Lionheart Group Scam Prevention Toolkit

Actual Debt Collectors Violating the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act

March 11th, 2010. Published under Business Scams, Fraud. No Comments.

Debt collectors violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDPCA) all the time. It’s time to name and shame a couple of them. Of course I reported these to the Federal Trade Commission ( www.ftc.gov ) but to date the FTC hasn’t done diddle about them. First we have “Agent Washington” of UCB (United Collection Bureau) claiming to be a law enforcement officer, claiming to have paperwork in the Bulloch County State Attorneys Office First off credit card debt is a civil matter, not criminal. Everything about this phone call are multiple violations of the FDCPA. Listen to my conversation with Agent Washington (MP3 format). She even called my next door neighbor while I was talking with the idiot. If I knew then what I knew now I would have owned United Collection Bureau. Next up is West Management claiming Fraud Charges. The caller claims to be

Watch Out For Counterfeit Software Scams

March 2nd, 2010. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.

Fraudsters are always looking to make money on the internet and they use a number of different schemes to do just that. One way in which they achieve their nefarious means is through distributing counterfeit software . Typically, these fraudsters will open up online stores from which to sell their warez. They will then advertise the popular software products of the day at a huge discount, often from 50% or even much more. To lend an air of credibility to the deals that they are offering they will also falsely claim that they are authorised sellers for the software on their sites. Should you happen to buy counterfeit software from such a seller it is likely that you will end up extremely disappointed and out of pocket as the programs will most likely come with fraudulent serial keys. Such keys, if not already blocked by the software manufacturer at the time of your purchase, will likely prove to be useless in a short period of time. How Do I Protect Myself From Counterfeit Software Scams? As ever, commonsense is the key here. If a product is priced at a ridiculously low level then alarm bells should ring loudly in your head. Also, you should also be very wary of buying anything from websites you know nothing about. In the case of software, you can always contact the producer of the software you are interested in to check whether the website you’ve seen is indeed an authorised seller of said product. Watch Out For Counterfeit Software Scams is a post from: Scam Types dot Com Check out The Best Internet Security Programs Of 2009

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Watch Out For Counterfeit Software Scams

Florida Consumer Turns Tables On Debt Collector — Sued For $800.00 Dollars, Consumer Collects $120,000.00 Dollars From Debt Collector – CapitalOne Laywers Screwed

March 1st, 2010. Published under Business Scams. No Comments.

Florida Consumer Turns Tables On Debt Collector — Sued For $800.00 Dollars, Consumer Collects $120,000.00 Dollars From Debt Collector Boca Raton resident Steven J. Pincus incurred legal fees in excess of $100,000.00 dollars defending an alleged credit card debt of $800.00 dollars. Pincus later sued the debt collector in federal court for filing a time-barred lawsuit, a violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. The debt collector settled the matter for $120,000.00 dollars on February 15, 2010.

The New Economy? That’s Not So Scary

February 27th, 2010. Published under Economic News. No Comments.

We hear it all the time, from all sorts of places. You can’t do that in the new economy. You can’t expect that in the new economy. That just can’t happen in the new economy. So many people are waiting until the new economy turns around, rebounds, transforms into the new new economy. They are afraid to take a

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The New Economy? That’s Not So Scary

West Virginia AG Settles With Debt Collectors

February 23rd, 2010. Published under Business Scams, Fraud. No Comments.

According to the State Journal , West Virginia Attorney General Darrell McGraw has reached settlements with three companies that used very different approaches to collect debts that were often disputed, sometimes non-existent, and in the case of one company, so old that the time to sue had expired. The three companies – Allied Interstate of Minneapolis, Minn; Jefferson Capital Systems of St. Cloud, Minn; and Wilhelm, West, Kacey & Associates (WWKA), of Canton, Ga. – promised to conform their practices with state and federal debt collection laws in the future. Collectively, they agreed to make restitution, cash refunds, and to cancel debts totaling $404,091.48 for 446 West Virginia consumers. Anyone wishing to file a complaint about a consumer matter or to alert the Attorney General about unfair or deceptive practices may do so by calling the Consumer Protection Hot Line, 800-368-8808. Read the full story on the State Journal .

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West Virginia AG Settles With Debt Collectors

UPDATED: Abusive Debt Collection Tactics from 866-354-5387 Freedom Financial of Los Angeles

February 3rd, 2010. Published under Business Scams, Fraud, Scams. No Comments.

I received an email last night from a consumer that claims they are only a reference listed on an account. Supposedly he isn’t a signee at all, yet he and his family are being harassed by a caller (866-354-5387) claiming to be an investigator and stated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) didn’t apply to him. Hi, i have been contacted by a debt collector looking for a person who put me down as a reference, i told the investigator Davis i did not know where the motorcycle was and i had already told that to previous collectors from his firm, i asked him never to call me again, he then stated that he was not a collector rather an investigator, and was not bound by the collection laws, he then went on to call my family members telling them i was in major trouble freaking out my mother , is there anything i can do in this situation? i recorded a call from him. he would not give me a company name but did leave a number 866-354-5387 . What are my options? If it were me, I would temporarily block my caller ID and call the number to see if the number is legitimate. If it is find out who they are and then run to the closest consumer protection you can find. “Investigator” Davis” is not an investigator, he is a debt collector using illegal tactics, that is why he refused to give you the company name, he knows he he is breaking the law by calling the consumers family members and scaring them. If he calls back again ask him for his state investigator license, if he isn’t a debt collector (he probably is though) then remind him that investigators in your state are licensed by the state and he must provide you his investigators license number. What will mostly likely happen is one of the following: (a) he’ll hang up and not call again, (b) Give you some sort of bogus license number. If he does then you can get your state involved by filing a complaint with the state regarding a fraudulent investigator. After all if he gives you a bogus number than he is incriminating himself. If he refuses to give you a license number you bet he is a debt collector that breaks the law. Either way you got him and the company involved by the “cahones”. While I believe it is a debt collector it may be a collection scam, there are quite a few of them making the rounds across the U.S. I would suggest talking to your family and tell them that it is a debt collector using scare tactics. Ask them if possible to record future conversations or at least keep a log with the dates and times that they call each family member. If you do find the company behind the number and sue them, you will need the times/dates for use in court. I did look into the phone number, I didn’t find the company behind the number but did find references to complaints of “Marshalls” and “Investigators” calling from that number. Typical rouge debt collector scare tactics. Until such time that the identity of the company behind the 866-354-5387 is found, a consumer has limited resources in which to fight back. I would start with my states consumer affairs division and file a complaint. You may also want to consider filing a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), it probably won’t help you personally but there will be a record of the abuse. You could also file a report with the local police regarding the harassing phone numbers and then have the phone company put a trace on the line. The phone company generally won’t put a trace on a line unless a police report has been filed. I once had a debt collection company call me claiming to be an officer of UCB (United Collection Bureau) and she got all kinds of nasty, even told me she would call my neighbors and while on the phone with me she did, and my neighbor called me and told me immediately. I should have sued them, but at the time I didn’t know how (now I do). I did call United Collection Bureau and talked to the vice-president of compliance. After playing back the conversation between myself and the UCB officer, he said measures would be taken and I never go hassled by UCB again. Like I said I had the physical evidence, I just wish I knew then what I know about suing debt collectors for violations of state and federal law. UPDATE: The consumer that was begin harrassed over a debt that wasn’t his, he was merely a reference on the original loan. He finally received a response, Freedom Road Financial in Los Angeles were behind the calls. “I told “agent Marshal Davis” out of “northern CA” that i did not trust that he was a real investigator, and might be a phishing scam. I managed to get him to tell me that he is working on behalf of FreedomRoad Financial www.frf1.com he then gave me his contact at freedom road financial Michelle Peacan and her number to verify that he was working for them, i called her at 775.562.3816 and asked if i could record the call and she said no and that she knew who i was and that she has an agent working the case, i then said i did not trust that she worked for freedom road financial and she gave me the their 866.455.7623 main phone number to verify that she was a company representative, stating that she was the only michelle working there, sure enough dial by name brings you to Michelle Peacan, I told her that i was recording the call, i said that i never signed for anything and was not contractually obligated to them and wanted them to stop calling me, she stated that i was involved because i had once told their collection agent i knew where my friend lived and where their bike may be, i then asked if i was in trouble she said that i was involved with the theft of the bike, again i asked if i was in trouble and she said she was not a lawyer and that she would do what she had to to get the bike back and hung up on me.” Need help in dealing with crazy or sue happy debt collectors? Give my book a read .

