To prevent this, make sure your password is not too personal. Avoid using your birthday, phone number, or social security number in your password. Craft a password that is a combination of impersonal letters and numbers. The longer, the better. It is also recommended that you change your password every few months or so.

BEWARE OF SUSPICIOUS EMAILS: Those wanting to steal personal information online often resort to what is called “phishing”. In this practice, criminals may send emails asking for credit card info, PINs (personal identification numbers), or passwords. Crooks in the online banking world often send emails that seem to be from legitimate financial institutions. These emails can appear to be convincing because they contain the logo of a real online bank. However, these emails often contain a link that leads you to a fake site designed to lure you into compromising personal information.

These suspicious emails can be easily recognized because they will usually fail to address you correctly, they contain many grammatical errors and they have links to suspicious or unfamiliar domains. If an email is questionable, it is always safe to check with your financial institution. Legitimate emails from your online bank will typically follow the same standards each time. They will usually address you by your proper name and will never ask you for your password, PIN, or credit card information. A legitimate online bank will usually notify you of its security standards on their official site. If all else fails, then call customer service to get clarity on your bank’s security policies.

USE ANTI-VIRUS AND FIREWALL PROTECTION: When it comes to online banking, anti-virus software and firewall protection can prove to be invaluable. Be sure to get the best protection your money can buy. High prices don’t always guarantee the best quality. Shop around and consult computer experts or PC magazines to find the highest rated products. Anti-virus and firewall protection keeps your computer safe from viruses that can steal space on your computer’s hard drive or rob personal information from you.

COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR FINANCIAL INSTITUTION: Never hesitate to get help from your financial institution if you think you may have accidentally submitted your personal information to a fraudulent website. As a matter of fact, contact them quickly if this ever occurs. Also, be sure your bank has your current mailing address and phone number(s). If they wish to contact you with sensitive information, then they will likely make a phone call and/or send you something in the mail concerning the matter.

Online banking can be both a convenient and safe way to manage your finances. However, just as with anything else, the necessary precautions have to be taken in order to ensure the safest experience possible.

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Has your computer been taken over by a spyware program? Are you desperately seeking a spyware destructor to get rid of that pesky nuisance once and for all?

Spyware is any software that covertly gathers user information through the user’s Internet connection without his or her knowledge, usually for advertising purposes. Spyware applications can get onto your computer by hiding behind freeware or shareware programs that can be downloaded from the Internet, or it can attach itself to a variety of Web sites. It can even be spread by e-mail. The programs are designed to collect user personal information and send it out through a background Internet connection without the user’s knowledge and consent. Spyware silently tracks user’s web browsing habits, records visited web sites and logs taken actions.

Spyware is not illegal in and of itself, but some argue that it ought to be. Besides reporting on what web sites you visit, it has the capacity to record and report a log of your keystrokes and the documents you work on.

So what do you do when you have been infected? Fortunately there are many software solutions out there (too many, actually!).

First, I want to caution you towards using a “free” program to combat your spyware. Free programs typically aren’t strong enough, and in most cases are actually spyware themselves!

I would suggest finding a reputable company, one that has a decent history in helping people get rid of spyware, and has software that is well reviewed.

I would also suggest purchasing software that you know is going to be updated regularly. New spyware comes out every day, and only the best programs will put out continuous updates to help you continue to fight the newer types of programs.

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Are you worried about something cooking in your spouse’s life? Then you certainly don’t need a detective to keep a watch on your husband but instead install Keylogger software that will help to catch your cheating spouse red handed and monitor his internet activity. Internet has become the trendy way to stay connected and for this people try to create false identities and hide their true identities.

There are many different types of software available through which you can keep tabs on your cheating spouse. The Keylogger software helps to log on to certain specific activities of your spouse and tries to maintain a record of the emails they send and the documents and messages that they delete and also help to save the screen shots of the sites that they have visited.

Your husband can be caught red handed with the cold hard facts on the computer as proof that can’t be denied and this makes it difficult for your husband to make up excuses and justify all his wrong doings. But people who try to use the Key logger software should be prepared for the unpredictable as they never know what the software may have in store for them. They have to take all the information and details with a heart of steel as it may break them emotionally and mentally by getting to know the harsh realities.

People who use this software should be composed and focused otherwise their spouse might be able to detect something and this will make it harder for you to keep tabs on him.

Always be careful when you buy Keylogger software as a full flash version is more preferable because the free programs that you opt for keep splashing their advertisements on the computer screen and this may make your spouse suspicious.

Keeping tabs on your spouse and catching him red handed will turn out to be a very tough job unless you start using Keylogger software that ensures full secrecy with a lot of detailed information that certainly makes it worthwhile.

The Keylogger software is a real blessing in disguise for people who are stuck with cheating spouses and the Keylogging software will provide you proofs. The software are encrypted and are not detectable by monitored users. It can be secretly installed in your computer and can be invisible to your spouses because of its untraceable module that will keep you informed of the whereabouts of your spouse’s internet accessibility.

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Just when you thought your Gmail was safe, hackers have found a way to hijack your email accounts. This was revealed some months ago when Gmail customer support started getting concerned letters about the amount of spam received in their Gmail accounts.

This phenomenon is caused by hackers hijacking your Gmail account using a technique called Cross Site Request Forgery (CSRF), Techniques requires that you click a link on a dummy hacker site, spam mail or a pop up ad while logged into your Gmail account. This action can transplant a digital spy in the form of a cookie or java script code into your PC. When your Gmail account is open, this digital spy tricks your web browser into sending an invisible request to Gmail servers.

This request could be to download your account data, your contact list, or your emails. As long as you kept your Gmail account open the digital spy could download info uninterrupted until you logged out of your account. This technique could also load spam and other hacker scripts into your Gmail account. The stolen information would be used to pilfer other account information. Or hackers can profit by selling the Gmail account info to spammers for the highest price.

Google was able to respond to the Gmail flaw quickly by tightening up their security structure. But, the CSRF attack can work also with your Google Toolbar and other websites, not only Gmail. If hackers are able to hijack your Gmail accounts, this technology could be used to request financial information when you’re a doing online transactions. There have been reports that CSRF attacks were able to initiate the transfer money by embedding a java script code in the web browsers during online banking activity.

A CSRF technique relies primarily on the users’ ignorance and trust they have for major websites. There are techniques that would reduce this kind of attack from happening. Here is a simple strategy to stop hackers from stealing your online information.

1. Never instruct your browser to remember your login information. This allows hackers to easily enter your trusted sites using a hijacked web browser.

2. Set your browser to block cookies or a least require notification before being loaded. Also perform a “secure delete” of cookie history after logging off the net. Visit www.delete-computer-history.com/delete-cookie-history for instructions.

3. Use a third party firewall with settings at high security to monitor incoming and outgoing net traffic.

4. Use Firefox as your primary web browser. Firefox’s active development allows the web browser to immediately respond to security threats. For example, downloading the No Script Firefox add-on will guard you against this kind of attack.

5. Always logout of your websites when activity is finished. And log off from the net when your online activity is completed.

If you following these simple techniques you are already many steps ahead of most PC users. This action also provides a decent amount of online security against these kinds of attacks. However, online security flaws are not necessarily the fault of the internet users. Security flaws in a trusted website is the major avenue used for an attack. Trust in major sites is the weapon CSRF attackers use to steal information. For this reason Gmail and other web mail providers are the best places for hackers to launch an attack.

All in all, having a constant broadband connection to the net comes with a high price. The price is your security. If you don’t protect yourself the door to your online personal information is open. And leaving the door open for anyone to enter your home or in this case your computer.

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