Archive for the ‘Security Help’ Category

A lot of service-oriented businesses provide Internet access via free public wireless networks. From airports to fast food chains, these access points, or Hot Spots as they are called, are even being implemented in government buildings such as libraries. This can be a real convenience to people on the go, someone waiting for a flight, or someone out of town that may need to get online with a good connection… Continue reading

2004 was quite a year. One thing that grabbed my attention, and may grab yours, is the skyrocketing growth in Bots (PC’s that are controlled by hackers using a worm or Trojan with a backdoor), and skyrocketing may be too subtle of a word.

According to Symantec, there has been a 450% increase in virus attacks on Windows machines this year, and the reason for this shocking… Continue reading

Phishing is a scam you may or may not be familiar with. We did an article on it in July of 2003, and we have been seeing some pop up in our inboxes lately. The process of phishing is actually very simple: an email is sent to you that spoofs an actual legitimate company trying to get personal information from you such as account and pin numbers. This… Continue reading

A Tale of Two Vulnerabilities

It was the best of browsers, it was the worst of browsers…

On November 17, a Danish security firm discovered two Windows XP vulnerabilities—one was with SP2 and the other with Internet Explorer6. Both were found on systems that were completely up-to-date (scary). These two exploits basically trick the security center and IE into thinking that the sites you may be viewing are completely safe… Continue reading

This is a cool analyzing tool from Microsoft. With this diagnostics program you can run a security check on your system and see where you might be lacking. The tool was made primarily for people in the IT industry who wanted to check their networks for holes, but it works on standalone systems like a champ. Sorry 9x’ers (i.e.95/98/ME) this one’s all XP and 2000 in addition to having Internet… Continue reading

I think you guys are really going to enjoy this week’s security tip. It’s a really cool way to secure files using “specific rights”. This is ideal for people who share a computer with others in the house and want to keep their private information secure.

Windows XP home and Pro give you a great amount of control over your files and by logging in through Safe Mode

Q:
I received an e-mail from a friend describing the “worst virus ever,” but then I saw a report on the news that it was in fact a hoax. How can I tell the difference between a real and a hoax virus before I start to panic?

A:
There are several ways to determine if a virus alert is a hoax or not.

First of all, an alert… Continue reading

Q:
When I try to click my icons, they seem to “run away” from my mouse. I can’t get to them and I’m having a hard time using my computer. What’s wrong?

A:
I get this question a ton, so I finally looked into it. It’s actually a virus, the “magistr” one to be exact.

If you’ve been infected with it for more than two months, it will… Continue reading

Fake PayPal Email

Do you use PayPal? If so, you need to be extremely careful. We’ve been seeing a lot of fraudulent e-mails that appear to be originating from PayPal, but are in fact from an unscrupulous 3rd party.

Oh, and for those who don’t know, PayPal is an online payment system—a really good one too (I like it . They are not part of this scam, more like a… Continue reading

All the World’s Maps

Need a map for a report? Need a map of a country for your vacation? This is the place to get your maps. How does it work? Choose a map from the drop down box and then click the Launch Map button and ta-da you have a directory of sites to choose your map from.

Better yet you can even get maps of… Continue reading

W32RBOT-GR

It’s been a while since I’ve talked about any of the viruses tearing up the Internet and there’s been some real interesting out there. In the past month and a half I’ve seen two very unique viruses in particular that I’ve wanted to write about. The “JPEG of Death” and the “Rbot-GR” are not very widespread or overly dangerous, but they are pioneers of a sort. The JPEG of… Continue reading

Web Bugs

Have you ever heard the term Web Bug? How about Web Beacon or Clear GIF? Well, don’t feel left out if you haven’t, it’s not everyday terminology. The terms I mentioned are different names for the same thing. For the sake of remaining simple I’ll stick with one name Web Bug. So what are Web Bugs and what to they do? They are small (1 by… Continue reading

Hidden User Account

For my next trick I will make a user account disappear, yet remain a full functioning account. Today’s Security Tip is another way to lock down your system, and it does this by hiding specified user accounts. This feature is only available in XP and 2000, so unfortunately the rest of you are out of luck. This process does involve an easy registry edit, but if you’re… Continue reading

e XP SysKey Trick

If you have Windows XP then I really think you’re going to like this week’s security tip. Are you in a situation where you really don’t want anybody accessing the family PC while you’re not around? Maybe you don’t want anybody to use your computer at all. Maybe you just want a little tighter control over when and by whom your PC gets used. If any… Continue reading

XP Service pack 2 Firewall: Helpful Hints

Well I’ve been doing a lot with Service Pack 2 (SP2) since it’s release, and this week is no exception. The new XP firewall has some serious improvements over the previous version; the changes are so great that the only similarity is the fact that they can stop incoming traffic. It’s evident that Microsoft has put a lot more effort into their integrated… Continue reading

Privacy Settings in IE6

This week I’m going to talk about something that a lot of people have heard of but don’t know how to take advantage of. If the thought of leaving little bits of information all over the web isn’t something you want to happen, or you just want get a handle on it, then read on.

Internet Explorer’s Privacy Settings is a configuration tool that is located… Continue reading

Privacy Settings in IE6

This week I’m going to talk about something that a lot of people have heard of but don’t know how to take advantage of. If the thought of leaving little bits of information all over the web isn’t something you want to happen, or you just want get a handle on it, then read on.

Internet Explorer’s Privacy Settings is a configuration tool that is located… Continue reading

Service Pack 2 Security Center

Do you have it yet? Well if you don’t you probably soon will. Of course I’m talking about XP Service Pack 2. What Microsoft says about this update is that it’s basically a security overhaul—fixing known exploits in Windows as well as incorporating the new Security Center (SC). This is a control panel if you will, for your new… Continue reading

Peer to Peer Problems

You probably aren’t the only one who uses your PC. Your spouse, sister, brother, son, daughter, or others might use it too. Or, if you have more than one PC in your house and are sharing an Internet connection then you’ll want to listen to this too. Does anyone who shares your network or PC visit any Peer-to-Peer sites? If you’re not familiar with… Continue reading

Wireless Security

The ability to share an Internet connection is great and the ability to do this wirelessly is even better. Wireless networks are easy to install—you don’t have to run cables, and you can roam around a location within the WLAN (wireless local area network), or physical range of wireless connectivity ( here’s a way to get started )… Continue reading

Shopping Online

Everyone here answers the phone, and a lot of people we talk to do not like the idea of putting their credit card information online. The perception, I believe, is that the number is sent off unsecured into cyberspace being viewed by anyone computer savvy enough, through the card number’s travel.

Well this is true and not true. As a number one rule never give… Continue reading

Virus Victims

A reader named Scott recently received an email with an attachment from someone he didn’t know . He writes, “I didn’t open since it had not been scanned for viruses due to encryption. The attachment also ended in .exe, which is another reason I didn’t open it having been warned by friends and your newsletter that it could contain a virus. I hit ‘Reply’ to ask… Continue reading

Answers That Work

I’ve been taking some time over the past couple of months to try and get everyone accustomed to managing their firewalls. This can be confusing to the newcomer, as I have said before, and can easily overwhelm casual users.

One of the hardest things about managing firewalls is, what processes to let online? The first time you get online with a… Continue reading