What is that over there on the horizon? Do you see it? It looks like a HUGE SECURITY ISSUE!!!
That’s right. Just a couple weeks ago, the Black Hat Security Conference took place. For those of you who have never heard of this conference, I’ll explain how this one is a bit ‘different’ than your average security meeting. You see, in the Black Hat conference… Continue reading
The Internet revolution has created a dependency on technology for nearly everyone young and old, basically requiring us to access the World Wide Web several times daily. Computers and Internet connections are both becoming basic commodities for every household around the world these days. However, since the Internet is an open portal for any uncensored information, surfing the Internet is frequently not safe for children to navigate alone.… Continue reading
I’m not trying to sound like a broken record here, but just yesterday Microsoft announced yet another major security issue for windows XP users that have IE7 and IE6. Unlike last week’s vulnerability that only affected the MS direct show plugin, this new issue affects multiple ActiveX controls that could be used to hijack your computer.
Both of these issues only work on older browsers and operating systems… Continue reading
Just yesterday, Microsoft launched its newest attempt at securing Windows PCs. The product, called Microsoft Security Essentials, will be a free set of basic security tools and A/V software for windows users. This software package is not intended to be the only security software on a pc, but instead a set of tools that will provide basic protection if a computer does not have a full featured security suite… Continue reading
Just a few days ago, Microsoft acknowledged a major security flaw in windows XP and older operating systems. This flaw has to do with the program Microsoft DirectShow that handles multimedia aspects in your system. While you may not actually see DirectShow appear on your screen, many applications and plugins use this program to display multimedia items on your screen throughout your average day on the computer.
This program by… Continue reading
p>It seems that no matter what the security experts try, spam levels still manage to go up. Every month Symantec Messagelabs creates a report on email spam that details all spam activity in the world. The most recent report on May’s spam levels are very alarming. According to the report, spam levels in may hit an all time record. Nearly 9 out of 10 emails sent in may were spam… Continue reading
Brody from KS asks:
When I am surfing the web I sometimes get strange message windows popping up. Windows Security Alerts or error messages saying that my computer is “infected” or “too slow”. How can I tell if they are real and what should I do about them?
TCP View and You
Today’s security article is for those of you that really like to “see” what your computer is doing. Have you ever wondered what your computer does when it connects to the internet, or what programs on your computer use the internet? Well, if you answered yes to either one of those, you are gonna love this!
The other day I was thinking about all of… Continue reading
It seems that computer security issues are affecting everyone these days. Even government organizations like the FBI and the office of the president have been afflicted with viruses and data theft. President Obama recently admitted that during his campaign, his office’s computers were infected and critical campaign information was stolen! This just shows that anyone can be a victim of cyber crime; not just regular folks like you and me.… Continue reading
Q:
Can I use “Adobe Reader” and “Adobe Acrobat” safely?
A:
Adobe Systems Inc. recently acknowledged that all versions of its popular PDF software, including editions for Windows, Mac and Linux, contain at least one, or possibly two, critical vulnerabilities. Knowing this, is there a way one can use their Adobe PDF reader safely?
Yes. Fortunately, there is an easy way to stay safe until Adobe releases… Continue reading
So, it looks like the Conficker worm is still not quite ready to go away. Ever since April 1st when the Conficker worm failed to do its task, as some claimed it would, people assumed that the worm was not a threat. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Some recent research has found that Conficker is alive and well; infecting up to 50,000 computers daily!
At this point, the worm… Continue reading
Q:
I read recently that Google is tracking my interests for advertising purposes. Is this true and should I stay away from Google?
A:
This is a great question and I will be happy to let everyone know how this works.
It is true that Google just announced a new technology for Internet advertising that they call Interest-based Advertising. As I’m sure you can guess, this allows… Continue reading
Last week, Microsoft announced a pretty major change in security policy for windows XP, Vista and the upcoming Version 7 of their operating systems. Ever since the beginning, when you would plug in a device such as an external hard drive or flash drive, the “auto run” dialog box would appear. This box would many times offer you frequently used options for starting your device.
