Tag Archives: search
Recession Job Search |Leila’s House of Corrections
October 28th, 2009. Published under Unemployment. No Comments.
With unemployment at its highest in twenty years, it is one of the hardest times to be looking for a job. Leila suggests tuning out negativity, using your network carefully, and doing your research to raise your chances of success.
Follow this link:
Recession Job Search |Leila’s House of Corrections
Turn Unemployment into Real Gold!
October 26th, 2009. Published under Unemployment. No Comments.
You can win a pot of real gold! Visit www.EmployTheUnemployed.com to get contest details.
More here:
Turn Unemployment into Real Gold!
Crackers Commit Identity Theft Scams Via Rigged ATMs
October 24th, 2009. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.
Recently crackers have turned to rigging independent ATM machines (those found in groceries, gas stations, restaurants, and other small establishments) to defraud customers. Usually, the owner of the establishment gets a small fee on every transaction as rent for having the machine in his or her store. Some crackers, as well as organized crime groups, have been modifying machines so that the machine scans the customer’s ATM card and stores the account data along with the personal identification number (PIN). The criminals then take that data, create forged ATM cards , and clean out the victim’s account. To date this has only occurred with independent ATMs, not bank-owned machines. Perhaps the most common type of fraud committed by crackers is identity theft. Crackers steal personal data, either by cracking computers or through scams, referred to as social engineering, designed to trick people into revealing personal data. A cracker may pose as an employee of an Internet service provider (such as AOL) and attempt to get your password. Other scams include setting up fake Internet storefronts to collect credit card data. When the crackers collect enough data, they steal the identity of the victims and get credit issued under the victims’ names. Always proceed with caution : Guard your Personal information both online and offline; never divulge it to anyone, least of all to strangers who e-mail you and claim to be from your bank, credit card company, or ISP. Vigilance can help protect you from crackers and script kiddies intent on defrauding you.
Read the original:
Crackers Commit Identity Theft Scams Via Rigged ATMs
Out of a job – Now what? Part – 2
October 24th, 2009. Published under Unemployment. No Comments.
The second part of a three part series. How to Lead With Honor after you’ve lost a job. How to stay motivated during your search for employment
Windows 7 Has Improved Security Features Built In
October 22nd, 2009. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.
Microsoft has brought a new entrant into the operating system wars and it’s name is Windows 7 . After Windows Vista has pretty much turned out to be a dud, even though the security in the system proved to be much improved over previous version of Windows, Microsoft seems to have found a winner in Windows 7 and especially in their expanded security front. The tools are now easier to use and the capabilities of the security that are built in has been expanded as well. I will go over with you, the built in tools that you should be utilizing to keep Windows 7 a fun experience. User Account Control (UAC) The first thing that the people over at Microsoft have done to make the dealing with security of Windows a better experience is to make the UAC (User Account Control) a more pleasurable item to work with. The UAC now allows less software events to make it create a pop up. This will cause more users to not want to turn it off so they will have a sane computing experience! The main problem in Windows Vista was the fact that this pop up would go off an insane amount of times, causing many of the complaints that Vista received. The new UAC also has four levels of security warnings, ranging from “always notify” to “never notify”. “Never notify” is a better option than to turn it off completely. Even though you do not see the pop up warnings, UAC is still working in the background, allowing you to still be protected. BitLocker Encryption An innovation that Microsoft introduced in Vista was the BitLocker feature. This allowed you to encrypt and protect your hard drive. This feature was limited in Vista to protecting your main partition and other drives surrounding it. Now you are able to encrypt and protect portable media as well. This is a big improvement and will allow you to feel safe if you ever lose your thumb drive while walking around your city or neighborhood. Also Microsoft has allowed BitLocker to be used without the TPM chip being built onto the computer motherboard. This allows everyone to have the option of having their drives protected. It is not the default choice and you will have to activate the ability to use Bitlocker without the chip. Additional Security Features Microsoft has many more new and improved security features that have been built into Windows 7. This list includes the new Direct Access, which allows workers to seamlessly connect to their work network automatically and securely, as well as Applocker, which prevents unauthorized scripts and programs from running on the machine. These are mostly security features that will interest IT administrators so I will not go into detail about them here. Overall Microsoft has done well in improving their security features in Windows 7. Being built upon a decent security scheme, such as Vista, and making it more user friendly as well has created a better overall experience. It has really brought them into the world of having a grade A security system.
Read more here:
Windows 7 Has Improved Security Features Built In
Adecco Group’s workplace economy – October 2009
October 22nd, 2009. Published under Unemployment. No Comments.
In this brief Q&A session, Adecco Group North America CEO, Tig Gilliam gives an in-depth analysis of the most recent jobs report, discusses employer trends, provides advice for job seekers and more. … “Adecco Group” “Ajilon Professional” Consulting Adecco Ajilon employment unemployment job market economy workplace jobs search agency hunting postings web sites “September Jobs Report”
Continue reading here:
Adecco Group’s workplace economy – October 2009
Avoiding Spyware With Windows 7
October 22nd, 2009. Published under Scams. No Comments.
You should, by now, be aware that Microsoft is introducing a brand new operating system into its Windows line of OS. The new operating system is called Windows 7 and from running it, it seems to be a more stable and more secured operating system. This is very good news for people that may have had security issues with Microsoft products in the past. Unfortunately some security issues still remain that will not be helped by simply upgrading your operating system. Spyware still remains a constant annoyance when you are using a computer. I will try to walk you down the way of avoiding spyware on your system by using common sense and new upgraded technology from Windows and other third party software vendors. Microsoft has spent years trying to help their third party software creators come up with a solution to the spyware problem. Windows Defender Finally a couple of years ago they threw their hat into the ring and introduced a new product called Windows Defender. This product was shipped with Windows Vista and was available as a free download to Windows XP users. Now it is again being shipped with Windows 7 and has been much improved. This system was put down by professional security people in the past but this new updated edition has been getting good reviews for the most part. Microsoft have taken what they have learned and improved this product a great deal. Third Party Anti-Spyware Vendors You will also have third party software vendors that are coming to the party, trying to protect your computer from devious spyware offenders. Most of the major spyware software manufacturers have been upgraded to include protection for Windows 7 systems. A lot of these software companies have had to use beta Windows 7 software to test their product so they might be a step behind the companies that Microsoft has closely worked with. With the release of the new operating system though this will not be an issue much longer. Once they get their hands on the final OS version, they will be able to keep up with anyone. The software products Ad-Aware or Malwarebytes still seem to be the best of the breed when it comes to software solutions. It doesn’t matter if you have the best software on your computer if you do not keep it updated on a regular basis though. Internet Security Begins And Ends With YOU! All of the increase technology that comes with installing a new operating system version will not mean anything if you are not using common sense while surfing the Internet. New technology works a lot better if the person operating the new technology does not work against it. I do not mean to be harsh but a lot of the problems that people get involved in can usually be avoided with a little common sense. Most of the time people realize this themselves when they sit and think about it, after they have made the blunder. So the first thing is that you do not want to go to any strange web sites while surfing the Internet. If you are not sure about a web site, Google it first to see if anybody has complained about it. Most web sites that will compromise your system have already been ran across and someone has complained about them. Also do not download any software or files from people you do not know that you may receive through email or Instant Messenger systems. This is rarely legitimate and I would even suggest that files that you receive from friends you double check. Email them first and ask if they sent their files and where did they get the file from. We have given you both software and common sense solutions that may help you avoid getting spyware or something worse into your system. It is up to you to maintain vigilance and keep your system safe.
Continue reading here:
Avoiding Spyware With Windows 7
Taking Screen Shots Can Help With Data Recovery
October 21st, 2009. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.
Losing your computer is something that no-one wants to happen. You have lots of valuable information on your computer, and maybe music and pictures too, that might not be stored anywhere else. Thats why you should always back up your files, programs and pictures. There are a lot of methods you can use to backup this valuable information. One of those is taking snapshots which is a great way to save aggravation when things go wrong. Whenever you have downloaded a new program get into the habit of taking a snapshot. You can download free programs such as Gimp, or you can purchase one like paint shop pro, that will allow you to take screen shots. When you take the screen shots, get a USB flash drive and store it up in your drive. Recording and taking screen shots of whatever you’re doing will help you no end when an error comes up on your computer. If you have never backed up any information before you should get at least two USB flash drives to ensure that you will be able to back up everything. If you have used up almost all of your spare storage space, you might even consider buying three of them. Always clean out your cookies everyday or every couple of days. It varies on every computer where you can clean out your cookies but they also have free cookie programs that perform a deep clean on your computer. Cleaning out your cookies is vital because it will help with making sure things don’t go wrong on your computer.
Profile of Unemployed
October 20th, 2009. Published under Unemployment. No Comments.
Two individuals, Jon Pelc and Cheryl Brown, have recently lost their full-time jobs and discuss their experiences looking for work at various job fairs and career websites.
See original here:
Profile of Unemployed
How To Lock Your Network’s Front Door
October 20th, 2009. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.