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UPDATED: Abusive Debt Collection Tactics from 866-354-5387 Freedom Financial of Los Angeles

The FDCPA Does Not Give Debt Collector the Right to Leave Voice Mail on Answering Machine

January 21st, 2010. Published under Fraud. No Comments.

I am so glad the 11th circuit court ruled properly on this. I am about to rip a big hole out Hollander Law Offices LLC

Maryland Court to Dismiss Thousands of Mann Bracken Debt Collection Lawsuits

January 14th, 2010. Published under Fraud. No Comments.

In a win for consumers, a Maryland court is dismissing tens of thousands of lawsuits filed by the Mann Bracken law firm. Mann Bracken was one of the largest nationwide debt collection law firms until recently. When the state agency that licenses debt collectors investigated, it concluded that the firm no longer met the licensing requirements. On Monday, the licensing board issued a cease-and-desist order directing Mann Bracken to immediately stop collections. Earlier this month, Mann Bracken LLP began sending letters to Maryland District Court clerks saying the firm — which is national but has a major office in Rockville — would shut down at the end of January. – source: The Daily Record Now if the other 49 states would take the same action Mann Bracken will only be an empty shell of the past. Yep, Karma has kicked Mann Bracken square in the ass this time! All I can say it is high time that all involved with Mann Bracken go broke and get harassed by debt collectors. That would be the ultimate irony, wouldn’t it.

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Maryland Court to Dismiss Thousands of Mann Bracken Debt Collection Lawsuits

The Conficker Worm Proved To Be The Biggest Problem In 2009

January 14th, 2010. Published under Scams. No Comments.

One thing about the year 2009 is that it saw it’s share of online threats. As a matter of fact, there were probably more threats seen in 2009 than in any year prior. There are more and more hackers that are seeing the financial benefits that can be made by introducing new exploits to the average computer user. Also, there are a lot more hacker kits that are available. They allow a person who is not skilled in creating an exploit to have the ability to use one anyway. All of these factors mixed together made 2009 and dangerous year on the Internet. The Conficker Worm None of the threats  that were out there caused more problems than the conficker worm. This worm took traction in 2009 and wouldn’t stop. The conficker worm could be easily one of the worse infections that has spread through the Internet for the entire decade, not just 2009. First found in the wild at the end of 2008, this worm quickly spread to users of the Microsoft Windows operating system family. After the worm was first discovered, it was hard to stop the infection on user’s computers because the worm itself kept transforming. The creators of the worm would monitor recent developments that would hopefully help stop the spread of it and they adjusted accordingly. This is part of the reason why the worm goes by so many different names. Besides Conflicker, it also known as Downup and the Kido worm. The worm was able to spread so much and so quick that Microsoft offered a huge bounty on the heads of whoever wrote the worm. They were determined to eliminate the threat if not by technology, then through old fashion police work. They were able to discover what region of the world the worm was originating from, but they were not able to find the person or persons responsible for it. Antivirus Avoidance For a long time, antivirus software was not able to get rid of every variant of the worm. Now they all claim to be able to detect and dispose of the worm on a users system. This seems to be true since the spread of the worm has rapidly decreased in the last couple of months. The worm was so successful that there is no doubt that the creators of it are working on a 2.0 version. Since they haven’t been caught, they get the chance to work on all of the mistakes they made. This time, they can make it even more untraceable. Out of all the malware that was released in the past year, the Conficker worm proved to be the biggest pest. It was able to baffle network administrators and security professionals everywhere. The Conficker Worm Proved To Be The Biggest Problem In 2009 is a post from: Scam Types dot Com Check out The Best Internet Security Programs Of 2009

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The Conficker Worm Proved To Be The Biggest Problem In 2009

Challenge in court

January 13th, 2010. Published under Tea Party. No Comments.

The word is out, the time to act is now, what is stopping us from challenging this in court? The republicans want to on the premise of the sweetheart deal Nebraska is getting, the unfairness to the r

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Challenge in court

Marketers of Unproven Weight-Loss Products Bronson Partners LLC Ordered to Pay Nearly $2 Million

January 11th, 2010. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.

Court Rules in Favor of FTC in Case of Diet Tea and Bio-Slim Patch A federal district court has ordered the marketers of an herbal tea and a diet patch to pay nearly $2 million to the Federal Trade Commission for making deceptive claims that both products would allow users to lose weight quickly without diet or exercise. For nearly two years before the FTC complaint was filed, Bronson Partners, LLC and its officer, Martin Howard, marketed Chinese Diet Tea, telling consumers they could lose as much as six pounds a week by drinking one cup of the green tea after each meal to “neutralize the absorption of fattening foods.” Advertising in national magazines such as USA Weekend and Clipper Magazine, the marketers charged $24.95 plus shipping and handling for a month’s supply. Also during this time, the marketers sold the Bio-Slim Patch, a diet patch that contained extracts from the fucus, garcinia, and guarana plants. Instructing consumers to wear the patches 24 hours a day for at least three months, the marketers claimed that “repulsive, excess ugly fatty tissue will disappear at a spectacular rate due to the combination and synergy of these three natural ingredients.” The marketers advertised the patch in national magazines and in a company catalog, and consumers paid $24.95 plus shipping and handling for a month’s supply. In addition to ordering the nearly $2 million payment, citing “obvious and widespread” violations of the FTC Act, Judge Stefan R. Underhill of the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut granted the FTC’s request to prohibit the defendants from selling or advertising any weight-loss products. “Future violations of a similar nature would surely result in financial harm to consumers, and possible physical harm if consumers engage in risky weight-loss techniques in reliance on (the) defendants’ misleading representations,” the judge wrote in his December 2009 ruling and order. He also ordered the defendants to help the FTC identify consumer victims who lost money on the products, so that restitution can be made. The FTC filed its complaint against Bronson Partners, LLC and Martin Howard as part of the “Big Fat Lie” law enforcement sweep in November 2004. The sweep targeted marketers of bogus weight-loss products, such as pills, powders, gels, green teas, and diet patches. In July 2008, the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut granted the FTC’s request for summary judgment against Howard and Bronson Partners, LLC – also doing business as New England Diet Center and Bronson Day Spa. Copies of the November 2004 complaint and the December 2009 ruling and order are available on the FTC’s Web site at http://www.ftc.gov and from the FTC’s Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580. The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices in the marketplace and to provide information to help consumers spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish, visit the FTC’s online Complaint Assistant or call 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357). The FTC enters complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to more than 1,700 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad. The FTC’s Web site provides free information on a variety of consumer topics .

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Marketers of Unproven Weight-Loss Products Bronson Partners LLC Ordered to Pay Nearly $2 Million

Shifting Perspectives – aion gold

January 5th, 2010. Published under Tea Party. No Comments.

My main spends most of her time tanking, so I have a little more experience with the gear on this list as opposed to others. Dan O’Halloran will be writing a guide to gearing a Cat Druid next week,

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Shifting Perspectives – aion gold

Luxury Items Decrease in This Bad Economy

December 31st, 2009. Published under Economic News. No Comments.

If there was ever a time that was hard on luxury items from watches to five-star hotels this would be the time. The economy worldwide is seeing a transformation of epic proportions in which all markets are going down. Many times one economy will start decreasing while other countries’ economies start rising which helps mend

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Luxury Items Decrease in This Bad Economy

Federal Trade Commission: Lower Price Cap for Extra Credit Report Copies and Continued Crackdown on Mortgage Relief Scams

December 24th, 2009. Published under Business Scams, Fraud, Scams. No Comments.

The Federal Trade Commission has announced that it is lowering from $11 to $10.50 the maximum amount that consumer reporting agencies are allowed to charge consumers for an extra copy of their credit report. The Commission announced the reduction in the amount from 2009 to 2010 under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which requires the FTC each year to revise the cap originally set by statute based on the change in the Consumer Price Index. The fee is rounded to the nearest 50 cents. During this time of economic distress, the FTC reminds consumers that this charge does not apply to the first free copy of their credit report that consumers are entitled to request from each of the nationwide consumer reporting companies – Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion – once every 12 months through www.annualcreditreport.com. For details, see “Your Access to Free Credit Reports” at ftc.gov/credit . Consumers are also entitled to a free report when a company takes adverse action against them (such as denying an application for credit, insurance, or employment) within 60 days of receiving notice of the action. In addition, consumers are entitled to one free report a year if they are unemployed and plan to look for a job within 60 days; they are on welfare; or their report is inaccurate because of fraud, including identity theft. The $10.50 charge applies when a consumer who has received a free annual credit report does not otherwise qualify for an additional free report. The Commission vote to publish a notice in the Federal Register announcing the reduced cap was 4-0. (File No. P075400; staff contact is Clarke W. Brinckerhoff, Bureau of Consumer Protection, 202-326-3208; or Keith B. Anderson, Bureau of Economics, 202-326-3428.)

