Anti-Virus | Making Connections

Email and Cell Phone Scams

Today, with so much information regarding a person’s life is on the Internet, so much can go wrong if people are not careful.

Guarding against the malicious intent of hackers with the best firewall, security, and anti-virus programs is a good start. However, no computer program can replace common sense, when it comes to protecting your personal information, regardless of how protected computers are from harm.

When it comes to protecting your personal information, including user names and passwords, credit card, and other account information, it pays to be vigilant against fraudulent websites and email messages.

Fraudulent Emails

Proceed with extreme caution when dealing with emails in your blackberry smart phone asking for your personal information, dealing with financial affairs, with these do’s and don’ts:

Do not:

Click on any links contained in unsolicited emails
Reply to unsolicited emails
Fill out any forms contained in emails asking for personal information
Open attachments contained in emails from unknown senders
Respond to emails asking you to act quickly, or emails telling you that it is an urgent matter

Do:

Remember that when emails promise offers or deals that appear too good to be true, they probably are
Verify requests for any personal information claiming to be a financial institution where you conduct business
Log onto your personal account at the official site and contact them using the information on the site.
Contact the business and make them aware of the emails
Always compare the link in the e-mail with the link to which you are directed and determine if they match and will lead you to a legitimate site

Fraudulent Text Messages

With smishing, scammers send text messages to cell phones, offering deals in an attempt to secure personal information.

Filed Under: Anti-Virus, Internet Tagged With: Antivirus software, Credit card, Personally identifiable information

Using Antivirus Software After You’ve Been Infected

Have you found that a malicious virus has infected your computer? As you may know, viruses are programs that usually infect your computer through email or file attachments from websites. They attack your computer’s files and are able to spread very quickly. You may find your computer slowing down considerably or that your applications are not performing properly.

Your computer may start shutting down or restarting all by itself. This can be particularly hard on you if you are doing something like working on online Bachelors programs or other such actions. Viruses are designed to cause as much damage as possible, to include deleting files or corrupting your operating system.

So how do you fix this problem when you realize that you’ve been infected?

Do some online research for obtaining a copy of antivirus software. You can find many free and paid software packages. You should make sure that the software is legitimate, and not just another way for more viruses to attack your computer.

If you choose a free option, you will just need to click on the link to start the download. These packages will provide instructions. You may need to provide some registration information in order to complete the install.

If you chose a commercial package, you will follow the same instructions as above; however, you will need to enter payment information.

You can also choose to go to a storefront and purchase an antivirus program on CD. In this instance, you’ll simply insert the CD into your computer’s CD drive and it will automatically run.

After running the antivirus software and you have gotten rid of the viruses, make sure you run the program regularly to reduce the chances of getting infected again.

Filed Under: Anti-Virus, Internet, Software Tagged With: AntiVirus, online Bachelors programs, Software

Must Have Features of an Anti-Virus Program

One of the biggest choices computer users have to make is what type of antivirus program to use. Antivirus programs protect your most valuable documents and data, and UFX Markets Trading investments from viruses and hackers. However, with so many companies putting out new antivirus programs it can be hard to figure out which ones offer the best protection.

Whether you are a casual computer user or an avid computer user like an online trading broker, here’s a look at some of the features you should look for in an antivirus program that will help protect your data and documents.

Real Time Scanning

If you are connected to the Internet 24/7 than you need a virus protection that is running during that period of time. Some virus scanners will only run once you’ve started the scan, by then it could be too late as this detects the virus only after its gotten on your computer. With real time scanning, viruses are caught when they are trying to download themselves onto the computer which allows you to stop them in their tracks before they do any damage.

Firewall Protection

Firewalls are designed to protect your data and documents from viruses and hackers. A firewall will prevent anyone without access from gaining the ability to view any personal information that might be on your computer. This often serves as the first line of defense against hacker attacks and viruses as they are stopped before they even make it onto your computer.

If you are looking for a virus protection program that will give you the best protection, look for a program that offers firewalls and real time scanning.

Filed Under: Anti-Virus, Computers, Internet Tagged With: AntiVirus, Computer virus, PC User

All Work and no Play makes Jack a Dull boy

Cover of The Shining [Blu-ray]

Anyone who has seen the movie, The Shining, starring Jack Nicholson as the psychotic caretaker of a mountain resort hotel, thinks of Nicholson’s character’s descent into insanity when they hear the famous proverb, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy“.

