Protect Your Privacy Online

have posted several advice articles on computing safety, and that of your child’s, in the past. I cannot emphasize enough that there are steps you can — and should — take to reduce your risks of Identity Theft and spyware infections.

I have posted these steps for you to take advantage of (free), and I will continue to do so. I encourage you to use my "Search box" widget to find and read past Tech–for Everyone security articles.

Tip of the day: Increase your security and privacy by removing your browsing tracks. All browsers record histories, store copies of the webpages you’ve visited, and to be helpful, store your log on User Names and Passwords, and the answers to forms you’ve filled out. Your machine is programmed to be as fast, efficient, and helpful as it can, and it takes steps you may not be aware of to do this.

For example, your browser will store a “temp” copy of this Webpage in one of many “temporary” folders, and make a note of the time. This is done so that should you return to Tech--for Everyone, your machine can load it from local memory-- which is much faster than downloading HTML instructions, text, and graphics and building the page.

Your computer uses the timestamps to determine if there’s been changes to the “source” page, and if there has been, it will download the newer page 'elements'. This helps to give you the illusion of a “fast Internet”.

Other automatic conveniences that record your personal information are Autocomplete, Autofill, and AutoLogon. This is usually accomplished through the use of cookies. (In spite of what you may have heard, all “cookies” are not “bad”.) Hackers know where to look for all this stored information, and they know how to exploit it. Today I am going to show you how to counteract, and change some of this automatic behavior and help you keep your privacy, well, private.

Start by opening IE and clicking on the down-arrow to the right of the Tools menu and selecting Internet Options. (Loyal readers of this blog will already be familiar with this window.)

In the “Browsing History” area, click on the “Delete” button. Now a menu window will open…
Here you are presented with your choices of what to erase (or to “delete all”) and what not. I recommend getting into the habit of regularly clicking on the first, third, and fourth delete buttons — Temp files, History, and Form data.
[note: Form data is particularly important to erase if you have made an online payment, and/or entered your credit card number. Even if you did so on a Secured site.]

Firefox users can set this to be done automatically each time you end your browser session. Click on "Tools" > "Options" and select the Privacy tab.

Sadly, there is no method to set IE to do this automatically for you (you would need a 3rd party utility for that…see today’s free link) and you must remember to this manually.

You can, however, set IE to erase the “temp” files automatically. Click on the Advanced tab of Internet Options, and scroll down to the Security list of settings. Place a check (select) in the checkbox next to “Empty Temporary Internet files when browser is closed”, as shown below. Then click “Apply”, and “OK”.

Today’s free link: the tool I use to erase the digital breadcrumbs on my machines is Absolute Shield Internet Eraser. From site: “AbsoluteShield Internet Eraser protects your privacy by cleaning up all the tracks of your Internet and computer activities. The tool is integrated with IE and it can erase the browser cache, history, cookies, typed URLs, autocomplete list and so on in one click. You can also set the tool to automatically erase those tracks when you quit IE or quit Windows.”

[note: several utility programs have a tracks eraser feature, and so you may have this already... such as if you have Glary Utilities, or CCleaner.]

* Original posting: IE 7 and your privacy, 7/8/07.

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

Financial Phishing Attacks On The Rise

Cyber-criminals have been capitalizing on the global financial crisis in the past several weeks by increasing the volume of phishing and spam messages being sent.

These emails are not much different from older attacks, but because they are topical and look authentic, nervous consumers are at risk for falling for the scam.

Internet users should be on alert for fake emails that look as if they have come from an authentic financial institution. These phishing messages are seeking personal information – account numbers, passwords and Social Security numbers - which cyber-criminals will use to empty out accounts, and then sell on the underground market.

These e-mails (usually) contain links which take you very legit-looking login websites, which in fact are created by the crook. This short video from the good folks at WOT demonstrates how this works.