Unemployed: Private Insurance or Cobra?

December 23rd, 2009. Published under Unemployment. No Comments.

When you first get your “Pink Slip” papers, termination letter or “lay off” notice, you are given healthcare information that includes COBRA documents. Personally, I didnt look at the COBRA info because at the time, the government assistance didnt exist at the beginning of the recession. Its a little different now. I sat down with Southern California Insurance Agent, Colleen King, to ask her about the different options the newly unemployed have in terms of healthcare. Colleen King blogs at …

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Unemployed: Private Insurance or Cobra?

Online scams dominate BBB branch’s Top 10 list – CBC.ca

December 14th, 2009. Published under Political Scams, Scams. No Comments.

CBC.ca Online scams dominate BBB branch's Top 10 list CBC.ca “Some of the scams are just a bit of misleading advertising. A lot of the time, the consumer's credit card information is going from one company that they … and more

In The World Of Online Crime, The Drive By Method Is Most Effective

December 9th, 2009. Published under Fraud. No Comments.

Everything that you do in this world, if you are to have some kind of success, involves hard work and planning. The average person has the misconception that people who do crime are able to wake up in the morning, do a crime, and then receive a lot of money. This may be true for criminals that make a little bit of money in their endeavors but for the criminals that hope to be able to commit the big score, it takes lots of hard work and careful planning. This is the same reality when it comes to online crime. Viruses And Trojans Virus authors have to be very creative when they create a new infection. They also have to be creative when it comes to delivery. Let’s talk about one of those creative methods. One of the best and most creative methods that are available to malware authors today is to create a Trojan package that is able to upload and install on your computer without the victim having to do anything. Usually when a person gets an infection on their computer they must be part of the process to cause the damage. This is usually done by tricking the person to do some sort of activity. This activity usually involves them installing a program on their computer that is not what it pretends to be. It then starts to take shape and does it’s damage. Most of the time the damage is done behind the scenes and unnoticed by the user. Some advanced virus and Trojan writers have found a way to be able to leave you out of the process and upload the infection on its own. Well to be honest you are not completely out of the process. For this attack to work, they will usually need you to go to a web site that will deliver the attack. Once they trick you into going to the web site then your involvement is no longer needed. There is a method of doing this, that is making the rounds among virus authors now. IFrames It involves having you go to a web site with what is called an IFrame embedded in it. An IFrame is the ability of web page to display another web page on the same screen. This IFrame is then pointed to page where they use a corrupted PDF file to deliver the payload. Once the payload is delivered it is able to execute and infect your computer. This is why it is called the drive by method. It requires you to only pass through to the web site and with no other activity needed. You are then infected. This is not an easy to attack to create so it is not as propagated through the Internet as other attacks would be. As you can see the drive by method of delivering a virus or Trojan can be very effective in its execution. This is why you must be very careful when you go to visit a web site. There are attacks such as these that can be performed and cause you to have a very bad day. In The World Of Online Crime, The Drive By Method Is Most Effective is a post from: Scam Types dot Com Check out The Best Internet Security Programs Of 2009

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In The World Of Online Crime, The Drive By Method Is Most Effective

Oh no! Another climate scam scandal, this time in Denmark – Washington Examiner

December 4th, 2009. Published under Political Scams. No Comments.

Oh no! Another climate scam scandal, this time in Denmark Washington Examiner That's Denmark's cap-and-trade system in which companies buy and sell carbon emissions credits. The Obama-Waxman-Markey and Boxer-Kerry global warming … and more

White House wants nothing to do with Climategate – FTO (blog)

December 1st, 2009. Published under Political Scams. No Comments.

White House wants nothing to do with Climategate FTO (blog) So as the White House ignores the biggest scandal of our time they will push on for carbon tax, cap and trade and all the other treaties and laws at the … and more

Being Proactive About WLAN Security

November 21st, 2009. Published under Scams. No Comments.

Perhaps the most important defense is to be proactive in securing your WLAN . Don’t wait for threats to emerge before taking action. Now that you know the threats to your WLAN and some ways to deal with them, you can take what you know and put it to work. Each vendor maintains patches and updates on its Web site. You could go to every Web site and search for all the vulnerabilities that affect your devices. You may even find most of what you’re looking for after quite a while. The best place to start is the Security Focus Web site. Security Focus maintains an exhaustive list of vulnerabilities for hardware and software from every vendor. If it’s vulnerable, it’s listed on their site. Often vulnerabilities are listed on Security Focus even before the developers of an application or device know about the problem. In those rare cases when a company refuses to acknowledge an issue, this Web site may be the only place where you’ll find it listed. Make it a habit to check the site regularly for new threats. Many vendors will send you an email warning you of vulnerabilities if you took the time to register your product (and lets face it, most of us don’t). For the 90 percent of users that use a Microsoft operating system, the Windows Update feature will help you keep the operating system patched and save you from becoming a casualty when the next worm surfaces. Most cracker tools exploit holes that have not been patched. If you don’t maintain your systems, you are remaining vulnerable when you should be safe. Taking the time to patch software and update the firmware on devices will minimize your risk and reduce your headaches.

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Being Proactive About WLAN Security

Qimo – Free And Safe Operating System For Kids

November 16th, 2009. Published under Fraud. No Comments.

This is a guest post from Dwarka at Review Unit ,  a blog with reviews and the latest NEWS about Gadgets, Software, Hardware, Games, Mobile Phones and useful Web Applications along with freebies, promotional offers. As a parent, there is no doubt that you want to provide your kids with the best facilities available. Whether it would be books, toys or technology, you always look for the best for your children. Qimo is actually a Ubuntu Linux based operating system, which is designed to entertain and teach your kids about computers in the best possible way. If you are looking for a way to allow your kids to make the best possible use of a computer, Qimo is the best solution. Qimo is based on open source Ubuntu Linux which can be installed or run from a Live CD or a flash drive directly. Qimo is a comprehensive operating system for kids . Qimo is designed to be intuitive and easy to use, with big icons and amazing kids games. Designed by a husband and wife in Florida, Qimo can be operated with outdated computers as the minimum system requirements is – 400MHz processor 256MB of RAM 6GB hard drive (if you choose to install it instead of booting directly with the Live CD) There are many applications included in this Operating System which include TuxPaint, Childsplay, eToys, GCompris and many more. It is an amazing way to re-use an old notebook or computer. Booting from Live CD does not require installation, so even if you use them on your computer, you can be assured that it will not break anything. Qimo has got all the features that a parent would look for in a safe and secured operating system for their kids. Qimo does not allow your kids to access any of the administrative tools so it allows you to dust your worries off your head while your kids are enjoying their time on computer. This Linux operating system is designed in such a way that it offers stuff to your kids from 4 or 5 years old till they grow up to 12-13 years. I would love to recommend this amazing operating system, as it is the best way to get you kid get started with the Linux operating system and get them to interact with the computer in the best possible way. Please have a look at PC’s PLACE , which is a blog with Reviews and latest NEWS about Gadgets, Software, Hardware, Games, Mobile Phones and useful Web Applications along with freebies, promotional offers, tips and tricks and tutorials related to technology. Click here to Download Qimo . Qimo – Free And Safe Operating System For Kids is a post from: Scam Types dot Com Check out The Best Internet Security Programs Of 2009

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Qimo – Free And Safe Operating System For Kids

What Should I Do If My Website Has Been Hacked?

November 13th, 2009. Published under Scams. No Comments.

If you paid attention to yesterday’s post about website security then you should have already minimised the chances of having your own site hacked . But what if it has already happened? How Would I Know That My Site Has Been Hacked? You may have had your web site hacked if one or more of the following is true – The search engines now says you run an attack site You’ve noticed spam email being sent from your account When you search for your own site (yes, we all do it!) your antivirus program suggests it may be being used for phishing You now have some political statement or graffiti all over your pages Of course there may be other signs but the above are the main ones that I can think of. What now? Change Them There Passwords Do it. Do it now. Assuming you still have any kind of access to your website then you need to change all of your passwords – cPanel, email, admin passwords, etc. Remove Old Scripts Next, go through your hosting space and remove every old script installation that you find. Also, update or remove old plugins too because they are also at risk of being hacked. Check Your Error Logs By checking the Error Logs in cPanel you may be able to discover suspicious requests. Typically, a hacker will give themselves access to your website by adding code or files so look for such within your public_html folder. If you find any code or files then take a note of the details, such as date and time that the file was uploaded, the file name, folder it was in, etc and then inform your web host as they may then be able to offer some assistance. Of course it goes without saying that you should then also delete said codes or files. Minimising Risk Web sites are hacked all the time and all you can do is ensure that you have made it as hard a task as possible and then hope that the hacker moves on to an easier target. By keeping your files up-to-date and secure you will have increased the workload for a potential hacker . You then just need to cross your fingers and hope that encourages them to pass you by.