Securing your network The following security measures are relatively easy to implement, provided you read the manuals that came with your wireless devices. “The manual?” you ask. Yes, the manual. You know, it’s the thing propping up the short leg on your computer desk. Take it out for now; you’ll only have to deal with the wobble until we’re done. None of the measures described here are particularly dramatic, and there are ways to get around them. But, doing so requires some skill and understanding of networking. In this case, they serve as a sort of “intellectual firewall ” that prevents script kiddies from cracking your network. These steps include the following: 1. Change the default SSID. 2. Disable SSID broadcast. 3. Change the default IP subnet. 4. Consider disabling DHCP. 5. Enable MAC address filtering. 6. Change default administrative passwords. 7. Change default user names. 8. Enable WEP or WPA encryption. 9. Adjust broadcast power. 10. Set minimum connection speeds. 11. Set access times. Change the default SSID The first step toward making a WLAN reasonably secure is changing the default SSID. This is important because anyone using a wireless sniffer can determine what sort of access point you use by looking at the default SSID. Knowing your access point model allows the cracker to guess the rest of the default settings and attack your WLAN that much easier. Don’t change the name to something obvious like your street address (I have actually seen this done) or your name. Consider using random numbers or even changing it to something tike “NOTPUBLIC” or “NOTRESSPASSING” just to make a point. Disable SSID broadcast Wireless access points are set to broadcast the SSID by default. Turn this feature off to make it harder for casual wardrivers to discover your network’s name. It won’t stop a determined cracker from discovering it, though, because wireless NICs always broadcast the SSB3 when communicating with the access point. The procedure for disabling SSID broadcast is different for each manufacturer, so consult your access point’s manual. Once you turn off SSID broadcast, you have to configure each NIC manually and input the new SSID. Change the default IP subnet The next thing you should consider doing is changing the default subnet IP addresses. Each manufacturer has a default IP subnet, and this can make it easy for an attacker to discover the IP address of your access point. Consider also disabling DHCP and assigning static IP addresses. Consider disabling DHCP Most access points support built-in DHCP service. This allows the access point to assign IP addresses dynamically to new computers as they connect to the network and to computers that are reconnecting after a shutdown or reboot. This also allows an intruder to connect to the WLAN and have the access point assign him an IP address, which makes the intruder’s computer a legitimate member of the WLAN. By disabling DHCP, you make this far more difficult. You have to assign permanent (static) IP addresses to each computer on your WLAN and manually configure them. Once again, this is an extra step, but it is well worth the effort. Insider insight : Without DHCP enabled, an intruder has to monitor and analyze network traffic in an attempt to determine the IP subnet and addresses in use He can then assign himself an IP address and attempt to establish a connection. This makes it difficult for casual sniffers and neophyte intruders to access your WLAN. Enable MAC address filtering Another step that you can, and should, take is to enable MAC address filtering. Remember that each network device has a unique MAC address assigned by the manufacturer. Many access points have an option that allows you to restrict access to specific MAC addresses. This should block any MAC addresses that are not on the “allow” list from connecting to the network. This is effective, but it is not perfect. An intruder can monitor network traffic and discover the MAC addresses of legitimate computers on the WLAN. He can then change the MAC address of his NIC, which allows him to masquerade as a member of the network and connect even when filtering is turned on. Change default administrative passwords Change the default administrative passwords on all access points. Once again, these are public knowledge, and, if a cracker knows what type of access point you use, he’ll know the default password. This will aid him in attacking your access point. Caution : Write down the new settings and passwords, and store the list in a secure place. This will be helpful if you forget this information and need it at a later date. Change default user names Likewise, the tips above apply to your username too as these are also common knowledge. Enable WEP or WPA encryption As I mentioned earlier, even though WEP encryption is flawed and vulnerable, you should use it. Enable 128-bit WEP on your WLAN, and use it. With the relatively low traffic on a WLAN in a home, it could take a cracker several hours to collect enough packets to crack your WEP key. Again, each step you perform just adds another piece to the intellectual firewall you’re building. As a whole, these measures with discourage most script kiddies and casual wardrivers. Adjust broadcast power On some access points, you can adjust the broadcast power of the unit. I recommend that you experiment and turn this down as low as you can while still maintaining decent connection speeds between computers on your WLAN. The idea is to keep the signal within the confines of your house rather than having it reach across the street. This makes the signal more difficult to receive for outsiders. Wardrivers can use directional antennas to pick up weak signals at a greater distance, but doing this will at least make it harder for them. Set minimum connection speeds On many access points, you can set a minimum access connection speed. The further away from an access point an intruder is, the weaker the signal will be (both ways). Therefore, if you set the minimum connection speed higher, computers will have to be closer to the access point to connect and stay connected. Once again, this makes it harder for an intruder to access your WLAN because he will have to be closer to connect. Anyone standing on your lawn with a wireless laptop is probably up to no good unless he’s the water meter reader. Set access times Lastly, some access points allow you to configure the times of day to allow access. If it supports this, consider using it. If no-one is home during the day, consider configuring it to block all access between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.
See original here:
How To Lock Your Network’s Front Door
Popular Searches
First Person: the ‘never-ending’ Job Search
October 18th, 2009. Published under Unemployment. No Comments.
As the national unemployment rate inches towards 10%, more and more Americans are doing more in hopes of landing a job. One of those options is attending a job fair, which can be helpful even for those who currently are employed. (Oct. 15)
View post:
First Person: the ‘never-ending’ Job Search
Let Your Children Access The Net Safely With KidRocket
October 18th, 2009. Published under Scams. No Comments.
A couple of months ago I wrote about some child-safe browsers I came across. Here is one of them in more detail : KidRocket . Just as the name suggests, KidRocket is a computer application developed for Kids. KidRocket is actually a wonderful web browser which allows your kids to learn more about computers in an interactive manner. At the same time KidRocket keeps your desktop safe from those same jubilant, curious and sometimes naughty children! I would say that KidRocket is aimed at younger children, much as I concluded with Kido’z . The best thing about KidRocket is that its a standalone application. You do not have to install this application on your computer to make use of it. KidRocket is completely different from other conventional kid browsers. Instead of limiting access to the Internet, or filtering unauthorized content, KidRocket completely blocks the Internet and allows your children to use trusted web sites only. What exactly can this innovative kids Internet browser provide your kids with though? You cannot keep your kids in the dark about computers these days – they are here to stay and your children will have to use them as they get older. KidRocket allows you to completely lock your desktop and provides a completely different environment for your kids, where they can learn, play and have fun. Below are some of the amazing features of KidRocket – ART Here, your children can show their artistic ideas with different colors. Your child can either choose Doodle or StarBrite to put their decorated and colorful ideas onto the desktop. MATH This web browser is not all about fun though, it is in fact meant for learning too. By chosing the MATH option, your kids can brush up their fundamental mathematical concepts like addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. This feature provides questions to your kids in the form of flash cards, which makes it an intuitive and fun learning tool. EMAIL Your children can get used to using email here in a manner that is totally safe. Using KidRocket, your kids can send emails to their grandparents, friends and relatives. Your kids can even take prints of their emails. You also have the option of blocking this email feature if you should consider it to be an unsafe option. ADMIN Here you get to access the timer which can control how much access time your kids are allowed to have. Once the alloted amount of time is over the application is closed automatically. I would imagine that most parents would love this feature! LAUNCH Launch is perhaps the most interesting feature offered by KidRocket. This feature allows your kids to use some of the kid safe web sites which can both educate and interest them whilst guaranteeing their safety at the same time. You can just relax while your children browse, learn and play on the safest web sites present on the world wide web. With KidRocket installed on your computer, you can allow your kids to use a computer in the safest possible way. You don’t need to worry about the important files on your computer and you don’t need to be apprehensive about the web sites your kids are viewing. Get your computer equipped with KidRocket , and allow your kids learn and play on their computer in the safest possible environment.
See the rest here:
Let Your Children Access The Net Safely With KidRocket
What Are The 4 Ways In Which My Computer Can Be Infected?
October 17th, 2009. Published under Fraud. No Comments.
Computer security has come a long way in the short amount of time that the Internet has been in wide usage. Computer security was less of an importance back in the dawn of the computer age since most attacks had to take place while the person was at the terminal. In the age of the Internet though, most of the attacks now are done through the network, and with these attacks people have found several different ways to deliver them. We will list them for you and tell you the best way to avoid them – The Computer Virus The first and most common vector of attack is the widely known computer virus . A computer virus is a highly reproducible executable that will cause damage to your computer by infecting your files and other items on your computer. Viruses have gotten pretty sophisticated over the years with the ability to hide their signature as well as hiding themselves by capturing signals that are sent by the OS that would identify them. People mistakenly call all different types of infections a virus but even without that it is still the number one way to have your computer become infected. The Trojan Horse The second vector of attack is a Trojan attack . A Trojan program is a program that looks like a normal innocent file, such as an mp3 or pdf file, but in actuality is a file that was sent to run an undesirable code on your computer. This code will sit in the background of your computer and you will never know. At the same time that it is sitting back there it will run either a bot net on your computer or pick up information from your computer and send it to a server. Trojans are less destructive on your computer and more destructive to your real life information. The Computer Worm A third vector of attack is a computer worm . A worm will find a way to get through different types of network security that you may have and then spread itself to the computers on your network. Worms can be destructive and destroy your network but most likely it will sit in your network and try to discover valuable information. Spyware The fourth and final vector of attack that a program can use to cause damage on your computer is known as spyware . Spyware will monitor you as your surf the Internet and pick up trends and information about you. The information is then used to send you advertising on your computer through the use of pop ups. Spyware is more annoying than it is destructive. Some legitimate companies will also track your Internet movements but they will not send unwanted advertisement to you. Countermeasures Each of these attacks that we have discussed are well known and there are good counter measures that are out there. For viruses and Trojans on your system a good antivirus / internet security suite will do the job of getting rid of them. For Worms attacking your network, there are several programs that will provide you a reliable firewall on your system and will do a good job of protecting both your network and your computer. Windows comes with a default Firewall built in but it is better to go out and get a reputable third party firewall. And for the spyware on your system there are several programs out there that will help you get rid of that. One of the more popular is a program that is called AdAware. This will scan your system and get rid of spyware that is residing within it. Hopefully this run down of the different infections that can cause damage to your computer will help you out. If you know what you are fighting then it is easier for you to be able to avoid it.
Continued here:
What Are The 4 Ways In Which My Computer Can Be Infected?
What Are Trojan Horses And Worms?
October 16th, 2009. Published under Fraud. No Comments.
What Is Meant By ‘Trojan’ And ‘Worm’? Trojans and Worms are small unwanted programs which hamper the performance of your computer to a great extent. But what do Trojans and worms actually do? These are designed to retrieve your confidential information from your computer which includes your passwords, bank account numbers, credit card information etc. Trojans do no spread whereas worms replicate vigorously and capture all the information available on your system. People who are new to the Internet, and sometimes even experienced users, download some strange and dangerous files which then turn out to be Trojans and Worms. The Klez, I LOVE YOU and SirCam viruses are few such examples. Trojans can also be carriers for different viruses so they can be termed as WRAPPERS too. On the other hand, Worms are small programs designed by programmers to capture the email IDs of those they ensnare which they then usually sell to advertisers for the purpose of marketing their products, so they replicate very quickly. Once you think you have found any Trojan or Worm on your computer, I strongly advise you to use a good antivirus program to scan you computer in order to terminate their activities. You must also make sure that the antivirus program used by you is updated on a regular basis. Prevention Measures To Keep Your Computer Clean From Trojans And Worms Trojan.IrcBounce, IRC/FinalBot, WinHelp.a, VBS.Stages, love-letter-for you.txt.vbs, MyPicture.bmp.vbs are some of the most dangerous Trojans and Worms. But by staying alert and by following preventive measures you can keep your computer system safe from harm. Below are some tips that will allow you to avoid Trojans and worms: Most importantly, always use a good antivirus program which would let you know whenever a Trojan or Worm enters into your computer and then ensure it’s removal. Always scan any email attachments you receive before downloading or opening them, even if they are sent by your friend. This is the reason that all email services provide in-built antivirus scanners . Only use reliable and trustworthy sources for downloading files. You need to be careful while you are downloading the files such as .EXE, .COM, .VBS, .BAT, .HLP and .DLL. Always use a strong and healthy Firewall. Many Operating Systems do provide their own Firewalls but using an external Firewall typically ensures better security and safety. It enables you to keep a check on the applications using your computer resources. Completely avoid using insecure Peer to Peer networks. Always delete your Temporary Internet Files, Cache and Cookies whenever you finish browsing. Play Safe To Stay Safe!
Visit link:
What Are Trojan Horses And Worms?
Getting Started With Data Protection – Using A USB Flash Drive For Backups
October 15th, 2009. Published under Fraud. No Comments.
One inexpensive purchase that you can make that will help you with backing up your data and avoiding losing everything is a flash card or a USB memory flash drive. Most people tend to go for flash drives. A great thing about getting a flash drive is that they can read and write data at a much greater speed, and they last longer, than a floppy disk. They also don’t suffer from scratches and other forms of damage in the way that CDs and DVDs do. Some people confuse USB Flash Drives with USB Hard Drives when they are not in fact the same thing. USB hard drives tend to be much larger in capacity and are suited to backing up entire systems or at least larger files. A flash drive is tends to have a lower capacity, at a lower cost of course, and is better suited to backing up smaller files, such as your photo albums. For instance, a 32 GB flash drive is relatively cheap these days and would probably be sufficient for storing all the pictures on your computer, and much more besides. Flash Drives Are Easy To Install It’s very easy to install a flash drive, though I would recommend learning a little about security first so that you can avoid transporting malware, such as the dreaded Conficker virus . Every modern computer has ports that are shaped like a rectangle – they tend to be small ports located on the top, back or front of your PC. Turn on your computer and insert the flash drive into one of these ports. It doesn’t matter which one you use. A menu should then appear on your screen confirming that the device you just plugged in is ready for use. From then on you should be able to use your flash drive like a regular drive – just drag and drop, or copy and paste, the files you wish to backup onto it.