Tip of the day: Follow these security tips to get protection from phishing attacks:

• Review your financial account statements as soon as you receive them
• Financial institutions never require customers to give account information via email. If you receive an email requesting this data, don't reply.
• Use anti-virus and anti-spyware software and update them regularly.
• Use a firewall.
• Use WOT as preventative protection against online threats to avoid spyware, browser hijacking, identity theft, phishing and other Internet scams.
• Always be suspicious of e-mail, and never click the link.

Today's free download: Yes, this is a repeat; but if you haven't downloaded the WOT browser plug-in, maybe today you'll go ahead and give it a try. Why not? It's light-weight, effective, easy to understand, and free!

What Is Going On With Hotmail?

Yes Folks, you weren't hallucinating; and no, you haven't been 'hijacked'-- the good folks at Hotmail Command have just revamped the UI and now it looks different.

Supposedly, it is more "streamlined" and will be "faster".

But -- this is a case of fiddling while Rome burns. There was nothing wrong with Hotmail's look that a good ad blocker didn't cure AND, for some reason, in the last couple of weeks Hotmail has been allowing patently obvious spam through to my Inbox.

Which my recent reader survey seems to indicate is a prevalent and pervasive trend. (I think some of the "no" responses came from trolls.)

What I am saying is that Hotmail used to know that "earn at home" and "Rolex watches" in the Subject line = Spam/Junk, but now doesn't. The filter has lost significant IQ points. (A head injury?)

With Google's Gmail having such an excellent reputation for spam-catching, combined with the fact that Google has Microsoft dead in its sights (and is winning. see Google’s Dominance Is Your Reward) you would think that Hotmail would strive to do better. Instead, they're putting lipstick on a bleeding patient.

Tip of the day: I offer up this idea for folks who have both Hotmail and Gmail-- forward your Hotmail to the Gmail, and access your mail from there. Gmail's spam catcher not only works, it's Best of Breed.

Today's free download: It used to be that you had to get an "invite" to sign up for Google's webmail service, but not any more. Click here, and find out why Gmail is hard to beat.

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

You Matter

The ability to vote is one of the most cherished of our Constitutional Rights. It is the right to vote that people have fought for, marched for, and died for, over the centuries. 

It is the right to vote that enables you to express your opinion as to the fitness of our elected leaders and their policies. It is the right to vote that permits you to hire or fire those who represent you in government. 

It is the right to vote that allows you to determine, to a certain degree, your own future by electing officials who reflect your views and will speak for you in government. But by not voting you are abdicating your right to influence government and allowing the will of others, whose opinions maybe contrary to your own, to prevail.

And more importantly, by not voting you are allowing it to be no longer the will of the majority that governs this country, but rather, the will of the minority.

Tomorrow you can make a difference.  Vote.

Some Guidelines For Purchasing a New PC

Recently, my duties included an unexpected shopping jaunt. I had been asked to purchase and set up a new PC and home network (a service I provide at Aplus Computer Aid). Inspired by that, and in light of the fact that Shopping Season is nigh upon us, I have reposted an article on guidelines for purchasing a new PC, which first appeared 8/17/07–

How much RAM do I need, and other guidelines for buying a new PC. To conclude this series, I am going to review the topics covered, assume that you’ve decided that, yes, it is time to buy a new PC, and then give some advice on what to look for in a machine. I’m not going to get into a Mac versus PC debate, or talk you into trying Linux. I am going to focus solely on hardware (the ‘capabilities’) options of a non-Mac desktop or laptop PC.

Tip(s) of the day: Laptop computers. Most of what I am going to recommend today applies equally to laptops and desktops with very few exceptions. Today’s portable machines (notebook and tablet PC’s) very nearly rival the hardware capabilities of a desktop (or “tower”), and some models market themselves as a “desktop replacement”. They have large hard drives for storage, can ‘burn’ dual-layer DVD’s, have nice large screens, can access the Internet wirelessly, and are fast. Some have high-end graphics adapters that can keep up with the latest games.