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What Should I Do If My Website Has Been Hacked?

Job Search 042309

November 11th, 2009. Published under Unemployment. No Comments.

Just another day…

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Job Search 042309

I’ve Been Infected But My Antivirus Program Isn’t Working – What Do I Do Now?

November 10th, 2009. Published under Fraud. No Comments.

You are up late at night, finishing your latest presentation for the boss. You then decide that you need more information to go with what you already have, so you decide to do a little surfing on the Internet through Google. A site pops up on Google that shows some promise, so you decide to click on it. The next thing that you know, your computer is going crazy and there is a load of pop ups that are now appearing on your pc. Your worst fears have now been realized, you have been infected with a new virus on your system. You try to run your resident antivirus program that is installed on your computer but it is not working. So what do you do? This is what I hope to answer here. Scareware There are certain types of viruses or malware out there that will take control of your computer and not release it until you perform a certain action that they request. It is a scam to make you buy a fake antivirus product or get your credit card number. Most of the time they will not even release your computer even if you do go through with it. The best thing to do at this point is to bypass the system. You can do this with either a live CD or hooking your hard drive to another computer. I will go over both solutions – Use Linux When you use a live CD of what is normally a Linux distro, this allows you to be able to boot up your computer and run an operating system on top of it. (Usually through your CD/DVD player or the USB port of your computer). This operating system, usually Linux, can see your hard drive and other hardware that you may have on your system but the operating system itself is not connected to it. You will have to run a Linux command called ‘mount’ to have access to your hard drive to be able to scan it. Once you mount the disk, there are several antivirus programs that will run on Linux, and will see a virus on a Windows partitions as well. Run this antivirus and disinfect all of the viruses that it sees. There are ways to be able to update and save the antivirus database so that it sees newer viruses but you will have to look that up. It is different in each live CD distro that you may use. This solution is the best solution when you are dealing with a nasty virus on your laptop. Connect Your Hard Drive To Another Computer If you are dealing with a nasty virus that is on your desktop that will not let you access your antivirus program, a good solution is take out the hard drive and connect it to another computer. You can look up several places online that will give you a walk through on how to disconnect your hard drive and then connect it to another computer. Once you have connected this second drive to the other computer you can now look at the files and folders just like you would do on any other drive. You will have to be careful while this second drive is connected to your computer – you do not want to click on any files and infect this second computer! So as soon as you get the second drive working on the computer make sure that you scan it right away. Once all infections have been found and removed you can reconnect the hard drive back to the original computer. Hopefully these tips will help you solve your virus problem on your computer. A nasty bug can ruin your day, especially when it will not let you do anything on your computer and scareware is an altogether different type of annoyance.

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I’ve Been Infected But My Antivirus Program Isn’t Working – What Do I Do Now?

I’ve Been Infected But My Antivirus Program Isn’t Working – What Do I Do Now?

November 10th, 2009. Published under Fraud. No Comments.

You are up late at night, finishing your latest presentation for the boss. You then decide that you need more information to go with what you already have, so you decide to do a little surfing on the Internet through Google. A site pops up on Google that shows some promise, so you decide to click on it. The next thing that you know, your computer is going crazy and there is a load of pop ups that are now appearing on your pc. Your worst fears have now been realized, you have been infected with a new virus on your system. You try to run your resident antivirus program that is installed on your computer but it is not working. So what do you do? This is what I hope to answer here. Scareware There are certain types of viruses or malware out there that will take control of your computer and not release it until you perform a certain action that they request. It is a scam to make you buy a fake antivirus product or get your credit card number. Most of the time they will not even release your computer even if you do go through with it. The best thing to do at this point is to bypass the system. You can do this with either a live CD or hooking your hard drive to another computer. I will go over both solutions – Use Linux When you use a live CD of what is normally a Linux distro, this allows you to be able to boot up your computer and run an operating system on top of it. (Usually through your CD/DVD player or the USB port of your computer). This operating system, usually Linux, can see your hard drive and other hardware that you may have on your system but the operating system itself is not connected to it. You will have to run a Linux command called ‘mount’ to have access to your hard drive to be able to scan it. Once you mount the disk, there are several antivirus programs that will run on Linux, and will see a virus on a Windows partitions as well. Run this antivirus and disinfect all of the viruses that it sees. There are ways to be able to update and save the antivirus database so that it sees newer viruses but you will have to look that up. It is different in each live CD distro that you may use. This solution is the best solution when you are dealing with a nasty virus on your laptop. Connect Your Hard Drive To Another Computer If you are dealing with a nasty virus that is on your desktop that will not let you access your antivirus program, a good solution is take out the hard drive and connect it to another computer. You can look up several places online that will give you a walk through on how to disconnect your hard drive and then connect it to another computer. Once you have connected this second drive to the other computer you can now look at the files and folders just like you would do on any other drive. You will have to be careful while this second drive is connected to your computer – you do not want to click on any files and infect this second computer! So as soon as you get the second drive working on the computer make sure that you scan it right away. Once all infections have been found and removed you can reconnect the hard drive back to the original computer. Hopefully these tips will help you solve your virus problem on your computer. A nasty bug can ruin your day, especially when it will not let you do anything on your computer and scareware is an altogether different type of annoyance.

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I’ve Been Infected But My Antivirus Program Isn’t Working – What Do I Do Now?

Health Care Bill It’s half way home for those who want it.

November 8th, 2009. Published under Tea Party. No Comments.

Well, they did it spite all the protests and all the smoke and screen, for that is all the republican party is at this time. If they had any guts, they would start a petition for treason against this

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Health Care Bill It’s half way home for those who want it.

What Is A Trojan Horse And Why Should You Worry About It?

November 4th, 2009. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.

The Internet in many ways is still like the wild wild west. Overall it is safe but there are bad guys lurking around every corner that will try to infect your computer and steal your information. Luckily most attacks can be easily thwarted by the right technology and common sense. To use common sense though, it helps to know the different ways that your computer can be attacked. One of these ways is through a technique known as a Trojan. I will explain what it is and how to avoid getting your computer infected by one – If you know your Greek mythology then you would know that the Greeks used a giant wooden horse to enter the gates of Troy to finally conquer them. Trojan Infection A Trojan infection on your computer uses a similar methodology. A Trojan on your computer masquerades around as a simple little innocent program that will not hurt a flea. It may look like the latest coldplay mp3 or might look like a word document that someone has sent to you. Trojans have also known to pretended to be real upgrades to different programs on your system, such as a Microsoft upgrade. That is why it pays to go directly to the vendors site and download the upgrades from there. The Trojan will look innocent until you double click it to try to run the program. It will then make its intentions know on your system. After the Trojan is run on your system, most of the time you will not even know that it is running. It will hum along in the background, very quietly, performing a function that you will not know anything about. Password Stealing Some of these functions maybe stealing your passwords , becoming a botnet that someone else is using, viewing your screen as you are working, and all kind of other nefarious stuff that you do not want to think about. Trojans are very bad news on your system, so you must be prepared to stop them from getting on your system. There are several ways that you can avoid getting a Trojan on your system. Most of the ways that you can avoid such a fate involves common sense on the user part. Also a little technology to go along with that common sense will go a long way to helping to achieve these goals. The first that you will want to do, as we discussed before, is to avoid downloading software updates from any web site other than the vendors own web site. Also when you download software make sure that it is from a trusted web site. If you have never been to the web site before do not download software from it or at the very least keep your guard up. Another step is to avoid accepting email attachments from unknown senders. This is one of the most prevalent ways of spreading Trojans to people. Always Back up! After you have used your common sense to avoid getting a Trojan on your system it will help to have a little back up. Back up usually includes having a good antivirus program running on your system. A good anti virus program will detect contamination as soon as it introduced onto your system. There are numerous different vendors that are out there for you to choose from so read up a little about them to see which one suits your needs. The prices and the packages will vary. Also once you have picked a good antivirus be sure to confirm that it is updated daily. An anti virus is no good if the person doe not keep it regularly updated. As you can see, a Trojan can be a very nasty to thing to have unleashed on your computer. Prevention through common sense and anti virus is the best way to avoid any trouble from them.

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What Is A Trojan Horse And Why Should You Worry About It?

How Do I Backup My New Windows 7 Computer?

