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Tuesday, May 9 |
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Computer Threats by John Anthony
It is imperative that you keep your PC protected as best you can at all times!
When the Internet first caught on with the general public in the mid 1990s it was a relatively safe place. Since then some dangerous places have sprung up within it. With worldwide reach and virtual anonymity it has attracted many destructive, dishonest people. Some of them create viruses, worms, spyware, adware, keyloggers and the other forms of virulent, invasive code known as malware that cause computer problems. Some of them use this code and various techniques to secretly steal your identity by gaining access to your personal information!
Annoying pop-ups, machine slowdowns and PC crashes are often a result of malware. Hackers monitor Internet traffic and look for unprotected PCs that they can infect.
Even worse if your PC is compromised it can without your knowledge become a slave machine that further spreads these malware programs to other unprotected PCs!
What can you do? .... A number of things!
- Never send Personal Information in Emails
- Install an Antivirus Program
- Block Spyware and Adware
- Remove Spyway and Adware
- Windows users - keep your Critical Updates current
- Install a Firewall
- Use a browser other than Internet Explorer
- Use care when downloading 'free' software
Never send Personal Information in an Email
A big scam today is sending you an email that claims it is from your bank, credit card company or other business that handles online money transactions. When you get an email from a company stating that they need to have you provide sensitive personal information, immediately use caution!
When this type of scam first started you would be asked to provide sensitive personal information in the email itself. Legitimate institutions sent emails to their customers stating that they NEVER ask for sensitive personal information in an email. So the scammers changed their game. They now include a link in their email that is supposed to connect you to a secure page of the institution they claim to represent.
Click the link and see what happens. Often a page appears that looks like the real web page of the company. At this point take a good look at the web address of the page which always appears on the address line of your browser. If the page address begins with anything but 'https' it is not a secure site. It is bogus page! Legitimate companies always provide links that take you to a secure site to enter sensitive personal information!
The identity thieves never give up. Sometimes they insert an address bar at the top of the page they display which contains an address beginning with https. Don't be fooled by this. Check your browser's address bar and you will see that the page address actually begins with http! Any information you provide on the http page will be taken and misused!
If you are in doubt about whether a request is legitimate, copy the address of the page you've been asked to send your information to and paste it into an email. Send the email to a contact at the company mentioned in the email and ask if they have requested information from you. Legitimate companies you do business with will always provide you a link to their secure 'https' site when requesting information from you!
Install and maintain an Antivirus Program
If you run a Windows operating system it is necessary for you to install an antivirus program and keep the virus definitions for it updated!
Even people running a MAC OS should install and maintain an antivirus program. If a MAC machine receives an infected email it may not directly affect the MAC. However, if the email is sent to an unprotected PC running Windows it will infect that machine.
When a virus tries to enter your PC, often through an infected e-mail, the antivirus program checks it against the list of all known viruses. If your virus definitions are up to date, the antivirus program identifies the virus and quickly deletes or quarantines it.
If your virus definition list is out of date, the antivirus program may know about the newest viruses and if one of them tries to enter your PC the antivirus program lets it pass into your PC!
If you do not have an antivirus program, install one now. Run a virus scan that will identify and rid your PC of any viruses, worms, and Trojan Horses! If you put it off, it is just a matter of time before one of these nasty programs gets into your PC and causes havoc!
There are free antivirus programs available on the internet. In general, I stick with the paid antivirus programs due to the effort required to do the research and development required to stay ahead of all the new viruses, worms, Trojan horses.
I have used both Symantec's Norton Antivirus and McAfee's VirusScan programs and they both work well.
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posted by ^%&^
@ 9:41 AM
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