See the rest here:
Getting Started With Data Protection – Using A USB Flash Drive For Backups
Conficker – How To Kill DLL Files And Delete Registry Keys And Values
October 14th, 2009. Published under Scams. No Comments.
The Conficker virus is now known by many names, including – W32/Conficker.worm Win32/Conficker.A W32.Downadup Downadup Kido Confiker but it doesn’t really matter what you call it – it is a total and far-reaching menace that has spread far and wide across the internet. You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video Exploiting flaws found in Windows MS08-067 vulnerability , Conficker continues to infect machines worldwide and may now be installed on as many as 15 million computers across the globe. You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video If you are unfortunate enough to become infected with Conficker then you will probably quickly discover that you cannot access security websites and that services such as Windows Security Center, Windows Error Reporting and Windows Defender have been disabled. Not only that but Conficker has the ability to spread itself to other vulnerable computers via many means, including networks and external drives. So, if one computer in a network is infected, then all the others are likely to become infected too. Microsoft has released a patch to fix the Windows vulnerability and here is how you can manually remove Conficker from your system – Killing off the Conficker DLL files This is a fairly simple task, as detailed below – 1. Right-click the Explorer.exe process and choose the option “Properties”. 2. Click on the “Threads” Tab, locate and highlight the Conficker DLL files listed below. 3. To kill Conficker DLL files, click the “Kill” button. 4. Kill the following Conficker DLL files: %All Users Application Data%[RANDOM FILE NAME].dll %Program Files%Movie Maker[RANDOM FILE NAME].dll %Program Files%Internet Explorer[RANDOM FILE NAME].dll [RANDOM FILE NAME].dll vhoinp.dll [RANDOM FILE NAME].dll Deleting Conficker Registry Keys and Values 1. Right-click on your Desktop > select “New” option > select “Text Document” (.txt file) option. 2. Rename the .txt file as a .reg file and call it “Delete_Registry_Conficker_Entities.reg”. This renamed .reg file is a command that creates a shortcut to your Windows registry and allows you to easily delete registry values. 3. Right-click and select the “Edit” option. 4. Copy and paste the Conficker keys listed below – [-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMICROSOFTWINDOWSNTCURRENTVERSIONWINDOWSAPPINIT_DLLSvhoinp.dll] [-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMICROSOFTWINDOWS NTCURRENTVERSIONWINLOGONNOTIFYvhoinp.dll] [-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionUninstallvhoinp.dll] [-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerSharedTaskSchedulervhoinp.dll] [-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareMicrosoftInternet ExplorerURLSearchHooksvhoinp.dll] [-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMICROSOFTWINDOWSCURRENTVERSIONPOLICIESEXPLORERRUNvhoinp.dll] [-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareMicrosoftInternet ExplorerToolbarvhoinp.dll] [-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareMicrosoftInternet ExplorerExplorer Barsvhoinp.dll] [-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareMicrosoftInternet ExplorerExtensionsvhoinp.dll] [-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMICROSOFTWINDOWSCURRENTVERSIONRUNvhoinp.dll] [-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMICROSOFTWINDOWSCURRENTVERSIONRUNONCEvhoinp.dll] [-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMICROSOFTWINDOWSCURRENTVERSIONRUNONCEEXvhoinp.dll] [-HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerSharedTaskSchedulervhoinp.dll] [-HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftInternet ExplorerURLSearchHooksvhoinp.dll] [-HKEY_CURRENT_USERSOFTWAREMICROSOFTWINDOWSCURRENTVERSIONPOLICIESEXPLORERRUNvhoinp.dll] [-HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftInternet ExplorerToolbarvhoinp.dll] [-HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftInternet ExplorerExplorer Barsvhoinp.dll] [-HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftInternet ExplorerExtensionsvhoinp.dll] [-HKEY_CURRENT_USERSOFTWAREMICROSOFTWINDOWSCURRENTVERSIONRUNvhoinp.dll] [-HKEY_CURRENT_USERSOFTWAREMICROSOFTWINDOWSCURRENTVERSIONRUNONCEvhoinp.dll] [-HKEY_CURRENT_USERSOFTWAREMICROSOFTWINDOWSCURRENTVERSIONRUNONCEEXvhoinp.dll] 5. In the menu bar, go to “File” > select “Save” > then click the “X” button to close the file. 6. Double-click on the .reg file. 7. When the message box appears saying “Are you sure you want to add the information in C:DOCUME~1DesktopDELETE~1.REG to the registry?”, click the “Yes” button. 8. When the message box appears saying “Information in C:DOCUME~1DesktopDELETE~1.REG has been successfully entered into the registry.”, click the “OK” button. 9. The Conficker registry keys have now been deleted from your registry. Hopefully that should do the trick for you and you can continue surfing without being bothered by Conficker again – just remember to keep your operating system fully patched and updated!
More here:
Conficker – How To Kill DLL Files And Delete Registry Keys And Values
The tattoo challenge. Details.
October 14th, 2009. Published under Unemployment. No Comments.
A tattoo isn’t going to solve your problems, it will be an additional challenge. Don’t be surprised when it adds to the reasons people view you with suspicion. It isn’t enough to keep you unemployed, but it won’t help. Still, I want you to get one, to take on this burden for freaks everywhere, because the less respectable are now a minority it is ok to discriminate against, and this country need not be a nation of bigots. … tattoo work unemployment job search additional challenge …
See original here:
The tattoo challenge. Details.
What Is Spam, What Are It’s Effects And How Do You Prevent It?
October 14th, 2009. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.
Over time the internet has become huge and it continues to grow at an amazing rate. Almost every person who uses the internet has their own email address, or perhaps even several. Therefore I would be shocked if you are unfamiliar with the term’ spam’ , though you may be unaware of it’s actual effects and the measures you can take to prevent it. On technical terms Spam is actually an Unsolicited Commercial Email (UCE) which refers to an email message sent to a person without his/her prior request. Spam costs virtually nothing to send and the costs are paid by the recipient (time lost in dealing with it) and the carriers (bandwidth used) rather than by the sender. This is the reason why advertisers use Spam to market their unauthorized products. Below are the different types of Spam that you should be cautious of: Phishing spam – a popular and heinous type of scam Foreign bank spam Get rich easily and quickly spam Illicitly pirated software News group and forum spam The effects of spam Individuals, or a group of users, are easily targeted by email spam. Spam usually arises as a result of giving out your email address on an unauthorized or unscupulous website. Here are some of the effects of Spam: Fills your Inbox with number of ridiculous emails. Degrades your Internet speed to a great extent. Steals useful information like your details on you Contact list. Alters your search results on any search engine. Spam is a huge waste of everybody’s time and can quickly become very frustrating if you receive large amounts of it like I do. Preventing spam There are some effective measures that you can employ to stop spam entering your inbox: Always use an updated and trustworthy antivirus program. Never share your email address and personal information like credit card details with an unreliable source. Avoid responding to any emails that you never asked for. If you receive such email then delete it immediately. Try to avoid emails with the subject “need assistance or some funds “, or any other catchy titles. And never, ever forward such emails since they could be targeted to obtain as many number of mails email addresses as possible. Whenever you need to forward an email to a group of people make use of BCC field which enables you to of hide the email addresses from each of the other recipients. Never mention your email address in newsletters or instant messenger chats. Switch off the reading pane in email clients such as Outlook. It can be done by View –> Reading Pane – Off. Hopefully the above will minimise the amount of spam you receive. If you still get too much junk mail then I would recommend getting a good email filter/blocker such as Spam Bully .
Follow this link:
What Is Spam, What Are It’s Effects And How Do You Prevent It?
How Can I Remove The Koobface Virus From My Computer?
October 13th, 2009. Published under Scams. No Comments.
Koobface is the latest buzz in the arena of computers. No it is not a web service, neither it is an amazing software package. Koobface is actually the latest Internet worm which targets the popular social networking sites. Many Facebook users have already been infected by this highly contagious Internet worm. Why Koobface targets Social Networking sites Social networking has become a daily activity of nearly every Internet user and that is the reason why the Koobface creators have decided to make users of social networks their targets. Koobface spreads rapidly once it enters your computer, leading to slow and sluggish performance. It dumps a ‘tinyproxy.exe” file on to your computer which then hijacks your machine and leads to its automatic operation, leaving it very vulnerable. How to avoid the Koobface Virus It starts with the arrival of some automated messages or emails having catchy or weird titles like: • Paris Hilton Tosses Dwarf On The Street • You must see it!!! LOL. • My friend catched you on hidden cam • Examiners Caught Downloading Grades From The Internet • Is it really celebrity? • You look so amazing funny on our new video • Funny Moments Avoid accessing the content of such messages and emails. How do I remove the Koobface Virus? As soon as you realize its presence, scan your computer with a good antivirus program . This should be the first and foremost step. Use the Add/Remove Program tool from your computer’s Control Panel to remove the Koobface virus. Some of the Koobface files can restore themselves back on to your system. Under such cases, it is better to delete it’s processes and registry files. Its not too difficult and this is how you do it: Press Alt + Ctrl + Delete to open the Task Manager End all the Koobface processes such as bolivar28.exe che07.exe bolivar28.exe system32nScanekrn.exe system32nScanecls.exe system32splmncsjapi32.exe bolivar28.exe C:Windowsfbtre6.exe Now you need find and remove it’s Registry Files. Type “regedit” inside the RUN field and press ENTER to access the registry files of your computer. Find all the Koobface Registry values installed on your system and delete them. Below are a few examples of what you are looking for: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftActive SetupInstalled ComponentsIntelli Mouse Pro Version 2.0BStubPath: “ System32splmncsjapi32.exe” HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrent VersionRun”systray” = “C:Windowsfbtre6.exe” HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionRunOnce*Intelli Mouse Pro Version 2.0B*: “ System32splmncsjapi32.exe” HKEY_USERSSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionRunOnce*Intelli Mouse Pro Version 2.0B*: “ System32splmncsjapi32.exe” HKEY_USERSSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsnScan32ExecuteDate: “1482008″ HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrent VersionRun”systray” = “c:windowsmstre6.exe” HKEY_USERSSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionRunIntelli Mouse Pro Version 2.0B: “ System32splmncsjapi32.exe” HKEY_USERSSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerAdvancedHidden: “2″ HKEY_CURRENT_USERAppEventsSchemesAppsExplorerNavigating Always update your Operating System and make sure that you always Turn On your Firewall settings. And keep updating your antivirus program as this will be an effective first defence against the Koobface Virus. Always take care when engaging in Social Networking activities – never visit strange websites and avoid accessing the URLs and content posted by strangers. Surf Carefully To Keep Your Computer Healthy!
Visit link:
How Can I Remove The Koobface Virus From My Computer?
The Perfect Illustration Of What Koobface Can Do To Your Computer
October 10th, 2009. Published under Scams. No Comments.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/15708236@N07/2846915408/ If you wake up one morning to find your computer smiling back at you with a face like the one above then you’re well and truly screwed – you’ve been infected by the mischievous Koobface Virus !