November 1st, 2009. Published under Fraud. No Comments.

In this day and age people are relying more and more on their computers to be able to do their jobs but they are still not paying enough attention to backing them up. Yet every computer user’s worst fear is that something will mess their computer up and they will not be able to access their files. That is why cloud computing is perhaps becoming such an attractive offer. It allows you to back up your files on a remote server. This lessens the chances that all your data will be destroyed by a catastrophe as it won’t all be kept in the same one place. For other people local back up storage may be an alternative for them to consider. Backing Up With Windows 7 Windows 7 offers you several different ways to back up your files. I will go over a couple of them now – If you hit start and look to your right you will see the button that will lead to you to the control panel. Click on it and then look at the top where it says ‘System and Security’. Here you will see the option to back up your computer. Click on this and it will take you to the backup area of your computer. Once you are there you will see that two options are being given to you. The first option is to back up your computer, which is what you want. The second option is to set a restore point on your computer. (This is similar to backing up your computer but instead of just certain files this option actually creates an image of how your entire computer looks at that moment in time). If you subsequently had a problem you could then restore your computer back to how it was at the time you last created a restore point – a very useful feature but not what we are looking for right now. So now that we are again looking at the back up option lets go ahead and press ‘Set up backup’. Once you click that button it will ask you where you want to save your back up to. Pick the drive or Network that you want to save your file information to. After that, Windows will ask you if you want to choose exactly what is backed up or whether you would like windows to choose for you. It is up to you which option is best for you but just remember that if you let Windows pick the backup then it will skip formatted Fat files, and files that are in the “program files” folder. After Windows 7 asks you whether would you like to review the files or not, you can then watch as it starts to backup your files. When it finishes the backup the data will be stored in a backup folder and you will be able to access it anytime you need it. You can either restore all of the files that you backed up or you just a single file. Hopefully the short tutorial above will give you a good idea how to backup your computer using Windows 7 . The backup feature is a great way to feel secure about your data, knowing that it is safe. How Do I Backup My New Windows 7 Computer? is a post from: Scam Types dot Com Check out The Best Internet Security Programs Of 2009

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How Do I Backup My New Windows 7 Computer?

The Best 10 Antivirus Programs For 2010

October 26th, 2009. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.

A computer virus acts much like it would if it infected a human – it spreads throughout your system, infecting and harming everything it can. Luckily, there is a way you can prevent that from happening in the form of a good quality antivirus program . Whatever type of home you have I bet you have locks on the door in order to keep your valuable items in and intruders out. You should treat your computer in much the same way, using an antivirus program to bolt up all points of entry so that you will be protected from viruses, Trojans, spyware and other forms of malware. There are a huge number of security companies offering antivirus programs these days and some are better than others. Here are my 10 favourites for the year ahead – • Kasperksy Antivirus 2010: Many computer users will already be familiar with the name Kaspersky. The company has made a great name for itself in a short period of time by releasing a large number of top quality security products. Kaspersky Lab has recently released its newest antivirus product onto the market -  Kaspersky Anti-virus 2010. It provides real time scanning of files, web pages and e-messages. The program updates itself and scans your system on a regular basis. It can also identify and disable links which lead to malicious websites. Additionally, it can block suspicious programs based on their behavior. The newest feature is Kaspersky Toolbar for Internet browsers which can warn you about infected or unsafe websites. One of my favourite new additions is a special feature called ‘Special Game Mode’ which allows you to suspend alerts, updates and scans while you play. Trial Kaspersky’s 2010 security products for free by clicking this link – Kaspersky Products trial • BitDefender Antivirus 2010: Bitdefender is always a top antivirus program and it has it’s own unique and special features which provide advanced protection against viruses, spyware, phishing attacks and identity theft all without slowing down your PC. The special feature in this new version of Bitdefender antivirus 2010 is industry-leading technology which protects against viruses and other malware. The latest Bitdefender protects personal information from leaking via e-mail, Web or instant messaging. Based on two different proactive technologies Bitdefender provides an unmatched detection rate of new threats. Download Antivirus 2010 (Direktlink) • ESET NOD32 Antivirus 2010: ESET NOD32 Antivirus 2010 is one of the leading top 10 antivirus programs which has some amazing features such as: The installation time is 1 minute 29 seconds, which is very impressive and you don’t even need to restart your computer in most cases. It has a very clean and effective user interface. It provides you two options called standard mode and advanced mode. Standard mode has fewer options, making it ideal for normal users who may be confused by some of the competing products which sometimes offer too many choices! And advanced mode, as the name implies, is for advanced users. NOD32’s options are well thought out and give you a great level of control over the program. • AVG Antivirus 2010: AVG have been around for ever, or so it seems, and are famed for offering antivirus programs that far exceed their cost. In fact, their totally free antivirus programs are exceptionally good and I personally recommend them for casual computer users. The installation of AVG is very smooth and takes a very short amount of time. AVG has a very nicely laid out user interface. AVG has 3 new components called Web Shield, Link Scanner and AVG Toolbar. These 3 components can be disabled if you choose but they do add more layers of protection. AVG provides protection against Spyware, Rootkits and Email viruses, as well as several other options. • AVAST! Antivirus 2010: Avast! antivirus gives full protection to your computer by offering full desktop security including a resident shield. Installation time of this program was very quick at less than 39 seconds. The new Avast antivirus has a futuristic user-interface that looks similar to a Car Stereo and performance is good. Other than virus protection Avast! also protects against Spyware, Root kits, Script Blocking, and offers a Web Shield. Products are available to download for a free 60-day trial period . • McAfee Antivirus Plus 2010: McAfee antivirus software provides you with accelerated performance to help keep you safe online. With Active Protection technology your computer will receive the fastest updates and highest levels of detection against malicious threats. McAfee also provides additional features like anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-phishing and two-way firewall protection and includes a website safety adviser. This software comes with a Script Stopper, to stop viruses spreading from one computer to another via email. • Norton Antivirus Software: Norton is one of the leading antivirus programs. It provides full fledged protection for your computer. The new Norton 2010 has a similar feel and look as that of its older versions. This time, however, it come up with two new features – Norton Download Insight and Norton File Insight – which warn of dangerous downloads and files which may be threats. In addition to this, there are many graphs and reports that Norton 2010 has added this year – allowing it to inform it’s users about the performance of their computer. Get a free trial of Norton antivirus 2010 here . • Panda Antivirus: Panda Antivirus 2010 is a technically high quality product, both in signature-based and behavioral mode, with a great user interface and minimal impact on system resources. I strongly recommend this one and personally have it running on one of my computers right now. Panda Antivirus protects your computer with ease. It automatically updates itself and has a very simple interface which has proven useful as it is on my son’s computer. Panda Antivirus 2010 offer powerful blocking against hijackers, key loggers, intruders, and hackers. It also comes with anti-spyware protection included. Panda Antivirus Pro 2010 allows you to block, delete, clean, and quarantine infected files and your computer does not slow down during virus scans which is helpful to those constantly on your PC. • Trend Micro Antivirus 2010: Trend micro is a Japanese antivirus company. They have recently released their new antivirus program which contains some exciting features. Trend Micro, like their peers, protects you against computer viruses, worms, Trojan horse programs, and related security threats. It provides excellent Antivirus protection for your pc. It can prevent virus infections via emails and has automatic virus pattern updates. In addition to all these it has software History Cleaner. Trend Micro AntiVirus plus AntiSpyware 2010 provides essential defense against viruses and spyware. Learn More! • F-Secure Antivirus 2010: F-Secure Antivirus is an easy to use and powerful antivirus program. It protects your computer from all the common threats such as viruses, spyware, etc, with out slowing down your PC. The new version of F-Secure offers significant performance over last year’s version and also provides enhanced protection against spyware, infected e-mail attachments, and other malware. It has automatic virus updates. Visit the F-Secure Homepage to learn more.

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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.

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Avoiding Spyware With Windows 7

Securing Your Brand New Windows 7 System

October 21st, 2009. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.

