Important Reading!
Folks, again I feel the need to direct your attention to a news item. And I agree: it is ‘time to make a stink’!
* Stop the Obama administration from surrendering authority over the Internet
“The “IANA Transition” took a big step forward this month and we are one step closer to the US government handing control over the DNS and IP numbering to a vaguely-defined group accountable, effectively, to nobody.” Read more..
* * *
Today’s quote: “Did I offer peace today? Did I bring a smile to someone’s face? Did I say words of healing? Did I let go of my anger and resentment? Did I forgive? Did I love? These are the real questions. I must trust that the little bit of love that I sow now will bear many fruits, here in this world and the life to come.” ~ Henri Nouwen
Copyright 2007-2015 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.
>> Folks, don’t miss an article! To get Tech – for Everyone articles delivered to your e-mail Inbox, click here, or to subscribe in your RSS reader, click here. <<
All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.
It’s about time!!!
Talk about waking up to danger years after the war is already lost..
* US declares cybercrime a ‘national emergency’, threatens sanctions against hackers, online espionage
“Sanctions will hit cyber criminals where it hurts – in the pocket – says the White House.” Read more..
But.. better late than never.. right?
Wonder how/if that’ll affect relations with China.. or, since they own us, and manufacture all our goods, they’ll get a pass? (Since we know they’re major actors.)
(Sounds good, but good luck with that.)
Kinda related: No free pass for Google
“Google’s vaunted “Do no evil’’ credo is taking a beating. Leaked documents show that Federal Trade Commission investigators wanted to sue the search giant on antitrust charges, but the push melted away into modest changes after Google executives made numerous trips to the White House.” Read more..
Today’s quote: “Life is mostly froth and bubble,
Two things stand like stone.
Kindness in another’s trouble,
Courage in your own.” ~ Adam Lindsay Gordon
Copyright 2007-2015 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.
>> Folks, don’t miss an article! To get Tech – for Everyone articles delivered to your e-mail Inbox, click here, or to subscribe in your RSS reader, click here. <<
All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.
A reading reco, and free games
For your consideration: Though this is a bit of a longer article, I highly recommend getting all the way though it.
* Why the U.S. needs better privacy laws, now!
“Microsoft recently published an open letter to President Obama, condemning some government surveillance techniques and calling for federal data-privacy legislation.” Read more..
* free games (and timewasters). 
Today’s free link: Thinks.com offers free puzzles of all sorts (crosswords, sudoku, jigsaw, codebreaker, etc.) and games like checkers and chess. Fit for the whole family. Now, I’ll admit two things: these kinds of games are kind of “old school”, and I cannot do Sudoku.. But Thinks.com is a Bookmark in all my browsers on all my machines. Check it out for yourself.
Today’s Bonus Reading: The electrical grid: A vital yet unsecured part of US infrastructure
“A year-long survey of the US power utility infrastructure revealed that it is woefully insecure, and something needs to be done.” Read more..
Today’s quote: “Intelligence is not to make no mistakes, but quickly to see how to make them good.” ~ Bertolt Brecht
Today’s Guided Meditation: For your inner Goddess
Today’s laugh:
Pay people to like you. Always works!
Copyright 2007-2014 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.
>> Folks, don’t miss an article! To get Tech – for Everyone articles delivered to your e-mail Inbox, click here, or to subscribe in your RSS reader, click here. <<
All we really have, in the end, are our stories. Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of. And please, never forget – one person can make a difference. Find a way to make someone’s day today. (Best advice I ever heard? Don’t sweat the small stuff.)
An Infection Has Been Detected!
Online crime is bigger than the global drugs trade¹. The Internet shadow economy is worth over $105 billion. No country, no person, no business and no government is immune from cybercrime.
Currently there is an epidemic of fake anti-malware software on the Internet– which is collectively called “rogue anti-malware“ and/or “scareware“. Marketed under hundreds of different names, such as VirusRemover 2008 and Antivirus XP 2009, this type of rogue software scares people by giving false alarms, and then tries to deceive them into paying for removal of non-existing malware. [update: some of the newer ones are now encrypting your files, and requiring a ‘ransom’ for the key. Don’t pay. There is help online.]