Read more:
The Perfect Illustration Of What Koobface Can Do To Your Computer
In What Ways Can A WLAN Be Attacked?
October 8th, 2009. Published under Scams. No Comments.
Just as there are many ways to attack a wired network, there are numerous ways to attack a WLAN . If a WLAN isn’t secured properly, an attacker may be simply able to connect to the network without having to make any sort of elaborate effort and without using any specific exploit. When the situation warrants, crackers have a number of techniques for cracking a WLAN. A basic understanding of these attacks will give you a better idea of the threats you face and how you should deal with them. Crackers are continually locating new avenues for intrusion and updating their tools to take advantage of them. Many types of exploits are very technical and require significant knowledge of networking to understand. Man-in-the-Middle Attack A man-in-the-middle-attack involves an attacker intercepting and monitoring network traffic or client authorization information and using it to authenticate with a server. In the first attack, an attacker intercepts authentication data from a legitimate user’s computer by configuring his computer to pose as an access point and then uses that data to authenticate his own computer with the network server. The attacker can then gain access to additional network resources. The attacker listens for a reply to the ARP request and then either “spoofs” the MAC address by posing as a legitimate computer or sends an unsolicited ARP reply by transmitting his own MAC address to the WLAN. Computers on the network receive the unsolicited ARP reply and update their list (cache) of MAC addresses with the attacker’s MAC address. Legitimate computers may then associate the attacker’s MAC address with that of a legitimate one by routing traffic to the attacker’s machine. In the second method, an attacker listens for and intercepts an address resolution protocol (ARP) request sent from one legitimate user’s computer to another. ARP is a network protocol used to determine a computer’s physical network address, which is also known as the media access control layer address (MAC address). Every NIC and access point has a unique MAC address assigned at the factory where it is manufactured. MAC Address Spoofing Attack An attacker monitoring traffic on a WLAN can listen for replies to ARP requests and intercept MAC addresses of legitimate computers on a network. The attacker then configures his computer to transmit and receive data on the network using a stolen MAC address to gain access to network resources and information. Internet Protocol Address Spoofing Attack To gain access to a WLAN, an attacker can acquire an Internet protocol address. Using a sniffer, the attacker monitors the WLAN to see what IP addresses the WLAN uses (this range of addresses is called the subnet). After the attacker determines the IP subnet, he assigns himself an unused address and connects to the WLAN. If a network uses the dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP), it’s even simpler. DHCP software automatically assigns IP addresses to computers logging onto the network. If an attacker knows the service set identifier (SSID) for the network (which can also be sniffed), he can connect, and the access point or router with DHCP software will assign him an IP address. Manufacturers have included DHCP service in most routers and access points. Denial of Service Attack An attacker doesn’t use a denial of service (DoS) attack to gain access to a WLAN. Instead, DoS attacks are used to deny legitimate users access to the network and its services. WLANs are vulnerable to DoS attacks in a number of ways. First, using a brute-force attack, an attacker can “flood” an access point with network traffic, which effectively shuts it down for other users. Users attempting to use that AP are unable to connect, which is much like receiving a busy signal when calling someone on the telephone. An attacker can also use a high-power radio source on the same frequency to interfere with the WLAN and drown out its signal. The resulting radio noise prevents devices on the network from talking to and hearing one another, which brings network operation to a halt. This sort of attack is risky for an attacker. Getting close enough to the WLAN with a high-powered transmitter can make him easy to locate using sniffers and scanners. A denial of service resulting from a high-powered signal may not always be an intentional attack. RF interference from other devices that share the same spectrum could result in essentially the same network conditions as a DoS attack. However, this sort of accidental “attack” is rare if you take care in designing your network. DoS attacks are nothing new. They’ve been a problem on wired networks and the Internet for years. Certain applications and devices are susceptible to different forms of DoS attacks. Crackers may exploit design flaws that can trigger shutdown or crashing of devices. The best way to become aware of these DoS threats is to be knowledgeable about vulnerabilities that affect your equipment and deal with them as they arise.
View post:
In What Ways Can A WLAN Be Attacked?
Fighting Back Against Spam
October 7th, 2009. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.
Spam wastes your time, and when you’re using your mobile device, it wastes your money. Of course I’m not talking about Hawaii’s favorite canned meat. I’m talking about unsolicited commercial e-mail, junk e-mail in fact. Once your e-mail finds its way onto a spammer’s list, your inbox is inundated with spam advertising from personal enhancement ads to car loan notices and everything in between. Spam Filters Many e-mail service providers provide some sort of anti-spam service that filters out spam messages with varying degrees of success. If you have access to one of these services I suggest that you use it, but monitor it to make sure that it doesn’t mistake your legitimate e-mail for spam. Spam filters usually move suspected spam to a junk folder where you can view it at your convenience, just to make sure that no real mail gets deleted by mistake. Spam Prevention The best way to reduce spam is to prevent your e-mail address from getting on a spammer’s e-mail list in the first place. When one spammer has it, they will all get it sooner or later. Also, once you’re on a list there’s no way to get off of all of them; you’re going to get spam forever. There are a few ways that you can avoid getting on spam lists though – Don’t ever give out your real e-mail address when filling out online forms, especially when you’re entering contests or claiming “free” prizes. Don’t post your e-mail address to Web sites or discussion and news groups. Don’t post to discussion or news groups from your real e-mail account. Consider setting up a throwaway or junk e-mail account that you can use as the address you give out when you sign up for stuff online. This way once the address starts finding its way onto spammer lists, the spam doesn’t wind up in your real inbox. Periodically, you can log in and check the spam account to delete piled up messages and make sure that no important mail is waiting there among the spam. Also, if you use a free e-mail service you’ll have to log in periodically to keep the account active. If you participate in Usenet or other discussion groups, don’t post from your real e-mail account. Spammers use automated software that scans groups and compiles lists of e-mail addresses. Post from your throwaway account, and keep your inbox spam-free. The automated software that spammers use also can detect and copy e-mail addresses from Web pages and the bodies of news postings. If you post from your junk account but list your real e-mail address in the message body you’ll end up on the junk e-mail lists. If you must post your real e-mail address, obfuscate it so that the spammers scanning software won’t recognize it as an address. For example, if your e-mail address is you@yourisp.com, you could post it as “you at yourisp dot com” or “youNOSPAM@yourNOSPAMisp.com.” Either one would be decipherable by a reasonably intelligent human being, but not by a spam-bot. Reporting Spam Besides filtering, another step that you should take is to report spam. Rather than ducking and hiding we should start hitting back. Many spammers use (abuse) someone else’s mail server, often without their knowledge. If you take the time to report the spam, mail administrators can take action and stop spammers from abusing their servers. Web sites that use spam to advertise may be in violation of their service agreements and reporting the spam can get them shut down. The best reporting tool I have found is Spamcop.net . Once you register, you can report spam through an online form or by forwarding spam to an e-mail address that they assign you. You also can get a spamcop.net e-mail address, which spamcop.net monitors to filter out spam.
See the rest here:
Fighting Back Against Spam
Securing Your WLAN With Encryption
October 6th, 2009. Published under Fraud. No Comments.
Encryption has been in use for a long time. The ancient Greeks and Romans used early encryption techniques to secure their communications, and governments and individuals have used encryption ever since. Many early types of encryption are still in use in some form today, including steganography, restrictive algorithms, and proprietary encryption schemes. These older encryption techniques often suffer from numerous design and implementation flaws, and, when companies integrate them into networking products, security ultimately suffers. Modern encryption techniques Modern encryption techniques utilizing computers and advanced mathematical science are far more secure than those that preceded them. They use unrestricted algorithms in conjunction with numeric keys to secure information. Because unrestricted algorithms are public, and have been tested and withstood scrutiny and attack by the world’s best cryptanalysts, they are more secure than the older restrictive algorithms. These techniques, even though they are not foolproof, have proven to be robust and reasonably secure. WEP Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) is the encryption standard developed for wireless networking. WEP encrypts data traveling between access points and computers on the network. It’s a nice name, but the technology hasn’t lived up to its promise. WEP suffers from a number of flaws that allow attackers to discover keys by analyzing network traffic. Attackers can then decrypt all data in real time and continue to compromise the network. WPA In order to improve security, the Wi-Fi Alliance developed a new standard known as Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA). WPA is much more secure than WEP, however, some older devices may not be upgradeable to WPA, and older mobile devices (Pocket PC and Palm) may not have enough processing power to take advantage of WPA. Although it is better, WPA is vulnerable to simple DoS attack. If an attacker sends two forged data packets to a WPA-enabled access point in under one second, he can trick WPA into thinking it’s under attack and force it to shut down for over a minute. This effectively locks all users out of the access point. If the attacker does this repeatedly, he can cause real headaches. All protocols are susceptible to DoS attacks in some form, so this is a trivial vulnerability. I say don’t worry about it; if your system allows you to do so, upgrade to WPA as soon as you can. If WPA is compatible with your network, then enable it. You can enable WPA (and WEP) using the configuration utility for your device or through its Web interface. If you can’t use WPA, then use WEP. Even if WEP can be broken, it takes some effort, and you can deter all but the most determined crackers. Faced with having to crack WEP or simply moving on to the next open WLAN, most crackers will just move along. VPN If you telecommute or work from home and need extra protection, use a virtual private network (VPN). A VPN acts as a “tunnel” to protect data traveling between your workplace and home (or laptop). Chances are good that your company already has one installed so all you need to do is contact your IT dept and (very nicely!) ask for a VPN client. This allows you to check and send e-mail and other data through an encrypted link with the company mail server. Dealing with Default Settings Failing to change the default settings on WLAN equipment can facilitate attacks and allow unskilled script kiddies to access your network with little effort. Each manufacturer has default settings for all the equipment they produce. These settings facilitate installing the equipment; unfortunately, many users never change them. They just take their router out of the box, hook it up, and start using it. Default settings are public knowledge to crackers, who post them all over the Internet. There are default settings for passwords, SSIDs, broadcast strength, and IP addresses. Failing to change any of these can leave your network vulnerable to attack.
Go here to see the original:
Securing Your WLAN With Encryption
Protecting Your Kids With Computer Parental Control
October 6th, 2009. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.
Every day, millions and millions of children surf the web. Every time they surf the web, they are at risk of seeing extremely graphic and disturbing images – images even too much for many adults to see. These images often include hardcore pornography. Even though many parents feel that they have taught their children how to use the internet properly and carefully, this is often not enough. Once the children hit a certain age (usually their teenage years), they are at great risk of coming into contact with pornography , or even chatting with online predators. Many teenagers may even put photos of themselves online, making it much easier for predators to find them. The other problem with chatting is that teenagers can easily give out personal information in a matter of seconds, making them extremely vulnerable to online predators. TAKE STEPS THAT HELP Being aware of what your children are doing online is extremely important in order to eliminate some, or all of the above risks. You can take a few steps that will help, which include putting your computer in the living room, or even peaking over their shoulder once in a while. Make sure they notice you are peaking over their shoulder – this will make the chance of them visiting certain restricted sites a lot less. Even though it may not seem right morally, an act like this can save you and your children a lot of pain and trouble in the future. INSTALL A PORN BLOCKER PROGRAM Even after taking the above precautions, it is close to impossible to monitor every move your children are making online. It is quite a scary thought for many parents, but there is one method that has been proven effective for many years – porn blockers. Porn blockers do exactly as the name states – block porn. How do they do that? They filter through the web every day, building list of adult websites to block. Obviously, it is very difficult to block every single adult website, but programs like ContentPurity and other similar software blocks a good majority of the adult based websites. These programs also blocks websites with certain keywords, and you can even customize these keywords yourself most of the time. These days, almost every household consists at least computer, while many have up to two, three, or even four. With such access to computers and the internet, children are at very high risk for seeing content that is simply not meant for their age group. Thus, as a parent, it is important to take the right step and purchase or find a good free porn blocker program such to ensure that your children will not be at risk of watching videos, which are not meant for their age. Even though you may feel some sort of guilt monitoring your children’s online activities, it is something you must do as a parent. Their mind has not fully developed yet in that time of their life and much of the content on the web is just not meant for them to see.