The age of Windows 7 is upon us as the new operating system from Microsoft will be released in the next few hours. As usual there will be the normal people who update as soon as the new system is available on shelves or is ready to legitimately be downloaded. There are also others who will update when they get a new computer over time. Windows 7 Security Whatever type of person you are, it will pay to know how to secure your new operating system from all of the dangers that the Internet can contain. With the releases of this new operating system a lot of the old exploits will be made null and void. But, as with any expansive piece of new software being released, new exploits will be found and taken advantage of. It will pay for you to be prepared in the long run. Securing Windows 7 is not too much different than securing Windows Vista or Windows XP. Again it will take a combination of the latest software and the (much needed) common sense on your part to keep your operating system secured. Antivirus The first thing that you will want to do is to make sure that you have the latest version of antivirus that you use on your computer. Microsoft has been working with all of the biggest vendors that provide antivirus solutions , so that they could keep their software updated for the new OS. Now might be a good time to think about switching to one of these vendors for a short time while the other companies race to catch up. You do not want to use an outdated and incomplete antivirus system on your new operating system. Firewall Microsoft has also upgraded the choices that you now have with their integrated firewall that comes built into the system. It is now easier than ever to allow certain pieces of software to talk to an outside network with your permission. The outbound and inbound network traffic analyzer has been much improved. The whole program has been made more flexible, which was a major complaint in the past. As I said with the antivirus if you use a third party firewall , then you might want to go with one of the major companies until the smaller companies have had a chance to catch up. Until they catch up the built-in Firewall that Windows 7 provides is a decent solution. Spyware Spyware will still end up being a problem with your new system, even though they have taken steps to try to eliminate the problem. Their solution to the problem, Windows Defender, has been upgraded and has been receiving major kudos this time around from the security community. For a short amount of time they will have the inside track as being one of the better spyware solutions until the others have caught up. One of the best in the business, Ad-Aware, I did not see on the list of companies that Microsoft has been working with. This will give them a temporary disadvantage but not much of one since beta copies of Windows 7 have been released all through the development cycle. So I hope this article gives you a good understanding on what’s available and how to secure your brand new Windows 7 system. Not too much has changed but the security has been raised to a new level.

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My Top 10 Internet Security Programs Of 2009

October 17th, 2009. Published under Scams. No Comments.

As 2009 draws to a close most security vendors have already released their 2010-branded products. Therefore I thought this was a good opportunity to look back over what I believe to be some of the best offerings of 2009. Sure, there may be newer versions of some of these available now (and I will be writing about those over the next few weeks) but guess what? These 2009 versions are typically just as effective, and can often be found for a fraction of the price, as retailers look to clear out old stocks Introduction to the best of internet security, 2009 Every person who uses a Windows computer on the internet needs to ensure that their system is well protected. The very first thing I do after installing the operating system onto a new computer or drive is install my security software and I would recommend that you do the same thing too. There is no point in having the latest and greatest laptop or desktop computer if you arn’t going to take care of it and that includes preventing malware from entering it, as well as blocking other threats too. How does an antivirus program work? After installing an antivirus program it will scan your computer, detect and eliminates potential virus threats in two ways – Firstly, the antivirus program scans your system files and looks for virus definitions that match it’s in-built and updated virus dictionary and if a virus match is found then it automatically alerts the user about the virus. The second method is to recognize other suspicious behavior, such as spyware or data capturing. When such behavior is detected the program will again alert the user and offer the means to put an end to them. There are many such antivirus and internet security programs available today and picking the right one can be quite a tricky prospect. In order to help you decide I’ve listed my own favourite antivirus/security programs from this year – 1. Bit defender Total Security 2009: Bit defender antivirus 2009 was one of the best antivirus programs of the year. It has also earned “Top Ten REVIEWS Gold Award” for being the best protection suite. Bit defender not only provides security to PC’s but also provides internet security as well. This version of Bit defender has new features, improved protection and performance. The main key elements are: • Easy to use. • Easy to install. • Automatic updates • Parental controls • IM encryption • Active Virus Control • Adjustable user interface 2. Kaspersky Internet Security 2009: Most of my friends, who are more casual users of the internet, have not heard of Kapersky who come from Russia. That is, perhaps, because Kaspersky are one of the younger companies featured here but they have already carved out a great name for themselves nonetheless. Kaspersky Internet Security isn’t my favourite on this list but it is a suite I’ve chosen for kids’ computers due to it’s simple and clean interface. It does offer strong protection and has also won many awards. The main features of KIS 2009 are – • Renowned antivirus scanning engine • Virus scanner • Effective anti-spyware tools • Popup blocker • Simple interface • A strong well protected firewall The ability to protect your computer registry and more. That’s why it received the “Top Ten REVIEWS Bronze Award.” Receive a discount on Kaspersky Lab products 3. Webroot Antivirus 2009: Webroot spy sweeper is a product of Webroot software INC, one of the leading providers for anti-spyware software. Webroot spy sweeper is a reliable and award-winning anti-spyware program that effectively detects and gets rid of the spyware and adware from personal computers and laptops. The main advantage of this spy sweeper is that it protects your computer from various consequences such as a slower Internet connection, pop-up advertisement problems, reduced computer performance or, in the worst case, the loss of private information and identity theft. The main features are: • Advanced Detection Techniques • Accurate Risk Assessment • Continuous Security Updates • Enhanced Blocking with Smart Shield Protection • Protection Made Easy 4. ESET NOD32 Antivirus 2009: ESET NOD32 Antivirus 2009 is one of the leading top 10 antivirus programs with some great features like – • Virus definition updates are very small in size compared to others antivirus applications. • Provides best protection against zero day threat and attacks • Multi layered protection including real time email scanning • Blocking all attempts to collect and forward your personal and confidential data 5. F-Secure Internet Security 2009: F-secure Internet Security 2009 is the one of the top 10 internet security softwares. I reviewed it very recently so check out my F-Secure Internet Security 2009 review for more detailed information. F-Secure Internet security 2009 has come up with many exciting features like antispyware, spam, antivirus, and a phishing filter. It also has a new feature called DeepGuard 2.0 cloud computing technology which provides automatic updates and protects your computer from severe threats which include terrors like root kits and malware. The main features are – • Protection from virus and spyware • DeepGuard 2.0 Enabled • Healthy and trustworthy Firewall • F-Secure Black Light which detects and eliminates the presence of root kits. • Spam Filter and Anti-phishing toolbar • Parental Control 6. AVG antivirus 2009: If I were to conduct a poll asking people which antivirus vendors they know of then AVG antivirus would probably come out at the top result. This would almost certainly be due to the fact that their free antivirus program is really rather good. It is very easy to scan your computer with AVG and for that reason it is what I am running right now whilst I choose another complete internet security package. Also, the user interface is easy to understand and installation is a breeze. Later versions of AVG come with a feature called core scanning engine which offers better performance with multi-core processors. 7. McAfee Antivirus 2009: McAfee is a well-known brand and the company always offers good quality products. Their 2009 Antivirus program offers some great features including a Script Stopper to prevent viruses from spreading from one computer to another via email, and WormStopper. It can automatically update its virus database regularly. And finally it has no support for p2p File Sharing and Registry Startup Protection. 8. Panda Antivirus Pro 2009: The new Panda Antivirus made it’s comeback with some new and excellent features. The best of those new features is the ultrafast scan engine that scan almost 30% faster compared to other antivirus applications. This is another easy to use program that my kids have had on their systems recently and it did a great job of keeping them safe. Other features of Panda Antivirus Pro are – • Inbuilt Personal Firewall • Panda Antivirus has an advanced heuristic scan which maximum possible identity theft • Identity protection through Anti-Phishing Filter and Anti-Banking Trojans Engine 9. Norton Antivirus/ Internet Security Norton Antivirus/ Internet Security is one of the most reputed antivirus application on the market today. This version of Norton has the ability to identify your wireless home network and protect it. Recently Norton has brought in a special version for gaming PCs known as Norton 2009 Gaming Edition. Here are some of Norton’s main features – • Very easy to use. • Updates take only 5 to 10 minutes. • Easy to install. • Uses less system resources. 10. Trend Micro Internet security 2009: Trend Micro Internet Security is an antivirus and internet security program developed by Trend Micro who are based in Tokyo, Japan. Trend Micro are growing fast and are quickly becoming a strong contender in the internet security arena. Here are some of the best features of Trend Micro Internet Security 2009 pro – • The programs boot times are 20 percent faster and use 40 percent less RAM. • The installation of the software is very easy and doesn’t take much of your time. After the installation is finished it performs a quick scan and updates the definition files. • So you can protect your personal information with ease and Surf the Internet without slowing down your computer. • Trend Micro Internet Security has a behavioral engine which is an exceptional tool for preventing malware. • Exciting new look and good user interface • Protect your children online: • Protection against web Threats (Take 10% Off Trend Micro Internet Security 2010 Now! Coupon Code: trendsecurity ) Which of the above is best for you is something I cannot really say – I use different products for different computers, according to their usage, and have chosen those with simpler interfaces for my kids regardless of the the rest of their features. The one certainty, however, is that all of the above are highly effective and will do a grand job of keeping your computer secure. Safe surfing! My Top 10 Internet Security Programs Of 2009 is a post from: Scam Types dot Com Check out The Best Internet Security Programs Of 2009

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My Top 10 Internet Security Programs Of 2009

Gubmint and How Gubmint (aka Government) Works

October 14th, 2009. Published under Fraud. No Comments.