You might not see it in direct tv sunday ticket but I’m sure you remember the line.

One effect of the movie’s use of the proverb on popular culture was the inspiration for a computer virus titled Sunday. Seattle, Washington computer users discovered the Sunday computer virus in November of 1989. It is a member of the Jerusalem virus family. Users in Jerusalem, Israel, discovered the computer virus in October of 1987.

Once infected, the symptoms include:

The increase of COM and EXE files by size
COM files increased by a set amount
EXE files increased by anywhere from that set amount, to 9 or 10 bytes less

The Infected files on the computer contained the string “Today is SunDay! Why do you work so hard? All work and no play make you a dull boy! Come on! Let’s go out and have some fun!”

The Sunday virus was a patched version of the Jerusalem virus, in that it infected files differently. Modified from the Jerusalem virus, the Sunday virus infected .EXE, .COM, and .OVL files, which like the Jerusalem, occasionally corrupted the infected files.

The Jerusalem was initially the virus of the day and it spawned a number of variants. The creators of the Sunday virus intended it to set off every Sunday, while the Jerusalem ran every February 13.

The Sunday virus failed to execute its payload, because of an error in the code. Since Windows, the DOS viruses, such as Jerusalem, and its variants, are obsolete.

You might not see it in direct tv sunday ticket but I’m sure you remember the line.

Filed Under: Anti-Virus, Internet Tagged With: All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, Jack Nicholson, Jerusalem

Who is Searching for Whom?

Diagram of the search engine concept (en)

Image via Wikipedia

Many sites that caution you on the dangers of sharing personal information online, will tell you that one way to see how much of your information is online, is to put your name in a search engine. What you may discover, can be anything from mildly amusing to downright creepy.

If you search for yourself, you may see a few strange items listed. Underneath the link to a site in a search engine, you may find a few of your photos and a sentence or two of introduction about yourself. If you click on the link, it can take you to a site that has the photos and text on the page, with an offer to sign up to the website.

You may ask how this can happen. How do they have your information, if you are not a member of the site? The answer is simple. You can find out if other sites you join sold your information for profit or exposure.

Here are a few things you can do to warn others. This may prevent those sites from doing it, if enough people become aware of what they are doing.

1. Sign up with a free email and a fake name on the site in the search engine

2. Figure out which site you originally posted the info

3. Return to the original site, and if it is, for example, info from Facebook, tell others about it on your Facebook page.

4. Instruct them to do the same thing you did to see if their info and/or photos are on that second site.

5. Check your privacy settings on sites where you post information about yourself.

Unfortunately, you may give permission to share your information when you post it on another website, without knowing you did so. It is one downside of the Internet, making people wonder if privacy policies mean anything at all.

Filed Under: Anti-Virus, Internet Tagged With: Facebook, search, Web search engine

How to Determine if a Page is Secure or Not

The prospect of identity theft has never been so prevalent as it is now. With more people utilizing their hp laptops to access the Internet now than in years past, there are plenty of unsuspecting people that can fall victim to this widespread epidemic. Fortunately, there are ways that are fairly simplistic to avoid this issue. The problem lies in the fact there is not enough information out there to give people what they need to know to avoid potential dangers when it comes to releasing their information for various reasons over the Internet.

One of the most common ways in which people have their private information compromised is via email phishing and fraudulent purchasing sites. These sources present a user with a legitimate looking form in which they are to input their information; however the form is a fake and is simply a place that private information is recorded and transmitted to the illegal entities.

Fortunately, there are ways to tell whether or not a web page is secure when placing your information into it. Before inputting your personal information, check the URL of the page. You want tn ensure the url begins with https instead of the standard http. The https indicates that the particular web page in questions is indeed secure using ssl. Additionally, look for the icon of a lock located somewhere in the border bars of the browser. This is a standard among web browsers to indicate a particular page is secure. Last but not least, ensure the seal on the site has some form of a functionality. Typically this functionality consists of a click-able area that you can click on and be led to another area of the site.

By going the route of checking the above elements in order, you can rest assured that if all elements are met that your information will be safe and secure, and the web site is legitimate.

