Some Tips for Online Shopping* | Friday Fun

Busy! So, I am re – posting the following Basic Internet Shopping Tips in the hopes that Tech–for Everyone readers will not join the 12 million Americans who had their identities stolen last year. Please review this short checklist, and be a smarter, safer shopper.

• Download/Install Software Updates — Regularly!
• Use Complex Passwords (include numerals and symbols — @#$%^&*[])
• Use ‘Onetime’ Credit Cards.
• Verify Secure Connections before entering any info.
  See that little padlock symbol at the bottom of your screen, and in the URL address bar?
• Check Your Credit report – make it a routine.
• Enter Your Shopping Site’s Web Address Manually, and double-check your typing (embedded links = no!).
• Shop From Your Own computer (not a public ‘hotspot’).
• Enable your browser’s phishing filter, or install an add-on. (such as the super-easy WOT toolbar)
• Do not Send Credit Card Information Over E-mail. Even if you think it’s secure. Don’t send it over IM either. If you feel uncomfortable about sending personal information online, call up the business.

I would like to direct your attention to the first bulletpoint. The programs on your computer need to be fully “patched” with the latest updates, as exploiting weaknesses is the primary method hackers use to infect your machines. (You visit a website that they’ve ‘poisoned’, and if you have an unpatched ‘hole’ [aka “vulnerability”], bingo – you’re infected.)

How do you know if you have the latest updates? For all your installed programs? Do you think you are patched? Don’t guess. Be sure! Keep reading!

Today’s free download: Secunia offers a tool that I highly recommend. The online scanner (which you should bookmark, btw) will scan your machine for roughly 100 programs and tell you if there is a patch/update you need. If you go this route, I suggest you visit once or twice a week.)
Better yet, they offer a download, a Personal Edition, which will scan your system against a database of over 7,000 programs.
Even better yet, it includes direct download links to the missing patches it finds.

I just ran it and it found an old ActiveX plug in, and told me that my Java Runtime Environment was out of date.. and I didn’t think I had installed JRE on this machine!

Related: Careful online shopping (a repost)

“It appears that we’ve reached a point where more people are doing their gift-buying online than at the mall.  It’s a fact: there are more reasons to do your shopping online this year than there were before ($3.49-per-gallon reasons)”

* Original posting: 12/20/08

Friday Fun (video):

Today’s quote: “The world is governed more by appearance than realities so that it is fully as necessary to seem to know something as to know it.” ~ Daniel Webster (1782 – 1852)

Copyright 2007-2011 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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Elementary, My Dear Watson

Got A Computer? Top 10 Things You Should Do

The plague of Internet rogue antivirus has me super busy (again) and so today I am re-posting an article which aggregates what I believe are the most important computer tips into a single checklist…a “Top 10″ list. Click on the blue links to get more instructions on the topic.

There are several things a PC owner should do to have a healthy, smooth-running computer, and be safer from cyber criminals when they browse the Internet. Not surprisingly, I have covered these topics over the course of writing this six-days-a-week series of articles. So I thought I would put the more important ones into a single list — a “Top 10 List” — and provide direct links (blue text) to the articles which cover the How To steps of making these things happen… and provide you with a simple way to find out what you need to do, compared to what you’ve done already. In case you missed one, or two.

Tip of the day: Run down this list, and ask yourself, “have I done that?” to each one.

1) Install an antivirus, and keep it up-to-date (with the latest “definitions”).
To read my articles on malware, click here. To see a list of links to free antivirus programs, click here. To read my article on how to configure your antivirus for maximum protection, click here.

2) Install two anti-spyware apps, with one having “active” shielding.
To read all my articles which discuss spyware, click here. To see a list of links to free anti-spyware programs, click here.

3) Install a 3rd Party firewall OR turn on the Widows Firewall.
* If you have a home router or Wireless AP, make sure its firewall is enabled (NAT).

4) Enable Automatic Updates from Microsoft (and either set it to automatically install [for the non-geeky] or to prompt for install [for the hands-on type]) and set your programs to “automatically check for updates”.
And then actually click on the “Install” button when told there are updates available.. and please, do not tell them to “go away, you’re busy.”
[note: you should keep all the programs on your computer updated, and gladly accept the install prompts. Also, visit Secunia’s free online scanner to check your system for missing patches, and out-of-date (read “vulnerable”) applications.]