Once upon a time the government had a vast scrap yard in the middle of a desert. Congress said, “Someone may steal

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.

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Fighting Back Against Spam

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.

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Protecting Your Kids With Computer Parental Control

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)

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The Top 10 Free Online Antivirus Scanners Of 2009

"Your rights are suspended."

September 28th, 2009. Published under Tea Party. No Comments.

Welcome to Shreveport: Your rights are now suspended. Over two months ago, the National Association for Gun Rights first broke this incredible tale out of Shreveport, Louisiana.At the time, no

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"Your rights are suspended."

21 keys to a Fast Job Search video http://www.NewEdgeProductions.com

September 24th, 2009. Published under Unemployment. No Comments.

www.NewEdgeProductions.com – Over many years of teaching and coaching in the career and workforce development areas, We observed that there are 21 distinct keys that determine how fast or slow a person typically lands in a new job. When these keys are understood and managed effectively, the job search process can be accelerated to a fraction of the time it will typically take other job hunters to land a job. Some of the Areas Covered 1. Beliefs 2. Positive Attitude 3. Job Clarity 4 …

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21 keys to a Fast Job Search video http://www.NewEdgeProductions.com

Malware That Changed The World – The Storm Worm

September 8th, 2009. Published under Fraud. No Comments.

The Storm Worm came to prominence back in 2007 when recipients received a simple email. The spam email arrived in inboxes with a large variety of subject lines and the infected attachment varied in name too. The most common variant, however, was the one from which the worm acquired it’s name – Subject: 230 dead as storm batters Europe Attachment: video.exe The Storm worm first surfaced in the middle of January 2007 and typically had one of several different Trojans associated with it. These Trojans were most often disguised as the following attached files – video.exe read more.exe full_video.exe flash_postcard.exe full_text.exe Most Windows operating systems of the time could be infected by one of these Trojans should the emailed attachment be opened. As the following video from F-Secure demonstrates, the worm spread far and wide in a very short period of time – You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video Even though the worm was most commonly known as ‘Storm’ there were several alternative subject lines for the infected email, including – 230 dead as storm batters Europe Russian missile shot down Chinese satellite Russian missile shot down USA aircraft Russian missile shot down USA satellite Chinese missile shot down USA aircraft Chinese missile shot down USA satellite Strongest earthquake hits Beijing Wrapped Up Death toll in China exceeds 1000000 Recent china earthquake kills million British Muslims Genocide Naked teens attack home director Saddam Hussein alive! Saddam Hussein safe and sound! U.S. Southwest braces for another winter blast. More then 1000 people are dead President of Russia Putin dead Third World War just have started! First Nuclear Act of Terrorism! So in Love I Believe A Romantic Place A Little (sex) Card The Miracle of Love All For You Safe and Sound A Special Kiss Hugging My Pillow You’re Soo Kissable Want to Meet? For You amongst many, many others. Were you ever infected with the Storm worm ? Can you remember any of the other subject titles the email arrived with? 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

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Malware That Changed The World – The Storm Worm

Losing Faith With President Barack Obama

September 2nd, 2009. Published under Economic News. No Comments.

No one could envy President Barack Obama’s election victory in November 2008, taking over a Country mired in a sudden economic collapse and responsibility of a deadly war in Iraq, and Afghanistan. Many people secretly admitted at the time, the road ahead for the new President, would be one of the toughest for 79 years. The

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Losing Faith With President Barack Obama

What Exactly Is Data Encryption?

September 1st, 2009. Published under Fraud. No Comments.

Do you engage in any of the following activities – online shopping? eBay? other types of online buying or selling? online banking? If so, you are just like millions of other people across the internet today. Whether you realise or understand it, or not, you are probably relying upon data encryption far more than you know. Data encryption is becoming far more widespread on the internet as the number of web-based transactions continues to soar. Such encryption is an essential part of safe and secure web commerce. WHAT EXACTLY IS DATA ENCRYPTION? Encryption can be applied to many processes from emails to web based forms, such as the ones you see on shopping sites and when you are conducting your online banking. The encryption technique is used to hide the contents of your email, or the data that you are typing on the form, thereby preventing said data from being stolen by anyone else on the internet. When you send your data it will pass through a secure socket layer (SSL) and will be disguised so that if anybody manages to intercept it then they will not be able to decipher anything meaningful from it, at least not without having to go to an awful lot of trouble. When the data is received by the website at the other end of the communication process it will be decrypted, thus revealing your data only to the intended target. Data encryption is performed by applying mathematical logic or algorithms to the data. As with almost all aspects of internet security, algorithms can be broken by someone who has the time and determination. Encryption will go a long way in keeping your data secure but a sufficiently motivated hacker could succeed in breaking that encryption if they were determined enough. HOW THEN DOES DATA ENCRYPTION WORK? Behind every piece of data encryption is a key. These keys are used in the coding and decoding of your data. A key is in fact a long sequence of bits (1s and 0s) that are used by the encrypting algorithms. During the encryption process the algorithm will apply that sequence of 1s and 0s to the original data in order to alter it so that it then appears in a form that would make no sense whatsoever to anybody else who were to capture the data and try reading it without the use of the decryption algorithm. Obviously, when the encrypted data reaches its destination it will be decrypted using the same key (less secure) , or another (more secure) designed for the task, thereby rendering the data useful again as it reverts back to it’s original form.

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What Exactly Is Data Encryption?

Keeping Our Kids Safe With Their Very Own Browsers

August 30th, 2009. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.

You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video Do you have young children? Would you like to keep them safe on the internet? Of course you would. Now, whilst I doubt there is anything you can do that will guarantee a 100% safe experience for your children all of the time, there are certain methods you can employ to improve their internet security. One of my recent posts was quite comprehensive in that respect but threw up some interesting questions about whether we, as parents, should spy on our kids? (You can read all about that through this link: What Every Parent Needs To Know About Protecting Their Kids Online ) I personally feel that it is ok to watch what my kids are doing, even covertly, if the situation justifies taking that stance. There are alternative methods you could employ though, especially if your children are quite young. WHY YOU NEED TO CONTROL YOUR KID’S SURFING One of those methods, the one I’m writing about today, is to use a child-safe browser. Children, at least the younger ones, are generally blissfully unaware of the various dangers on the internet, such as – Pornography and other inappropriate images, videos and messages Cyber bullying Identity theft and other unwelcome acts that come about from divulging too much information Other illegal activities and behaviour The browsers that we as parents use, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Chrome, etc, are designed with adults in mind. Whether we succumb to any of the above hazards is therefore down to us as individuals and is not a reflection of which browser we have chosen to use. But what if there was a browser that could keep us or, more importantly, our kids, safe? Fortunately such browsers do exist. CHILD-SAFE BROWSERS What exactly, though, is a child-safe browser? Basically, a browser suitable for kids will allow your child to only surf the sites that you have allowed via a set of filters. Most of these kid-safe browsers are programmed in a way that prevents adware, spyware and other such nuisances in addition to blocking all forms of questionable web content. They typically come with popup blockers set up and offer a high level of parental control . Finally, they only allow your kids to surf pre-approved sites. WHICH KID-SAFE BROWSER IS BEST? To be honest, I don’t know, as I have yet to review any. From what I know so far I would predict that there won’t be a definitive answer to such a question anyway as they all operate differently and afford varying levels of control. So, the best one for you may well depend on the age of your child more than anything else. Here is a list of 6 child-friendly browsers that I’ve discovered so far – Buddy Browser Kid Zui Kid Rocket PikLuk Kidoz My Kids Browser Kidsplorer Glubble (Incidentally, I’ve been speaking to Nici from Kidoz recently so expect a full review of that particular browser sometime soon…) In the meantime, can you name me any other kiddie safe browsers that I may have overlooked?

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Keeping Our Kids Safe With Their Very Own Browsers

The Talking Frog Scam

August 29th, 2009. Published under Scams. No Comments.