Read the rest here:
Protecting Your Kids With Computer Parental Control
What Is The Conficker Cabal?
October 5th, 2009. Published under Fraud. No Comments.
The Conficker Cabal was the nickname given to an ad hoc partnership, led by Microsoft, to fight the Conficker virus . Back in February Microsoft announced a partnership with various technology industry leaders and academia which was to implement a coordinated, global response to the Conficker worm. Together with security researchers, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and operators within the Domain Name System, Microsoft coordinated a response designed to disable domains targeted by Conficker. Shortly afterwards Microsoft also announced a $250,000 reward in return for information that would result in the arrest and conviction of those responsible for illegally launching the Conficker virus. The organisations partnering with Microsoft in this cabal, which has since been renamed due to the negative connotations of that name, include the following – ICANN NeuStar VeriSign CNNIC Afilias Public Internet Registry Global Domains International Inc. M1D Global AOL Symantec F-Secure ISC Arbor Networks Eight months on and there are still no arrests in connection to the Conficker menace.
Read more:
What Is The Conficker Cabal?
The Top 10 Free Online Antivirus Scanners Of 2009
October 5th, 2009. Published under Scams. No Comments.
Online virus scanners are a good means of detecting malware on your system and they can be employed if your regular security software is not working, i.e. because some infection is blocking it. They are not, however, a good substitute for actually having a good antivirus program installed locally on your computer. I’ve already compiled lists of what I believe to be the best 10 free antivirus and the top 10 paid antivirus programs of the year. Here is the final piece of the puzzle, the best of the online virus scanners – The Top 10 Free Online Virus Scanners Of 2009 #1 BITDEFENDER QUICKSCAN From the BitDefender site – Very fast scanning. Less than 60 seconds Runs online from any Internet connected PC Doesn’t slow down your PC Based on award wining BitDefender anti-malware technologies This particular scanner only detects viruses, it doesn’t remove them. You can find this virus scanner here : BitDefender Quickscan #2 F-SECURE ONLINE VIRUS SCANNER F-Secure’s free Online virus scanner can not only detect viruses and trojans but it can also remove them It can also take care of spyware too. This particular scanner works on Internet Explorer 6 or newer (with ActiveX and Javascript enabled) or, alternatively, on the Firefox 3 browser. You can find this virus scanner here : F-Secure Online Virus Scanner #3 FORTIGUARD CENTER ONLINE VIRUS SCANNER FortiGuard Center can only detect viruses and is not suitable for removing them. FortiGuard can be used to scan the files that are on your computer and you also have the option of submitting multiple files to their research labs for analysis. One point to note though is that you can only check one file at a time and there is a file size limit of 1MB. You can find this virus scanner here : FortiGuard Online Virus Scanner #4 JOTTI ONLINE MALWARE SCAN Jotti utilises results from several different scanners to inform you of any infections you may have on your system. This particular scan is good for detection purposes but cannot be used for removing malware. You can find this virus scanner here : Jotti Malware Scan #5 KASPERSKY FREE ONLINE VIRUS SCAN Kaspersky are a well known member of the antivirus market and they too offer a free online virus scanning tool. Again, this one is only good for detection and not removal but their scanner is much quicker and more efficient than some of the alternatives. You can set the Kaspersky online virus scanner to trawl through individual files, folders or even entire drives on your computer. You can find this virus scanner here : Kaspersky Free Online Virus Scan (temporarily unavailable at the time of writing) #6 PANDA ACTIVE SCAN Panda Active Scan is another free tool that you can use for detecting and eliminating viruses from your computer. Not only can it scan your files but it can scan you email too. It installs as an ActiveX control in your Web browser (Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher). This offering from Panda offers virus removal as well as detection abilities. You can find this virus scanner here : Panda Active Scan #7 TREND MICRO HOUSECALL Trend Micro’s Housecall is also capable of cleaning infected files. This virus scanner is able to detect and remove the most common viruses, though it may be less effective with Trojans and some of the other more obscure types of infection. You can find this virus scanner here : Trend Micro HouseCall #8 VIRSCAN FREE ONLINE SCAN The eighth offering in this list comes from VirSCAN.org who have a free online scanning service that can check uploaded files for a variety of security issues including viruses, spyware, trojans, backdoors and many other types of malware. There is a file size limit of 10MB but any type of file can be uploaded and checked. One thing to note, however, is that this scanner only offers detection of malware. You can find this virus scanner here : VirSCAN Free Online Scan #9 VIRUSTOTAL ONLINE SCANNING SERVICE You can upload single files to VirusTotal which will then quickly scan for viruses, worms, trojans and many other types of malware. With VirusTotal you have a 5MB limit on the files you can upload. Files that have been uploaded can then be scanned with a large number of well-known virus scanners and results from each are then displayed. Again, detection only with this one. You can find this virus scanner here : VirusTotal Online Scanning Service #10 WINDOWS LIVE ONECARE SAFETY SCANNER (now discontinued) Number ten in the list won’t be here for long as Windows Live OneCare Safety Scanner is making way for Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE). This scanner is good at detecting the more common viruses but only works in conjunction with Internet Explorer. Also, it is only able to detect viruses, it cannot remove them. You can find this virus scanner here : Windows Live OneCare Safety Scanner (now being being replaced by Microsoft Security Essentials)
Read the original post:
The Top 10 Free Online Antivirus Scanners Of 2009
How Do I Block Pop-Up Ads?
October 3rd, 2009. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.
It is certain that all of us come across popup windows once in a while we are surfing on the internet. It feels really annoying when something stupid interrupts your endeavor appearing from nowhere. These are called Pop-Up ads. The specialty of these ads is that you need to manually click on them to close each. Pop-up ads need to be avoided and blocked to all extents possible because many scammers try to invade in to your personal details like passwords, credit card details and bank account details using these pop-up ads. Thus, a pop-up blocker becomes inevitable and highly indispensable. WHAT IS A POP-UP BLOCKER? A pop-up blocker is a program that stops these unwanted ads to come up during your browsing. The pop-up blocker is installed in the web browser . Most browser packages have them pre-installed and those not having them can be upgraded by downloading a pop-up blocker of your choice from the free software sites. Pop-up blocker not only prevents these annoying ads to opening in a new window but even protects you from a possible identity theft and personal information theft. Pop-up blockers have additional features for the people who want to view the pop-up ads of particular sites. For this they need to enable the view pop-up ads for that particular site. Many types of pop-up blockers with unique features are available online. You can buy as per your needs. However, some of the most basic types of pop-up blockers are free and can be downloaded from any of the popular sites. An additional advantage of using pop-up blockers is that you can prevent your computer from becoming slow or being infected from malware , spyware or any virus. This prevents your pc from getting slow. Choose an effective pop-up blocker as soon as possible and get rid of unwanted content to make your browsing experience delightful.
Read more:
How Do I Block Pop-Up Ads?
How Do I Stop My Kids Watching Porn On The Internet?
October 2nd, 2009. Published under Fraud. No Comments.
Many parents dread their children using the internet, and it is usually for one reason – fear that they may came across porn by accident, or furthermore, they may surf for porn on purpose . Either way, porn can be very damaging to your child. Thus, it is important to discover early whether your child is surfing for porn. Why would discovering whether your child is watching porn or not matter? If you find out your child is watching porn, there are several reputable programs that can help you block porn from the computers in your household. This is an extremely important step to take, as much of the material online is extremely hardcore, and such material can be very damaging to the mind of a child, thus causing long lasting effects. If proper precautions are taken, you can find out if your child is watching porn, and take action to halt it. ITS ONLY EVER A FEW CLICKS AWAY Every single day, thousands of children are introduced to the world of computers and the internet. Though the internet is a fascinating place where children learn, discover, and have fun, it can also be a place that is extremely dangerous, in the sense that certain unethical material can be accessed. Pornography is only a few clicks away on the internet, and needless to say, a child can access porn very easily, whether they are doing it on purpose, or by accident. As children use the internet more and more, they grow more curious. They may grow old of the previous things they used the internet for, and they may feel the need to explore further. This may lead to going into chat rooms, which can often lead to one thing – pornography. Many chat rooms have pornography banners, and clicking on these banners will land your child into porn sites. Furthermore, a majority of chat rooms have pop ups. When your child opens the chat room, many, many popup will come up, many of which contain adult material. Clicking on these popup will also take you into porn sites. Let alone that chat rooms are quite dangerous, porn sites are even worse. Once your child sees porn once, it may become an addiction. Their next step will be to visit search engines and look for porn. At this point, it may become a daily thing, where they watch porn, and it can take away from other things they regularly did – hang out with friends, study, play sports and so on. HOW CAN I BLOCK PORN? As you can see, pornography is something that can have many negative effects on your child, thus it is important to find out early whether your child is surfing for porn. How can you find out? There are many programs that help you do just that, by monitoring your child’s surfing activity. You will obviously be doing this without them knowing, or else the program would be virtually useless. A very reputed program to help find out whether your child is surfing for porn is PC Tattle Tale. The program costs a mere $49.99, and can make a lifetime of difference. There are, of course, a lot of other available porn blocker software programs. I recommend you to have a look around and find out what best suits your needs. As an adult, you are probably aware as for how much of the internet is filled with adult content. It is your job to monitor your child and find out whether or not they are watching pornography. If they are, you must then take further steps to counsel them, and to possibly limit their access of the computer and internet. It only takes a few adult videos to corrupt the mind of your child, so do not let it get that far. Take action while you can and put your child back on the proper road. Pornography can have long lasting negative effects on their mind. Now, there are obviously other ways to find out if your child is watching porn, but using a program to help you is one of the most efficient ways!
What Every Parent Needs To Know About Registering A Website For Their Kids
October 1st, 2009. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.
More and more children are getting their own websites these days, including my own for whom I have already registered their own names as dot coms. There are many reasons why kids are doing this – they want blogs to use as online diaries, they wish to learn how to design websites or they may even have a product or service that they are already looking to market. Whatever their motives, you as parents need to put some thought into registering whichever domain name they are going to use. REGISTERING A DOMAIN Registering a domain name is a quick and painless task that most people can accomplish with ease, though you should watch out for some common domain name scams . During the registration process you will be required to enter the contact information for the person who is making the purchase. The sort of information that you will have to enter includes your name, address, phone number and valid email address. What you may not realise is that this information is usually made public knowledge by default. Therefore, especially in this age of identity theft , you will want to mask your personally identifiable information as much as possible. I would recommend registering a domain name through an office address and using a post office box. You may also want to choose a free email service, such as gmail, instead of using your own personal email account. If you don’t do that then just about anyone can look up the full contact details of the person who owns that domain name. Another precaution you can employ to prevent this breach of you or your kid’s privacy is to employ some form of privacy protection. The majority of domain registrars these days offer such a service for free or a modest fee of a couple of dollars. If you use such a service then all the registration information will be shielded from public view. WHY YOU NEED TO GET IT RIGHT FIRST TIME If you have already registered a domain and included your personal information then it is possible to go back into your account to amend it. That, however, doesn’t make the previously entered data inaccessable – if someone wants to see the historical details then they can if they pay a small fee and there is nothing you can do to prevent that. Even if you add privacy protection at a later date the initial contact details that you entered will be stored. Remember that once information is published on the internet it is incredibly difficult to get it removed permanently. Therefore it is imperitive that you protect your data from the outset.
