Friday, March 26, 2010

And now for something completely different

Okay, a little something on the lighter side. This doesn't mean you can ignore all those April Fools warnings!!

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Expect Many Tough New Spyware Infections the First Week of April

This is an actual e-mail I received yesterday from the good folks at SuperAntiSpyware, makers of one of the staple products in my base security recommendations. As a reminder of what is included in that recommendation, visit my earlier posts which you will find here:

and


BELOW IS THE E-MAIL FROM SUPERANTISPYWARE. PLEASE READ. IMPORTANT!!


Tom,

Each year, the first week of April (coinciding with “April Fool’s Day”) brings an increase in spyware and malware infections. It’s become something of an annual tradition that causes havoc for computer users, lost productivity, and overall inconvenience. Not to mention potentially costing thousands of dollars in repairs.

We’re working hard to prepare for this onslaught and we’re up for the challenge. It makes sense, however, to remind computer users to be extra vigilant during this period of increased spyware activity:

Don’t open emails, files or attachments from people you don’t know.

Be extra cautious opening emails, files or attachments from people you do know.

Don’t be fooled by “scareware” tactics. Know what software you are using, and familiarize yourself with how it delivers warnings and alerts.

If you’re considering giving your social networking activities a break, now might be a good time. No one will miss you if you take a week off.

Stay away from websites that you haven’t visited before. Think before you click!

Run multiple layers of security software. There are many free and effective solutions that will co-exist well with each other. Remember, a single solution may not be enough, especially during this period of increased spyware activity.

We’re here and happy to help if you need anything. Our management team is happy to answer any questions you may have or address issues or concerns raised by your audience. If we can help, just let me know!

Stay safe online, and thanks again, 

Director of Business Development
SUPERAntiSpyware

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Long Live Your Laptop Battery!

An excellent article from pcworld.com on a subject most of us laptop users are always interested in.


Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Top 6 Security Myths and How to Beat Them

As always, be careful out there. Just because you are not paranoid does not mean that they are not out to get you! :-)

This is from Computerworld's web site:

Top 6 Security Myths and How to Beat Them

Monday, March 22, 2010

GMAIL

I use Google's free e-mail service called GMAIL. GMAIL supports POP (Post Office Protocol). POP allows you to use one of many e-mail clients on your PC. Among the supported client e-mail programs for which GMAIL supports POP are:

  • Apple Mail 3.0
  • Outlook Express
  • Outlook 2002
  • Outlook 2003
  • Outlook 2007
  • Thunderbird 2.0
  • Windows Mail
If you use one of these e-mail client programs, then you can use POP with GMAIL.  The real beauty of these client programs is that  they all have very friendly, easy to use, user interfaces. Each of them will keep all of your e-mail right on your own PC. As an added bonus with GMAIL, all of your e-mail will also be kept on Google's servers (Google claims without limit) and this is a big advantage for GMAIL, so you have built-in backup. That is, a full copy of all of your e-mail is on your PC and also on Google's servers.

The purpose of POP is simply to ensure that as e-mail comes into the Google server, a copy of it is downloaded to your PC when you start up your client program. I happen to use Outlook, and that is where I process all of my e-mail. When one has what is called a client-server relationship like this, one can process e-mail within the client when on one's own PC or use webmail, and process e-mail by using the Google web site to read and send e-mail. This is handy, of course, when one is using someone else's PC.

If you have any questions about this, please submit a comment below.