A man walks into a bar and says to the bartender, “If I show you a really good trick, will you give me a free drink?” The bartender considers it for a while and then agrees. The man reaches into one of his pockets and pulls out a tiny rat. From the other pocket he pulls out a tiny piano. The rat stretches his arms, cracks his knuckles, and then proceeds to play the blues. When the man finishes his drink, he asks the bartender, “If I show you an even better trick, will you give me free drinks for the rest of the evening?” The bartender agrees, thinking that no trick could possibly be better than the first. The man reaches into his pockets and pulls out a tiny rat and a tiny piano. The rat stretches his arms, cracks his knuckles, and then proceeds to play the blues. The man reaches into another pocket and pulls out a small bullfrog, who then begins to sing along in time with the rat’s music. While the man is enjoying his drinks, a stranger confronts him and offers him $100,000.00 for the bullfrog. “Sorry,” the man replies, “he’s not for sale.” The stranger increases the offer to $250,000.00 cash up front. “No,” he insists, “he’s not for sale.” The stranger again increases the offer, this time to $500,000.00 cash. The man finally agrees, and turns the frog over to the stranger in exchange for half a million dollars. “Are you insane?” the bartender demanded. “That frog could have been worth millions to you, and you let him go for a mere $500,000!” “Don’t worry about it.” the man answered. “The frog was really nothing special. You see, the rat’s a ventriloquist.”

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The Talking Frog Scam

Beware of MySpace – The Ads Will Infect Your PC

July 31st, 2009. Published under Business Scams, Fraud, Scams. No Comments.

I’ve been meaning to write about the subject of (PC) killer ads that will infect your computer and haven’t had the time. However, more attention needs to be drawn to remnant third party ads such as those running on MySpace.com. Of late our company has repaired and/or clean malware and Trojan software from local clients computers and from what we can gather the clients had one thing in common, they all had just recently visited MySpace. In the past I seen infectious advertising on sites such as shoutwire (social news site), and even wrote about it here Shoutwire.com Serving Up Trojan Javascript UPDATED (fvrit.com link). About two weeks ago I was over at a clients updating and checking the computers on their network when one of the employees called me into their office. The employee was looking at a photo album on MySpace and a mysterious pop-up appeared on the desktop telling them that they were infected, so I used ALT+F4 to close the window. Soon as I did another pop-up appeared and was encouraging the user to install an update or software to scan and clean the “infection”. I am glad I was there or the employee would have installed the software. I performed another ALT+F4 (closes an active window without having to click on it) and restarted the machine to clear whatever was trying to install. After rebooting I ran the real (installed) anti virus (AVG anti virus) and cleaned the Internet Explore temporary internet files and checked the system. Back about a year ago my wife’s laptop got infect three times and the only place she went on the internet (she normally only uses it to check email) was MySpace. She was going there to keep tabs on our teenage daughter. I don’t think it is much MySpace as it is that they allow just about anyone to run ads on the website. They use third party remnant advertising and that’s how the drive-by malware and Trojan installs. Until MySpace tightens up their ad approvals (like Facebook does) then in my personal opinion is don’t use MySpace at all, or risk having your Windows PC infected. On a side note, to keep my wife’s system from being infected by drive-by malware served via MySpace ads I cleaned Windows XP off and installed Ubuntu Linux. Most, if not all of the malicious advertising on the Internet targets Windows systems. Macintosh OSX and Linux are a much safer alternative operating system if you don’t want to spend hours and hours cleaning malware or Trojan advertising infections. So if you are wondering why your PC was recently infected and you or someone has visited MySpace recently, you now have your answer.

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Beware of MySpace – The Ads Will Infect Your PC

National Health Care Reform – A Convoluted Prostitution of our Constitutional Rights

July 30th, 2009. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.

I am one of the nations uninsured. Back in November 2008 my wife broke her foot, the healing process was quite long (about 6 months). We paid out of pocket for the physicians care, x-rays and the walking cast boots she had to wear. Being uninsured we found that everyone we dealt with gave us a very nice cash discount for not using insurance. What a blessing that was. For the last two years my family has lived below the national poverty line. Things are tough. Both my wife and I are self-employed and we felt the economy going downhill nearly three years ago. In fact last year my wife closed her business (hair salon) and went to work for another salon. Closing the salon got rid of a huge amount of overhead. However, our combined income dropped because consumers were spending less and doing without. So far June and July has been the worst for us than we can ever remember in the past. We are just barely squeaking by, if you can even call it getting by. More like doing without many, many things. The main point of this is, I and my family cannot afford to buy insurance, nor do we want to have someone decide for us. It’s either pay our house payment, food and utilities or purchase health insurance. I bet you can guess where our money goes. If I don’t buy insurance, according to H.R. 3200 ( 1,017 page Bill in PDF format ) I could be penalized. Hey congress, just exactly where are you going to get money from me if I don’t? Are you going to force me to default on my home in order to pay, or are you going to garnish my bank account (then I can’t pay my bills or buy food for my family). Just exactly what are you (Congressional) idiots thinking? Congress can’t even (or won’t) fix Medicare or Social Security. Try fixing the things that are broken before you legislate more things that you will break and can’t fix. Put that in your pocket for a while and think about it. I don’t want anyone to dictate how, when or where I and my family get healthcare. I am a citizen of the United States and I have a freedom of choice. It doesn’t matter how much honey and perfume you pour over this bill, it still stinks as bad or worse than the TARP bailout from earlier this year.

National Arbitration Forum [NAF] to Cease Administering All Consumer Arbitrations

July 20th, 2009. Published under Business Scams, Scams. No Comments.

The below is a press release from Business Wire. No matter how the PR folks spin it, it’s still good news for consumers subjected to forced arbitration. I think they are ceasing consumer arbitration because of the suit they just settled with the state of Minnesota and are hoping other Attorney General’s or the Federal Trade Commission ( FTC ) won’t delve deeper into their questionable tactics or who is investing in the NAF. No matter the case or cause it is a *WIN* for consumers. I do sincerely hope that the FTC does investigate all involved with the National Arbitration Forum as I do believe that consumers were/are being hornswoggled by the NAF and by those associated with it. — American Consumers to Lose Affordable Access to Justice through Nation’s Largest Administrator of Consumer Arbitration Disputes MINNEAPOLIS–( BUSINESS WIRE )–The National Arbitration Forum (FORUM), the largest U.S. administrator of consumer arbitrations, today announced that it will voluntarily cease to administer consumer arbitration disputes as of Friday, July 24, 2009, as part of a settlement agreement with the Minnesota Attorney General. “The National Arbitration Forum remains committed to consumer arbitration as the best and most affordable option for consumers to resolve disputes quickly and efficiently. However, the FORUM lacks the necessary resources to defend against increasing challenges to arbitration on all fronts, including from state Attorneys General and the class action trial bar,” said Forthright CEO Mike Kelly. “Mounting legal costs, a challenging economic climate, and increased legislative uncertainty surrounding the future of arbitration have prompted the FORUM to exit the consumer arbitration arena. At this time, the costs of providing consumer arbitration services far exceed the revenue generated. Until Congress resolves the legal and legislative uncertainty the cost is simply too high for users and providers of consumer arbitration.” Legislative proposals pending in both houses of Congress threaten to eliminate pre-dispute arbitration as an effective means of alternative dispute resolution. The Arbitration Fairness Act of 2009 (S. 931/H.R. 1020) would invalidate every pre-dispute contractual arbitration agreement that is part of a consumer, financial or franchise dispute – in effect, every contract. The Fairness in Nursing Home Arbitration Act (S. 512/H.R. 1237) would eliminate pre-dispute mandatory arbitration in all nursing home contracts. Legislation before the House to create a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency (H.R. 3126) addresses arbitration and would give broad regulatory authority to restrict or eliminate all consumer arbitrations. “The National Arbitration Forum provides fair and affordable access to justice to American consumers regardless of size of their claims. Without access to arbitration, consumer disputes will now be forced into an overcrowded and underfunded legal system, where many consumers who cannot afford attorneys will have to navigate complex court procedures,” continued Kelly. “The consequence to American consumers is that there will be no meaningful alternative to costly and unpredictable litigation.” Notably, nothing in the Minnesota Attorney General’s complaint alleges that arbitration proceedings administered by the FORUM are unfair; the fairness of arbitration is ensured by the independence of the neutral arbitrators. National Arbitration Forum consumer arbitration claims are decided by an independent panel of more than 1,600 highly experienced and impartial legal professionals, including former judges and experienced attorneys. FORUM neutrals are bound to a code of professional ethics, and decide cases outside of any influence from the FORUM or the other parties. About the National Arbitration Forum (FORUM) Founded in 1986, the National Arbitration Forum (FORUM) is a world leader in arbitration and mediation services. The FORUM provides accessible civil justice through the recruitment, selection, and management of a highly experienced and distinguished panel of over 1,600 former judges and seasoned lawyers. Now optimized by Forthright, the FORUM is the faster, lower cost, and superior alternative to litigation, that ensures parties receive the same outcomes they would in court. www.adrforum.com

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National Arbitration Forum [NAF] to Cease Administering All Consumer Arbitrations