See more here:
What Every Parent Needs To Know About Registering A Website For Their Kids
Why You Shouldn’t Disregard The Conficker Virus Just Yet
September 29th, 2009. Published under Fraud. No Comments.
You may have disregarded the warnings about the Conficker virus the day before April 1st as just another exaggerated epidemic like Y2K. However, if you are lucky enough to have avoided infection up to now it may be time to take the warning a little more seriously because the Conficker virus is a very real crippling agent that can destroy your computer system if activated. Thought to have been developed in Germany, since the root of the name ‘ficken’ is a German obscenity, and the domain it uses has been tracked to Ukraine, the Conficker virus is a very powerful computer worm that has infected millions of computers since it emerged in October 2008. It is estimated that, since then, between 9 and 15 million computers have been infected by the Conficker virus, and the number is still growing exponentially as its variants gather strength and continue to grow. There are four known variants of the Conficker virus , all of which are designed to open the door for each other should one find its way onto your computer. Although the variants have different destructive paths into your personal laptop, once they fix themselves into your operating system they open the door for strong strands so that your computer can be taken over. Most people who have the Conficker virus are unaware of its presence until they notice that they can no longer update their computer software or until their operating system crashes. This is because the Conficker virus works in the background downloading files and using your computer system as a host computer to continue spreading itself throughout the Internet world. This is one reason why it has been a struggle to trace the origins of the Conficker virus, because once it finds a host computer it simply exhausts all its available resources, using it as a command center, and then moves on. Thus, if you are not aware of its presence in your computer, you can continue to use most of your Internet functions until it has used all your resources and crashes the operating system leaving your computer worthless and inoperable.
More here:
Why You Shouldn’t Disregard The Conficker Virus Just Yet
What Exactly Is A HYIP Scam?
September 28th, 2009. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.
Firstly, for those of you who don’t already know, HYIP stands for High Yield Investment Program. HYIPs are one of the most common scams on the internet today, though they became a source of income for scammers well before the digital age. There are a huge number of people looking to make extra money, for many reasons, including becoming debt free or in the hopes of giving up their day job. A large proportion of those people have internet access and will come across some of the thousands of HYIPs that are circulating the net at any time. The allure of HYIPs is the promise of large returns on small investments, the type of investment a lot of potential internet investors may believe they can afford. With some HYIPs offering returns from 10% to even 50% per day on an investment of as little as $10, it is easy to see why some people get suckered into them, especially when it is known that some people do make the quoted returns. The downside of HYIPs, however, is that a larger number of people lose all their money. In order for the HYIP to pay out to some investors, they use the money invested by the newer members. In other words, a high yield investment program is nothing more than a Ponzi scheme. Whilst anyone getting in early could make a profit, the truth is that the only people consistently making money from HYIPs are those that start them. As no-one really knows how much money is circulating at any time it is impossible to predict when the HYIP will crash, as it surely will. Therefore, investing in one is not much different to flipping a coin – ‘HEADS’ I win : ‘TAILS’ you lose
Why You Need More Than Just Software To Secure Your PC
September 28th, 2009. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.
Have you installed an antivirus program ? Good. Got an antispyware program ? Well done. Is your operating system fully patched ? Excellent! Your PC must now be totally secure, right? WRONG! If you have been online for any length of time then you should already be aware of the types of programs I mentioned above. If not, then you are a danger and a menace to yourself . On the other hand, if you do run the appropriate security programs then chances are that your computer is running fine and contains no malware. Pat yourself on the back for a job well done. Don’t be too pleased with yourself though because your PC is still not totally secure yet. WHY YOU NEED TO PHYSICALLY SECURE YOUR COMPUTER Some, perhaps most, of the threats to your PC come from across the internet but there is another type of danger too, a very human one. Its easy to forget that data theft can occur in person and theres also the issue of hardware being stolen too. How secure is your laptop? Do you leave it on the front seat of your car when you are out on the road? Do you lock it in the boot? Worse still, have you ever left your computer unattended in a public place, even for just a minute or two? What would happen if someone picked it up and ran? What personal or business information would you lose, how would you retrieve it and what damage could be caused with it? SECURING YOUR COMPUTER The first thing you should do is to engage your brain as commonsense often goes a long way. You should always secure your computer in an appropriate manner. For laptops that means never letting them out of your site, locking them away out of sight when not being used and keeping windows shut (and doors locked) when stopped at traffic lights. For desktop computers you can buy various cables and locks which can secure your machine to the desk. Of course it goes without saying that a determined thief would take your PC whatever you do but most are opportunists and the above tips will make your computer far less appealing to them than the next one they can see.
Follow this link:
Why You Need More Than Just Software To Secure Your PC
Revealing The Secret Identity Of The Single Biggest Threat To Your Online Security
September 27th, 2009. Published under Scams. No Comments.
Yes, thats right, its YOU !!! You could be forgiven for thinking that the biggest threats online come from spyware, viruses or phishing emails but you would be wrong nonetheless. The biggest security threat is in fact an uneducated user, someone who doesn’t even understand the threats to their online security. If there is any chance that I am describing YOU then do something about it now – read these 101 tips to keeping yourself secure , along with the rest of this site! (The easiest way to do that is by subscribing to daily updates via my RSS feed )
Go here to see the original:
Revealing The Secret Identity Of The Single Biggest Threat To Your Online Security
Laid Off, Unemployed, Starting a Job Search?
September 26th, 2009. Published under Unemployment. No Comments.
part-jobs.com – Have you recently been laid-off? Unfortunately, in this economy you are not alone. People are losing jobs daily and need that income to support their families and themselves. Now, is a great time to take control of your income and start your own business where you determine how often you work, where you work, and most importantly, how much you make. There are many opportunities out there, get rich quick schemes, legitimate jobs, and many work from home opportunities. Is …
See more here:
Laid Off, Unemployed, Starting a Job Search?
Are The Governments Of The World Spying On Us By Installing Keyloggers In New Computers?
September 25th, 2009. Published under Scams. No Comments.
The following email forward has been circulating for quite a while now and is obviously still popular as it arrived in my inbox again yesterday. This particular one is worded for the benefit of U.S. computer users as it references the Department of Homeland Security but there are plenty of other variants for other countries too. The email claims that the government has installed keystroke loggers into new laptops (and other computers too presumably) – GOVERNMENT AND COMPUTER MANUFACTURERS CAUGHT INSTALLING HARD-WIRED KEYSTROKE LOGGERS INTO ALL NEW LAPTOP COMPUTERS! Devices capture everything you ever type, then can send it via your ethernet card to the Dept. of Homeland Security without your knowledge, consent or a search warrant each time you log onto the internet! The real life implications of this are plain: Computer manufacturers appear to be cooperating with the Department of Homeland Security to make every person who buys a new computer subject to immediate, unrestricted government recording of everything they do on those computers! EVERYTHING ! Even though I have an interest in reading about conspiracy theories from time to time I am still pretty certain the above email is a total hoax. Others, however, are not so convinced – see Fear The Government . What do you think?
Read the rest here:
Are The Governments Of The World Spying On Us By Installing Keyloggers In New Computers?
Japanese Rice Art Is No Hoax
September 22nd, 2009. Published under Scams. No Comments.
Sometimes I receive emails that sound like they should be hoaxes but arn’t. This one, about Japanese rice art, is one example of something that sounds too bizarre to be true. The pictures, however, are quite genuine – Subject: Rice Art Stunning crop art has sprung up across rice fields in Japan. But this is no alien creation – the designs have been cleverly planted. Farmers creating the huge displays use no ink or dye. Instead, different colours of rice plants have been precisely and strategically arranged and grown in the paddy fields. As summer progresses and the plants shoot up, the detailed artwork begins to emerge – My initial reaction when I saw those pictures was that they were either some sort of photoshop exercise or that someone had created the Japanese equivalent of crop circles , i.e. they were for no particular purpose other than to garner attention for the particular artist. The truth, however, is that they are actually quite genuine and an ancient art form, as reported by The Guardian . Quite stunning, don’t you think?
See the article here:
Japanese Rice Art Is No Hoax
How Can I Avoid Vishing Scams?
September 22nd, 2009. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.
How to avoid vishing scams If you don’t already know what vishing is then you need to read yesterday’s post – What Exactly Is Vishing ? Today I am looking at a few very simple ways of ensuring you don’t become a victim of this crime. Rule #1 can be applied to just about every scenario you may ever come across online – DO NOT REVEAL YOUR SENSITIVE INFORMATION TO ANYONE , INCLUDING BANK EMPLOYEES. Whether you are contacted via email, IM or phone you should never, ever, reveal sensitive information to someone you cannot completely trust. If you always keep that in mind then you will have improved your internet security immeasurably. The other rules are just as much common sense – Banks and other financial institutions never call and ask you for personal information. The call or message may say that your call is being recorded but this is just to scare people so that they do not call the authorities. Notice how the caller never calls you by name. That is because they have no idea what your name is! If your bank or credit card number asks for your account number then they must be false – they should already know such details. Just because they don’t ask for your CVV2 number don’t think they are legit – some people can still steal your money without that information. Some banks, especially the small ones, usually have the last 6 numbers of the card the same for all the cards. So thieves will ask only for the last 6 digits of your credit card number because they know the first ones. So don’t think that if they ask only for 6 digits they cannot steal your money. They can do this just with your PIN and the last 6 digits of your card. Remember the above and stay safe. Don’t get vished!
Top Cricketer Likes Snails. Top Footballer Scores Goals. Idiot Tweeters Spam.
September 19th, 2009. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.
Here are a few links to some of the best articles I’ve come across on my internet travels this week – ———————————————————————————————– Its a total hoax but this story about Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar’s new house is a good read – apparently it’s shaped like a snail ! ———————————————————————————————– The Register has uncovered a new tactic which may soon be seen in all those emails you get from ‘your bank’. Whilst directing people to a fake website that looks like their bank is nothing new this new tactic incorporates ‘live chat’ into the mix, unsurprisingly with a fraud investigator who needs the answers to your secret security questions. ———————————————————————————————– Sans.org asks why fake antivirus programs are so successful? The answer, it would seem, is all in the presentation . Oh, that and the fact that they make the scammers a boat load of cash. ———————————————————————————————– Pick Your Poison: KOOBFACE or FAKEAV? is a post by the guys over at VirusExperts.org that shows a new twist in how those behind the virus will attempt to ensnare Facebook users into their growing botnet. ———————————————————————————————– Are you on Twitter? Are you following more people than you thought you were? Are you receiving @reply and DM spam from people you don’t know? If so, John Chow may have stumbled upon the reason why. ———————————————————————————————– The Koobface worm has been around for a while now, especially on Facebook, but it would seem that the worm has now turned. The latest version would appear to have gone down the scareware route, much like Conficker, and also installs a Click Fraud Trojan . Scary stuff indeed. ———————————————————————————————– The Day Before Zero talks about the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), botnets and ISPs and how the latter could alert their customers if they have been entrapped into a botnet . ———————————————————————————————– Wired.com reported on a hoax about a supposed suicide bombing in America that just happened to be around the time of the 9/11 anniversary. The ‘bombers’ were, it was claimed, a rap group known as ‘The Berlin Boys’ and the hoax extended to Wikipedia entries and California phone numbers that were actually being answered via Skype. An embarrassingly large number of Germans believed it all. ———————————————————————————————– Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Liverpool beat West Ham today with the ‘unfit’ and ‘poorly-performing’ Fernando Torres scoring his 4th and 5th goals in just his sixth game of the season. Just wait until he hits top form…. “This year could be our year”…. ———————————————————————————————–
See the original post here:
Top Cricketer Likes Snails. Top Footballer Scores Goals. Idiot Tweeters Spam.