5) Password protect your User Accounts. (see #8)

6) Make a (monthly) system backup.. or at least a “files and settings” backup.. and store a copy — on two different types of media — someplace other than your hard drive.
To read all my articles on backups, click here.

7) Upgrade to IE 8 and/or an “alternative” Web browser (like Firefox, Opera, or Avant). Click here to read my articles on browsers and browsing.

8: Use strong (and complex) passwords. Everywhere. And change them every so often.

9) “Optimize” your hard drive. Sometimes you’ll hear this referred to as “file system maintenance”; basically it means to clean old files and ‘build up’ and “defrag” your machine for faster performance.

10) Tell Windows to show file extensions.

* (Windows XP/older):
– Use the NTFS file system, and disable Simple File Sharing.
– Rename the Administrator account.

* (Laptops) Encrypt your hard drive.

There is more you can do to optimize your PC (of course) and the odds are good that I have told you the steps in a prior article, as I’ve written over 900 of them– so far, and I invite you type the word “optimize” into my Search box and see what comes up.

I hope this find-it-in-one-spot review of basic PC advice has been helpful to you.

Today’s free download(s): By clicking the links above, you will see all the previously posted downloads, of which there are many. And, also, there are links to more free links in no’s 1 and 2 above.

* And for those of you lucky folks who have a brand new PC… Whenever you buy a new computer, it will come preloaded with all sorts of trialware (as it’s called) that most of us don’t want. If you have just purchased a new PC, download and run the wonderful PC Decrapifier and clean off that *stuff*.

Copyright 2007-2010 © Tech Paul. All Rights Reserved. post to jaanix.

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Tips For Safe Online Shopping*

I think it is a pretty safe bet that quite a few of you are doing some last minute holiday shopping.. and that some of you are going to use the Internet to do some of that shopping.

I would like to remind you that there is a healthy, active, and well-financed underworld of cyber-criminals who are well-aware of the fact that the next few days are prime credit card and “identity” theft opportunities, and are going to be particularly active in trying to GET YOU.

You will see an increase in spam, and bogus pop-opens that tell you you are infected when you’re not. (Note: The phraudulent Skype alert is active again, too. see Skype — “Windows Requires Immediate Attention”.. Not! )

I am posting the following Basic Internet Shopping Tips in the hopes that Tech–for Everyone readers will not join the 9 million Americans who had their identities stolen last year.

• Download Software Updates — Regularly!
• Use Complex Passwords (include numerals and @#$%^&*[])
• Use Onetime Credit Cards
• Verify Secure Connections See that little padlock symbol at the bottom of your screen, and in the URL address bar?
• Check Your Credit
• Enter Your Shopping Site’s Web Address Manually (embedded links=no!)
• Shop From Your Own computer (not a public ‘hotspot’)
• Enable your browser’s phishing filter, or install a add-on. (such as the super-easy WOT toolbar)
• Don’t Send Credit Card Information Over E-mail. Even if you think it’s secure. Don’t send it over IM either. If you feel uncomfortable about sending personal information online, call up the business.

I would like to direct your attention to the first bulletpoint. The programs on your computer need to be fully “patched” with the latest updates, as exploiting weaknesses is the primary method hackers use to infect your machines. (You visit a website that they’ve ‘poisoned’, and if you have an unpatched ‘hole’, bingo – you’re infected.)

How do you know if you have the latest updates? For all your installed programs? Do you think you are patched? Don’t guess. Be sure!

Today’s free link+download: Secunia offers a tool that I highly recommend. The online scanner (which you should bookmark, btw) will scan your machine for roughly 100 programs and tell you if there is a patch/update you need. If you go this route, you will need to visit once or twice a week.)
Better yet, they offer a download, a Personal Edition, which will scan your system against a database of over 7,000 programs.
Even better yet, it includes direct download links to the missing patches it finds.

I just ran it and it found an old ActiveX plug in, and told me that my Java Runtime Environment was out of date.. and I didn’t think I had installed JRE on this machine!

Further reading:
Computer Security – Time to Think About It
A Teen Texting Trend All Parents Should Be Aware Of

Copyright 2007-8 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix

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