Got Spyware?

There is now a bill in Congress to make Spyware illegal. Good luck at catching the creators, in the mean time here are two links you can use to get started on your journey against Spyware.

http://www.lavasoft.com Ad-aware
http://www.safernetworking.com Spybot Search and Destroy.

Note there is better version available for a cost. There are many things you can also do to protect your computer Keep Automatic Updates turned on for all of your Anti-Virus Software, and operating systems. Clean out your cookies as well there is often cookies placed to track your whereabouts on the Internet.

Now the subject of viruses. There are commercial anti-virus scanner like Symantec Norton Anti-Virus and MacAfee in fact many new computers come with trial versions. Unfortunately when these versions run out users most of the time ignore it and wonder why do I have a virus? Let me explain something just because you have a antivirus software program on your computer you are not cured. Virus writers do just that write new viruses and edit old ones to do new things. You need to update your signatures of your anti-virus software continuously. Crafty virus writer’s code Viruses to disable your anti-virus software!

Have you found that when you’re uptight about something, tired, hungry and stressed, that you tend, ever so slightly, to overreact sometimes? I received a nasty e mail the other day accusing me of spamming this person (who had subscribed / opted in to my ezine, by the way). Obviously, he was having a bad day and had lost perspective on spam. I sent him a note which I thought I’d share with you, just so we can maintain perspective in this busy day and age.

First of all, I receive over 360 spam e mails a day. That’s the price one pays for a strong Internet presence, I guess. I don’t use a spam filter as it has cost me money in the past by blocking important e mails. (Spam filters have no brains, you see; they’re simply robots.) Here’s the thing – it takes me a total of 12 minutes to delete the spam, but I save hours every day using the Internet and e mail. TWELVE MINUTES. Let’s see that in perspective. How long do you wait for your food in a restaurant? How much time do you spend commuting? I don’t spend hours attacking the spammers – I simply hit “Delete” and move on.

It seems nowadays if you are not online, you don’t exist. It really does not matter what type of company you run, you should have an online presence to let your prospects and clients know about your company and services. When you decide to take the leap onto the Internet there are some precautions you should take. I have friends who say all the time, I really have nothing to hide or worry about. This may be true, but malicious users like to deface websites.Which
can ruin you and your businesses reputation.

This is a paper about firewalls protecting your company from outside threats and unauthorized access.

A firewall is a great start. Firewalls can be both hardware and software based. There are many different firewall vendors some of the bigger names are Cisco, Symantec, and Checkpoint. The difficult part is configuring the firewall. This is where many intruders bypass security, because the firewall is poorly configured.

Are you worried about surfing the web and stumbling onto a page that contains Malware? Who doesn’t? Wikipedia defines Malware as:

“A portmanteau from the words malicious and software, is software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system without the owner’s informed consent. The expression is a general term used by computer professionals to mean a variety of forms of hostile, intrusive, or annoying software or program code.”

Let me tell you of 2 very easy ways to check a site before you visit it.

Option 1: Click on my website link at the bottom of this article and look in the left hand menu and click on the link that says “check any site for malware instantly” to use Google’s Safe Browsing Diagnostic Tool. It includes a small Bookmarklet you can add to your browser just by dragging it into your browser’s toolbar area.

Option 2:

Step 1: Open a new Tab in your browser

Step 2: Copy and paste the URL i have specified on the same page as instructed above into your address bar. This will open a Diagnostics page with the following info in the report. I have used my site as an example. What is the current listing status for christianhoughonline.com?

An advertising-supported software, or adware as many knows it, is basically a type of software that shows advertisements of certain products, services, or a website on your PC’s. Besides it being annoying, there are many problems that it can also give to your computer. That is why removal of adware is very important.

Some of the damage or bad effects it can bring to your computers are slowing of your browser, pop-ups that suddenly shows, problems with your internet connection, and the worst, it can also infringe your privacy. There are some signs that you should look for to see if your computers are affected by adwares or spywares.

The most common signs that you would easily see are, sudden slowness of the whole system. Some also makes you land on an unknown site different from what you searched. Your default internet browser suddenly changed. You will also notice that every time you open or start your PC, an error sign often shows up.

What is your definition of hacking? Most people think of the news stories that relate to big companies having embarrassing problems as their data is compromised. But in truth, hacking goes a lot further than this.

It doesn’t always have to be someone you don’t know who hacks into your systems and causes problems for your business. It could equally be someone who works for you that doesn’t have your best interests at heart. This is because the basic meaning of hacking is when someone accesses some or all of your computer systems without permission. And it doesn’t just happen over the internet.

Quite often, many people don’t see how widespread computer hacking can be. Assuming that they are only in danger from internet based attacks means they may not be covered for all risks. Even those companies that do all they can to prevent hacking which occurs online may have unwittingly turned a blind eye to other dangers.

This is why an understanding of what hacking is and what it involves can help you to protect your own business more fully. But what do you do if you don’t know all the ins and outs of the threats posed?