Facebook Fan Check – Handy App, Virus Or Hoax?
September 19th, 2009. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.
Have you heard of the Fan Check app on Facebook? It is a downloadable application that allows you to monitor which of your friends are commenting most on your photos or wall and it will place them in order according to who has commented the most. Recently, however, concerns over Fan Check have been surfacing, namely that it may be a virus. If you search Google then there are a great many reports about Facebook users who claim that Fan Check has in some way hacked their accounts and led to unsolicited messages being sent to their friends and other contacts. On Facebook itself there are groups who are warning other users about the app and asking for it to be banned. PC World has said – ‘Malicious hackers are setting up malware-infested Web sites that falsely claim to remove a virus from a new Facebook application called Fan Check, security vendor Sophos is warning…. Facebook members use popular search engines to find antivirus information about Fan Check, they are getting results that point to sites that can infect their computers with malware.’ The creator of the application – Janakan Arulkumarasa – has responded by saying that – ‘it is NOT a malicious app. Unfortunately, some malicious developers have been spreading a lie that it is – and encouraging people to download fake virus scanning software, which damages their computer. This is very unfortunate, but has nothing to do with us.’ Despite such reassurances from the developer, the number of users of Fan Check quickly dropped from over 12 million to under 7 million. To my mind it seems like the application itself is probably sound but there are bogus sites talking about it that contain malware. If you already have Fan Check installed then there is probably no need to panic but, as ever, be careful about what you click on elsewhere on the internet.
View original post here:
Facebook Fan Check – Handy App, Virus Or Hoax?
Unemployed: Job Search Tips
September 18th, 2009. Published under Unemployment. No Comments.
Help is Here — Judy Langley, a career specialist at Career Works in Brockton, Ma, offers tips to finding a job for people who have been recently laid off or their workplace closes. This video is part of Help Is Here, an online resource featured on the websites of The Enterprise and The Patriot Ledger newspapers, part of GateHouse Media New England.
Go here to see the original:
Unemployed: Job Search Tips
How To Avoid Gift Card Scams
September 18th, 2009. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.
When you’re browsing around Craigslist and are looking for giftcards that other people don’t want, you’re probably thinking to yourself: What steps can I take to avoid being scammed? Most people initially think of meeting up with the person and then calling the number on the back of the card to check the balance. That’s probably the most common thinking one can think of. However, scammers these days are smarter than that. There is indeed a way to use the balance before selling it off to another person. The seller might make a transaction online just minutes before meeting up with you, and when you meet up and check the balance via telephone, the automated machine will read the balance before the transaction. Most people would be satisfied with this and proceed on with the deal. However, you should be wiser than that. THIS IS HOW YOU AVOID A GIFT CARD SCAM Firstly, when you meet up with the seller, always try to meet up at the place where the gift card is usable. There, you should ask him to get you the item you want (at the same price lsited on the gift card), and pay him afterwards. Even if you want to, you can still return the item later for store credit. This way, you have something that’s more tangible than just a card in your hands. If this method doesn’t click with you, then simply check the back of the card. If the pin is scratched off, then don’t buy because there is a greater chance that the card has already been used. However, even if the pin hasn’t been scratched off yet, there are ways to use it. In addition, to avoid scammers, make sure you keep your eyes on the gift card at all times, because some people will try to switch the cards when you’re not looking. Lastly, if your intuition tells you that there’s something sketchy about the seller, then don’t buy the gift card . Some of the warning signs you may see are that he will call you from a private number, only call you on your number, but won’t give you his, or that he will want to meet with you at random places.
Read the original here:
How To Avoid Gift Card Scams
How To Avoid Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) Scams
September 17th, 2009. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.
I would imagine that everyone reading this has probably used an ATM machine at some time. An Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) is an electronic terminal, which is directly links to the financial institution, to which it belongs, where consumers can conduct electronic financial transactions by means of an ATM or credit card. The majority of ATM machines are linked to a large number of financial institutions and can be used from anywhere around the world. ATM machines can be online or offline. In the case of online machines, the transactions conducted by consumers are processed instantaneously in real time. Where the ATM is offline, all transactions are recorded on tape. These tapes are subsequently transported on a daily basis to financial institutions for processing by either courier or security companies. THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF ATM SCAM There are a number of ways in which ATM scams are conducted by fraudsters. Here are some examples of ATM scams. Stolen ATM or Credit Cards In some instances fraudsters may come into possession of a persons’ ATM or credit card and have access to the secret pin required to conduct transactions on an ATM. Often a persons’ wallet or purse can be stolen and the secret pin codes are written on a piece of paper inside. Fraudsters will then utilize this information and withdraw as much funds as possible from the victim’s account at ATMs. The fraudster will continue withdrawing funds until the card is held by the ATM machine. Counterfeit ATM Cards This offence is very rare, but they do occur. In these instances offenders will make use of a ‘Skimming’ device. This device is used to extract all data from a magnetic strip at the back of a bank or credit card. This data can later be extracted to a computer. With a skimming device it is only required to swipe the magnetic strip over or into the device. From a computer, the information can then be transferred onto a new magnetic strip on the back of a new card. This card will then in effect be a duplicate of the original card. Skimming devices comes in many forms, large or small. ATM fraudsters will use a device very similar to the ATM slot where the consumer’s card is entered to. Fraudsters will simply remove the ATM’s device and put their own skimming device in its place. Offenders will then set up cameras in hidden places around the ATM. This camera is used to record the secret pin entered by the consumer. Offenders will later remove their devices and can now start duplicating ATM and credit cards of victims. Fraudulent withdrawals As security measures, banking clients can not withdraw more funds from their accounts than are available. There may also be daily withdrawal limits on accounts, which are set by the client or bank. Fraudsters will often identify off-line ATM machines where transactions are not processed in real time. Here they will be in a position to withdraw more than the current daily limit, also more than is available in the account. Although these ATM’s have their own withdrawal limits, fraudsters will withdraw the maximum amounts they can as set by the ATM. Fraudulent Deposits In instances where a victim requires someone to deposit funds into their account before a product or service is delivered, fraudsters might prefer ATMs to perform this ‘deposit’. Fraudsters generally would deposit a fraudulent check, but mark the ATM instruction as cash. Fraudsters may also in instances place a small amount of funds into the envelope, but mark the front end with a higher amount and type the higher amount into the ATM as well. When the victim releases the product or funds, they will at a later stage be informed of the fraudulent deposit made. PROTECTING YOURSELF AGAINST ATM SCAMS When approaching an ATM, one should always ensure that the ATM is in good order. If there are any signs of tampering on the ATM, especially with the slot where the card is entered into, do not use it. Always look for small cameras inside and around the ATM, which appear to be out of place. When typing your pin, always ensure that you use your body to conceal the pad when typing your pin. Make sure that there are no way in any angle in which a person or came could see the typing process. Always ensure that you memorize your pin number. Do not write it down and keep it along with your card, in the event of a theft or robbery, the card can not be used at any ATM. When requesting someone to make a deposit into your account, always contact your bank and ask the method in which the deposit was made. Also ask the exact amount and the method of payment. It is highly suggested that you wait for funds to clear before releasing any products or services to a buyer.
Continue reading here:
How To Avoid Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) Scams
How Craigslist Scams Can Be Avoided With Common Sense
September 17th, 2009. Published under Scams. No Comments.
Have you ever shopped on Craigslist? If so, then you probably know that they offer tons of deals (including wives – see Yuliyana Kalinina And The Green Card Marriage Scam ). Sometimes, people buy stuff and then they don’t want it after a period of time and sell it for cheap. Other times, people receive gifts and sell those gifts back for cash. Everything seems ideal, right? Like the old adage goes, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” However, if you’re a Craigslist shopper you need to beware of all the scammers. For example, I read an article about a man in the UK trying to sell a car to a man in the US, and when the money was sent, there was no car and no trace of the man who claimed to want to sell the car. Further, there was a case about a person who bought a 500 dollar gift card for Macy’s for only 50 bucks! But it turned out, the card had a balance of zero dollars and zero cents on it – the buyer should have called to check. As you can see, these cases teach us a lot about scams and scammers. Most of the scams you will come across are often very obvious – I mean, who would sell you a 500 dollar gift card for 50!?! And scammers tend to be very distant and compromising when it comes to it. So, watch out if you’re going to buy stuff on Craigslist!
Follow this link:
How Craigslist Scams Can Be Avoided With Common Sense
Can I Avoid Viruses Without Buying An Antivirus Program?
September 16th, 2009. Published under Fraud. No Comments.