This video shows what happens when a legitimate Website gets infected and redirected to one of these bogus anti-malware scams.
Yes, folks, legitimate websites are being ‘hacked’. (It’s called “poisoned”.)
Please watch, and see what these things looks like (how “real looking”). I repeat, there are thousands of these, being planted on tens-of-thousands of sites.
The people behind this scourge use many different ways to try to entice you to click – realistic looking pop-up windows appear, offers of “free trials” arrive in e-mail, and “free scan” buttons on legit-looking ‘fight malware’ websites.. the means are quite varied!
As this video shows, the user is tricked into (scared into, really) providing their credit card # to clean infections that weren’t there before they clicked and aren’t really there now.
* The ‘false positives’ are not “cleaned” BUT, more adware and spyware is installed.
* A good percentage of my calls at Aplus Computer Aid are folks needing help with getting rid of these rogues. Because these clever programs use the latest techniques to combat removal, and it can be quite tough — if not impossible — to truly remove them.. without formatting your hard-drive.
* For more, please read Is that anti-spyware program really spyware?
* One Website dedicated to combating this epidemic is Spyware Warrior. It has a pretty good list of known rogues, and much more detailed information. Another excellent resource is Bleeping Computer.
* I have written several How-To’s on protecting yourself from malware, and how to clean your machines as well. Click here to see those titles. But I really cannot advise you strongly enough – should you get one of these nasties – to enlist the aid of a Pro. I would tell you that even if I wasn’t one myself!
¹ From a recent MessageLabs whitepaper. (This eye-opening report provides a disturbing look into the ‘dark’ world of cyber-crime. This link is the online version.. you need to scroll a bit..)
Today’s free link(s): Spammers seeking “volunteers” to DDoS White House.
“Cybercriminals have begun to capitalize on the vehement debate in the country over health care reform, sending spam targeted at opponents of President Obama.”
Also, it just so happens that Bill Mullins posted a close look at one these, named “Total Security 2009” on his site today. Please see, Total Security 2009 Scareware – Panda Security Takes a Look.
Today’s free download: WOT (Web Of Trust) is a free Internet security add-on for your browser. It’s community-based ratings can help keep you safer from online scams, identity theft, spyware, spam, viruses and unreliable shopping sites. WOT warns you before you interact with a risky Website. It’s easy and it’s free.
- Ratings for over 22 million websites
- Downloaded over 4 million times
- The WOT browser addon is light and updates automatically
- WOT rating icons appear beside search results in Google, Yahoo!, Wikipedia, Gmail, etc.
- Settings can be customized to better protect your family (new “Parental Control” setting blocks access to Web sites with a poor child safety rating and no rating at all)
- WOT Security Scorecard shows rating details and user comments
Orig post: 4/16/09
Copyright 2007-9 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix
| Share this post : |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
• About Tech Paul
I am a Retired computer & network technician. I used to think the machines were pretty cool. Now I don’t.
They’re anything but.
I regularly posted how-to’s and tricks & tips and general computing advice here starting in 2007. (Use the Search tool to find answers. But be aware, many are rather dated.) Sometimes I answered (your) specific questions in an article if I believed the answer was generally helpful to “everyone”. All the writing you see was my own, typos and all. There always is/was an implied “IMHO” in what you see here.
Note: You are responsible for using this blog and its content. I am in no way liable for any losses caused by user error, viruses and/or other malware, hardware or software failure, or any other conceivable reason.
-
Say "thank you!" Buy Tech Paul a cup of coffee (and keep T4E ad free).
-
-
McAfee® Cybersafety Resource Portal, an online help center designed to assist victims of computer crime and provide information on how to avoid becoming a victim.
-
Subscribe to Tech--for Everyone by EmailRecent Comments
-
-
-
-
Also:
-
-
Tech - for Everyone 