Filed Under: Anti-Virus, Internet Tagged With: Theft, Web browser

Beware of Those Free Downloads

Upload and Download speed at Cox, San Diego

Image by winni3 via Flickr

More people are utilizing the Internet now than ever before. Unfortunately, hackers and developers of viruses are aware of this fact and use it to their advantage. With more numbers also means the higher potential that there will be ignorance and people who are naive to the dangers that surfing the Internet can bring. One of the biggest problems is people downloading files that are problematic for their systems. Whether the download is simply not something that the consumer thought it was, or it is a malicious file with a virus attached to it; there are plenty of not so friendly prospects.

As with many businesses offering incentives by allowing free samples of various products, the online world is no different. Many online businesses like accredited online colleges offer free downloads of their product or service for a consumer to try.The premise is of course that the consumer will like the product enough to make a purchase after the trial period has expired. Unfortunately, this is also a tactic that many hackers use in delivering a virus to an unsuspecting system. They offer a free download of a product that usually sounds too good to be true. However, that simple fact is what drives droves of people to the product to see if it is legitimate. Clearly, in order to try the product, the consumers must download and install it on their machine, this is exactly what the malicious entities are banking on. After the download has been installed, it is free to run rampant through the unsuspecting system and wreak havoc in a number of different ways.

Ensure you are weary of free downloads; pay attention to the source in which you are receiving it from. If the web site looks trashy, or the pitch is too good to be true, avoid it at all costs.

Filed Under: Anti-Virus, Internet Tagged With: Uploading and downloading

Many Anti-Virus Programs Are Themselves a Problem

Viruses are a large-scale problem on the Internet in this day and age. As more people flock to the online world, particularly those doing it for the first time, crime is moving from the streets into the digital environment that makes up the Internet. People develop viruses to wreak havoc on unsuspecting systems and produce a number of different types of symptoms and damaging effects. Among some of the most widely used types of viruses currently are mal-ware and spyware. The premise of how these types of software work is that they are downloaded on the machine by an unsuspecting host, and installed into the registry. They then monitor the system and keep track of the search habits of the individuals operating the machine. After enough research has been conducted, the mal-ware aspect turns on and begins displaying unwanted ads throughout the content of the web pages the individuals using the infected computer are visiting. Not only are these ads annoying, but they tie up a great deal of system resources which bog down the computer speed, as well as cause web pages to take longer loading.

To combat this problem, anti-virus software is developed. There are many good programs out there to choose from. However, there are equally large amounts of bad and even dangerous anti-virus software packages available. Many of the more dangerous ones are accessed via free downloads offered on the manufacturer site. While in fact they provide a minute amount of protection, they themselves bog down large amounts of computer memory and constantly flash reminders and other advertisements on the computer screen regarding their latest products. This can also be prevalent among paid anti-virus software.

In going the route of finding a viable anti-virus software, go with word of mouth through people you personally know. Additionally, do your own online research to see what is working for people. Anti-virus software is a very pivotal part of securing a system, as such it should not be ignored. Just ensure you are making the right decision when you do decide to purchase or download.

Filed Under: Anti-Virus Tagged With: AntiVirus

Does Anti-Virus Software Really Protect You?

As computers and internet access have become a much more prevalent entity in our fast paced, modern society, more and more people are becoming new owners of computers and making their way onto the internet for the first time. As with popularity of computers and internet access continues to grow, so do the nefarious ways in which unethical practices are conducted to take advantage of the ignorance that generally comes with new computer users. One of the main ways in which these practices are conducted are through the ever popular virus protection and anti-virus software packages that are readily available through download.

Clearly, computer owners are going to want to ensure their computers are top of the line and running to the required specifications that they should be running. Unfortunately, there are a vast array of dangers lurking on the internet that can reduce your computer’s speed and overall performance. As a result of this, the anti-virus industry is a booming industry that develops software to help neutralize these potential threats. However, the people who manufacture these virus programs are themselves using the anti-virus industry as a front in which to infect unsuspecting computers by posing their viruses and anti-virus software.

The problem lies with the panic some people go through when they realize their computer is not running as it normally does. When they go the route of conducting their own research, they are faced with a barrage of potential problems that range from identity theft to a ticking time bomb that will eventually destroy their computer. More times than not, the issues occurring are simple and can be remedied as so. However, the hysteria that sets in causes consumers to download any and all software that might assist in solving their problem. Hackers and malicious software developers feed off of this paranoia and produce cloaked virus programs that appear on the surface as anti-virus software. When an unsuspecting person downloads these programs, they are unknowingly unleashing a virus onto their machine that is usually worse than the initial problem.

Filed Under: Anti-Virus, Software Tagged With: AntiVirus, Computer virus