Where laptops are different is: they are comparatively more expensive, they (often) depend on a battery, and they’re limited in terms of “expansion”. Expansion, quite literally, is room to “add stuff”, commonly referred to as “upgrading”. For this reason, I advise (when purchasing a notebook/laptop/tablet) differently than when buying a tower, to wit – buy the most machine you can afford.

If you have to penny-pinch, reduce the RAM and/or go with a smaller hard drive… because these are the two components on a laptop that it is relatively easy to “upgrade” at a later date, when your finances have recovered. The other things – CPU, graphics, motherboard, sound, etc. — are not so easy to swap out/upgrade. In a tower there is practically nothing you cannot replace: in a laptop you’re kind of stuck, so buy as high up the scale as you can. Not just what you think you’ll need today, but buy for tomorrow as well. Because that’s the way the machine will be for its lifetime.

When deciding which model laptop, do not forget to compare battery life (these stats are published). Also, and I can’t stress this enough, do not buy a laptop that you haven’t typed on. Yes, you can make your purchase online or out of a catalogue, but go into a store and touch it first (sorry, all you Best Buy salespersons out there). Each keyboard and touchpad is different. Make sure you like the layout and “feel” of typing on the keyboard. There’s nothing worse (in laptop computing) than trying to work on a keyboard that just isn’t “you”--IMHO.

Desktops: When considering which tower/desktop to buy, there’s basically three categories of machines; budget/student, workstation, and “performance”/gaming. Low, middle, and top-end. You can spend as little as $300, or as much as $8,500. (Yes. $8,500. But, those systems are cool!) I have mentioned before that to do it right, you can get everything you want/need for $700 - $1,100, and that even the budget machines have the “good stuff”.

My advice for what to look for in a desktop, is a little more flexible. First, decide roughly what you’d like to spend. If you really are in the $300 -500 range, do not rule out “refurbished” machines. Rebuilt/refurbished machines are an excellent value. Any negative stigma they may have is unjustified.

Get the most RAM you can. If your machine is coming with Vista (and most of them are), you should avoid Home Basic — and Vista really should be run on 2 Gigabytes of RAM.

Go with a mid-to-high end CPU. The Athlon X2 chips are better than the older “dual core” Pentiums, but not quite as good as the Pentium Core Two Duo. (I know that’s confusing: there are two types of dual-core Pentiums. The D-series is the older type. You want either the Athlon or “Core Two Duo”.)
The quad-core CPU's from Intel are very good, and are the latest 'generation'. If it is in your budget, go quad.

Optical drives. Unless you really need a ‘high def’ burner and you want it right now, hold off on going for a “Blu Ray” burner just yet. Two optical drives, while nice, is not a necessity. Do, however, make sure your “combo drive” can burn ("write") to a dual-layer DVD.

Graphics. Most people do not need a $800 graphics card (only us hard-core gamers, and other boys-of-all-ages, do) nor do they need an “SLI” set up. However, whenever your budget allows, it is almost always better to have a “graphics card” than “onboard graphics”. Onboard graphics chipsets are built into the motherboard, and while they do a quite adequate job, they “share” your RAM … and by that I mean “steal” your RAM.
Please note, you can buy, and install a graphics card at any time..

Do not skimp on your monitor.

Power Supply. Do not forget to check the Wattage of the machine’s power supply. Here is another area where more is definitely better. It constantly surprises me how many seemingly unrelated computer ‘glitches’ and quirks turn out to be caused by an inadequate or failing power supply. Shoot for one that’s rated in the neighborhood of 350W, unless you’re going for a more “loaded”, high-end performance machine — in which case 500W, or higher, is not unreasonable.

Well, that should get you started. Buying a new PC should not be a stressful thing. It should be an enjoyable and rewarding experience. Just remember to test drive before you buy, and do a little comparison. It really doesn’t matter if you decide upon a no-name, a HP, a Sony, Dell, or whatever. You may want to take advantage of the many mix-and-match-components “custom build” option, and design your own PC.

Here are the links to the prior parts of this series: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

Today’s free link: To help shop for a new PC, another excellent shopper’s resource can be found at the PC World magazine’s website. Click here.

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