There are plenty of good antivirus programs out there that won’t break the bank, such as the top ten free antivirus of 2009 . I would certainly recommend installing one of the programs on that list, especially as they are free. Alternatively, if you want an antivirus program that is more thorough then you could always looks at the top ten paid for antivirus programs of 2009 instead. Another option, which is one I personally wouldn’t suggest, is to run your computer without any antivirus protection at all. If you do that is it possible to avoid getting infected with viruses or any malicious software? The answer to that is yes, you can surf the net safely without any security protection, but you do need to know what you are doing. WATCH OUT FOR EXECUTABLE FILES Most of the malicious programs and viruses out there in the wild get attached to files that have an .EXE extension. An EXE extension means that the files must be run in order to pass on the infection. Even if you download an infected file, you won’t get infected until you run that file. So don’t run programs from sites that aren’t trusted especially some of the files that come from torrents and other file-sharing sources. For these files you can use an antivirus to scan them before they run into your computer. If you don’t have an antivirus installed, there is another option. Some antivirus sites provide free online scanning features as a demo for their software before people buy it. The idea is not to know how to disinfect your PC but how to prevent infection in the first place. Use their online scan feature for your downloaded files to check if they’re infected. You should note too that executable files do not always have .EXE extension so you can be tricked with different file types. Below is a list with some of them that you should consider suspicious – ADE – Microsoft Access Project Extension ADP – Microsoft Access Project BAS – Visual Basic Class Module BAT – Batch File CHM – Compiled HTML Help File CMD – Windows NT Command Script COM – MS-DOS Application CPL – Control Panel Extension CRT – Security Certificate DLL – Dynamic Link Library DO – Word Documents and Templates EXE – Application HLP – Windows Help File HTA – HTML Applications INF – Setup Information File INS – Internet Communication Settings ISP – Internet Communication Settings JS – JScript File JSE – JScript Encoded Script File LNK – Shortcut MDB – Microsoft Access Application MDE – Microsoft Access MDE Database MSC – Microsoft Common Console Document MSI – Windows Installer Package MSP – Windows Installer Patch MST – Visual Test Source File OCX – ActiveX Objects PCD – Photo CD Image PIF – Shortcut to MS-DOS Program POT – PowerPoint Templates PPT – PowerPoint Files REG – Registration Entries SCR – Screen Saver SCT – Windows Scirpt Component SHB – Document Shortcut File SHS – Shell Scrap Object SYS – System Config/Driver URL – Internet Shortcut (Uniform Resource Locator) VB – VBScript File VBE – VBScript Encoded Script File VBS – VBScript Script File WSC – Windows Script Component WSF – Windows Script File WSH – Windows Scripting Host Settings File XL – Excel Files and Templates By default, Windows does not show the extension of the files, just the name. Because this is hidden usually, you can be tricked into running infected applications. WATCH OUT FOR DISGUISED EXTENSIONS Names can be disguised with image, audio or other file types. Let’s say you receive an image file ‘image-1.jpg’. The ‘.jpg’ is not the actual extension of the file. This is part of the file name. The real extension could be ‘.exe’, ‘.com’ or other suspicious file types. You can avoid this by turning off the ‘Hide extensions for known file types’ feature. You can do this by going to My Computer > Tools > Folder Options > View and uncheck the ‘Hide extensions for known file types’ option. WATCH OUT FOR ADWARE Many software programs are offered in 2 versions, freeware or paid licensed. Maybe you’re asking yourself why it is offered free? Some advertising companies pay the license so the software is offered for free but in exchange of this they attach their advertisement programs to the software files. When you install the program you will also install the annoying ads that open all kind of web pages and pop ups by themselves. This is called adware. Some of them can be unchecked during the installation but these are few and far between. Try to avoid visiting or downloading files from porn , warez and cracking sites. If you are a regular visitor to these kinds of websites you must have a good antivirus. BROWSER HIJACKS These pages can contain browser hijacking code that infects your computer with all kind of spyware, malware and adware. Don’t open emails from unknown senders. Thieves can get access to your email just by sending you an empty message, based on the cookies dropped in your PC. PASSWORD SECURITY If you use remote administration change the password to something really hard to guess. Try combination of letters, numbers, caps letters and symbols. This way, brute force programs won’t guess your password in a million years. Audio, movie and image files cannot get infected. FAKE ANTIVIRUS PROGRAMS Some sites are infected with malicious code that make your PC act strange and then open messages that your PC is infected and you should buy their security software to get rid of the virus. Don’t trust these sites. If you see these kind of messages or pop ups immediately close the browser and delete all the cookies and temporary internet files as they are probably trying to trick you into buying fake antivirus or other rogue programs. ITS NOT PERSONAL Be more careful when you surf online but don’t become paranoid. You are not the target of any hacker. The number of people that get infected with nasty viruses are few compared to the number of internet users. Professional hackers don’t target ordinary internet users. If you get infected you can easily format the hard drive and reinstall Windows. Hackers prefer to target large companies so they can wreak havoc within their databases or security systems. These are companies where this kind of damage involves a huge cost in time and money to resolve. Fixing it isn’t just as simple as reinstalling Windows for them. If you are still very scared and paranoid, change your operating system to something UNIX based such as an Apple Mac as I’ve heard they never suffer with malware
Read more:
Can I Avoid Viruses Without Buying An Antivirus Program?
Phishing Cartoon Drives The Message Home
September 16th, 2009. Published under Scams. No Comments.
The following cartoon from Consumer Reports WebWatch is cute and a little funny too – You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video Fortunately, it also makes some good points about what phishing is and how such crimes are committed. If it has piqued your curiosity then you can learn a whole lot more by reading my recent post : Phishing – What Is It And How Can You Avoid It?
Continued here:
Phishing Cartoon Drives The Message Home
Avoiding Identity Theft – Don’t Become A Victim
September 14th, 2009. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.
Internet identity theft continues to be one of the fastest growing crimes world wide. Its something that can not only steal your money, but ruin your reputation and leave you with months of work to restore your good name. AVOIDING IDENTITY THEFT VIA EMAIL The good news is that the every day computer user can substantially lower the risk of becoming a victim with a few tips and some diligence. The easiest and most effective thing you can do is pay attention to your email. Email phishing is a scam whereby identity thieves send out mass emails with the intent of stealing the reader’s vital information. Its quite effective, largely because computer users simply don’t pay attention. These emails are often written in HTML and made to look like they came from a financial institution, an on-line retailer, or even a government entity. I’ve even seen them designed to look and feel like the IRS website! The key here is to simply delete these emails immediately. Any reputable company would never use an email to ask for sensitive information. If you feel the email might be legitimate, move your mouse over the reply address, or the link that’s listed for you to “log in” to the website. If its legit, the link will be clean and direct; something like http://www.yourbank.com. If its a scam the address will not be so clean: http://xyiph.yourbank.com.imathief.cz, for example. It’s also a good idea to never click a link that’s identified only by an IP address. LIMIT ID THEFT WITH TEMPORARY CREDIT CARDS Another good tip for avoiding internet identity theft is to use temporary credit cards for online shopping. Almost all of the major credit card companies offer these including Visa, Mastercard, and Discover, and companies like PayPal are on board too. Simply do an online search for “temporary credit cards” and you’ll find all the information. The way this works is that the consumer signs up for a temporary credit card account, then purchases the card from the desired company. Some are purchased with a one-time set amount, others are re-loadable. Its best to use a card with an expiration date within a few weeks of purchase. Anything longer and you’re right back to using a normal card. The idea here is that even if a thief gets hold of your information, the card will expire before he can make good use of it. This only works however, if you use the card as it’s intended to be: temporarily. It might be an inconvenience to get a new card every few weeks or so, but it’s worth it. PROTECT YOUR IDENTITY BY PROTECTING YOUR NETWORK One last tip to help prevent internet identity theft is to protect your wireless network . Every modern wireless router on the market has the ability built right in to secure your network with encryption. WPA-PSK encryption is probably the best option. It’s easy to set up right from your PC and your user manual should be able to guide you through. If you run into trouble, your ISP provider might be able to help and there’s also the local computer geek who can do it for a small fee. With all this said, be warned that any wireless security can be hacked if given enough time. When you’re not using your computer SHUT IT OFF. A thief cannot hack a system that’s not on. You might also set up your wireless router to not broadcast the ESSID. If a thief doesn’t know your network exists, he’ll have a much more difficult time finding it. The keys to stopping internet identity theft are common sense and diligence. Computer users who put forth the effort to learn a little and apply common sense solutions, are much less like to be victims. Those who continue to live with their heads in the sand are asking for trouble.
Visit link:
Avoiding Identity Theft – Don’t Become A Victim
For This Week’s Homework Please Bring An Apple Mac, Your Resume And A Strong Cup Of Coffee
September 12th, 2009. Published under Scams. No Comments.
Here are a few links to some of the best articles I’ve come across on my internet travels this week – ———————————————————————————————– Malware is here to stay but what makes it so effective? PcMag.com answers that question by looking at The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Malware . ———————————————————————————————– Bev over at TEKBLOG seems to put a lot of time into looking for scams on Twitter. In one of her recent forays onto the social networking site she found multiple accounts tweeting the same message about a ‘ Google hiring people from the net’ scam. Personally I’m amazed at how many accounts can repeat the exact same tweet, that is obviously spammy (or worse), and not get banned post haste. ———————————————————————————————– Tech Republic : When it comes to storing cookies you may have to stop and think about how paranoid you wish to be. ———————————————————————————————– Randy at ESET wrote an article that I couldn’t resist considering my minor fixation with Snow Leopard and Mac security recently. In it he asks, Is Apple’s Snow Leopard Immune to Malware? I know what I think but what are your views on the Mac and malware? ———————————————————————————————– Do you need a firewall? If so, and you don’t want to have to pay for it, then one of the 5 free ones mentioned by eXaminer should do the trick. ———————————————————————————————– If you have an interest in data encryption, along with a good bit of time to kill, then CSO Online have an interesting, and detailed, 10 page article on End-to-End encryption . Its a great read but make sure you’ve made the coffee before you start getting into it. ———————————————————————————————– Finally there is a report about Conficker from SPAMfighter. I am convinced that the conficker virus has not gone away and more will be heard from it in the near future. According to the SPAMfighter article I may not be alone in my way of thinking as Conficker is now on the summit of BitDefender’s Top Ten e-Threats list for August 2009. ———————————————————————————————–
Continued here:
For This Week’s Homework Please Bring An Apple Mac, Your Resume And A Strong Cup Of Coffee
Job Search Trials and Tribulations
September 12th, 2009. Published under Unemployment. No Comments.
lachamba.com – I even sold Avon lipstick and delivered pizza pies up 21 flights of steps while I found jobs I wanted; http
Read more from the original source:
Job Search Trials and Tribulations
DoS vs DDoS – What Is The Difference?
September 11th, 2009. Published under Scams. No Comments.
DoS = Denial Of Service DDoS = Distributed Denial Of Service What is the difference between the two? Whilst DoS and DDoS sound remarkably similar there are in fact differences between the two – DoS A DoS Attack is a Denial of Service attack. This means that one computer and one internet connection is used to flood a server with packets (TCP / UDP). The point of such a denial of service attack is to overload the targeted server’s bandwidth and other resources. This will make the server inaccessible to others, thereby blocking the website or whatever else is hosted there. DDoS A DDoS Attack is a Distributed Denial of Service Attack. In most respects it is similar to a DoS attack but the results are much, much different. Instead of one computer and one internet connection the DDoS attack utilises many computers and many connections. The computers behind such an attack are often distributed around the whole world and will be part of what is known as a botnet . The main difference between a DDoS attack vs a DoS attack, therefore, is that the target server will be overload by hundreds or even thousands of requests in the case of the former as opposed to just one attacker in the case of the latter. Therefore it is much, much harder for a server to withstand an attack against a DDoS attack.
Go here to see the original:
DoS vs DDoS – What Is The Difference?
Malware That Changed The World – The Conficker Virus
September 10th, 2009. Published under Scams. No Comments.
Conficker is the most recent addition to my list of notable malware, having only been released into the wild around October of last year. Many people predicted that Conficker would do some crazy stuff on April the 1st of this year but nothing of note really happened. That doesn’t mean to say that Conficker has gone away though. The Conficker virus, also known as Downadup, Kido and Confiker, is known to have infected up to 6 million computers around the world. No-one has claimed responsibility for writing the Conficker virus yet though industry experts believe the author(s) may be in the Ukraine or somewhere else near Russia. Infected machines are hooked into a botnet that could be used for a variety of purposes, ranging from spam to DDoS attacks. Despite all this potential they only serious effect of Conficker thus far has been to serve up an inducement to buy a fake antivirus program. I for one believe that Conficker will be used for far worse in the future. After all, 6 million plus infected computers are bound to have some monetary value to cyber criminals. Have you been infected by the Conficker virus? Heres more in my short series on malware that changed the world – The OSX/RSPlug Trojan The I Love You Virus The Blaster Worm Anna Kournikova The Melissa Virus The Storm Worm The Morris Worm The Conficker Virus
Go here to read the rest:
Malware That Changed The World – The Conficker Virus