4 Quick Tips — How to Protect Yourself Online

How to Protect Yourself Online

Internet users can protect themselves from cybercrime with the following quick tips:

• Only download mobile apps from official app stores, such as iTunes and the Android Market, and read user reviews before downloading them.

• Be extra vigilant when reviewing and responding to emails. (I call this “use paranoid common sense”.)

• Watch out for too-good-to-be-true offers on social networks, like free airline tickets. Never agree to reveal your personal information just to participate in a promotion. (Or get a free magazine subscription..)

• Don’t accept requests on social networks from people you don’t know in real life. Wait to post pictures and comments about your vacation until you’ve already returned home.

I am not sure I agree with the order McAfee chose to put these in.. but I assure you this is good information here.

Today’s quote: “The best helping hand that you will ever receive is the one at the end of your own arm.” ~ Fred Dehner

Today’s chuckle:

And if you believe that, I have a really wonderful – limited time – please don’t tell anyone else – price on the Washington bridge. Just click here to find out more!

Copyright 2007-2012 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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A Smooth Transition?

Switch To DTV Did Not Cause Chaos, Riots

This morning my little portable TV I keep in my workshop was nothing but static. That is how I was reminded that American television broadcasters had shut off their analog transmissions and “gone digital”.

It seems it really did happen. Finally. And society did not collapse (further).

C/Net article: The day after the DTV transition
“Americans have survived the transition to digital television without incident.
The sky did not fall and there was no major shortage of digital converter boxes Friday when full-power broadcasters across the nation turned off their analog TV signals and started broadcasting only in digital. Calls to broadcasters and the Federal Communications Commission have been heavy the past few days, but officials say that the volume is within what the agency had expected…”
(I enjoyed some of the comments left on this one.)

It seems that the biggest problem people are having with getting over-the-air DTV is related to antennas. So here is a video showing how to build a Hi-Def DTV antenna out of coathangers for $1.50.

[note: I haven’t done this myself, but I have several “anecdotal” referrals.]

Copyright 2007-9 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix

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Scare Tactics

The shadow Internet economy is worth over $105 billion. Online crime is bigger than the global drugs trade√. 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“. 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.

This video (produced by the good folks at WOT) shows what happens when a legitimate site gets infected and redirected to one of these bogus anti-malware scams.
Yes, folks, legitimate websites are being ‘hacked’.

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.

√ From the new 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 download: WOT is a free Internet security addon for your browser. It will help keep you safe(r) 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 20 million websites
• Downloaded 1 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
• WOT Security Scorecard shows rating details and user comments

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

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