Well, this is all going… Continue reading
Q: Why do people make viruses?
A: This is a very good question! I know it seems like the maker of a virus gets absolutely nothing out of the deal, but there are some real reasons that hackers make viruses.
Here are a few to think about:
1. Personal problems - I start with this one because I think it’s funny. Some people make viruses because it… Continue reading
These days it seems like there are more and more malicious web sites cropping up every day. These sites can either cause harm to your computer, or just annoy you and waste your time. I’m sure that I’m not the only one that feels that way, too. Well, now we can fight against malicious websites with a little add on for Firefox and IE called Web Of Trust (WOT).
WOT… Continue reading
Microsoft likes it when people activate their software. If you just got a new computer, chances are that when you first booted it up, Windows asked you to activate. It goes pretty quick, and in no time you’re off and running with your PC; carefree and without any activation reservations.
But what if you bought that Vista or Windows 7 machine
Some seriously bad news for data security came out awhile back. According to the 2009 Data Breach Investigation Report, there were 295 million data records stolen (or breached) last year. That is more than the previous 4 years combined! Also, according to the report, 64% of these breaches were done by hackers, while 38% were done through malware.
These are some shocking numbers, and keep in mind… Continue reading
Perhaps in preparation for the upcoming Windows 7, Microsoft announced that Mainstream support for Windows XP will transition into Extended support, effective April 14th 2009.
What does this mean, exactly?
Not much for the average XP user, so don’t panic. Your operating system will function as usual and you’ll still get security updates through 2014 via Windows Update. The catch is that all other technical problems related… Continue reading
Over the past couple weeks, I have been getting a lot of questions about the Conficker worm. Obviously, people are concerned about whether thay may or may not have this nasty little bug. Now, I have written a couple articles about how to remove conficker and how to avoid conficker, but how do you know if you really have this virus?
Well, just the other day, our good friend Andy… Continue reading
It seems that in the world of computers, there is never a peaceful time. Just last week people were worried about the Conficker bug, now we have another one with some very strange similarities. This new threat is called Neeris, and the only reason I call it “new” is because it is starting to spread wider than it has in the past. In reality, however, this worm has been around… Continue reading
This week is the third and final tutorial on Windows Steadystate. If you missed parts one and two, you can view them here: Part 1, Part 2 . Today we are going to cover the last two sections of SteadyState. These two area are called “Feature Restrictions” and “Block programs“. Lets dive in!
The first section is the “Feature Restrictions” tab. This tab goes beyond the options of… Continue reading
I woke up yesterday morning, like I do most mornings, to my annoying clock radio. Well, that day was just a little more annoying than most, just because of what I heard when I woke up. To my surprise, I heard the “morning personalities” blabbing on about this terrible worm called “Conficker“. They were saying that the worm could possibly strike on April first and cause “all kinds of… Continue reading
Last week, I started telling you about a program called Windows SteadyState. If you missed part one, feel free to check it out here. Last weeks article talked about the Global Computer Setting of SteadyState. Today, I am going to talk about some of the user settings for this awesome program!
First, what you will need to do is launch Steadystate
A while ago, we wrote an article about a new Microsoft program called Windows SteadyState. For those of you that missed it, the article gave a quick description of the program and explained that it is a great way to secure your computer if it has multiple users. Expecially if those multiple users happen to be the kind that might mess up your computer!
Well… Continue reading
I was looking through our computer tips archive the other day and found an article about computer HOSTS files. The article explains exactly what a HOSTS file is and how it can be used to block malicious Web sites. At the very end of the article, there’s a short paragraph about how you can download a custom HOSTS file that will automatically block many of the known… Continue reading
Almost all the e-mails you get these days come in an HTML format. Those e-mails are the ones with pictures, links and anything else besides text. WorldStart’s Computer Tips newsletter is an example of an HTML based e-mail. Those types of e-mails are great for making easy to read and visual based messages, but they also pose a security threat.
The issue with HTML based e-mail is… Continue reading
Okay, be honest now! How many of you out there still use weak passwords? You know what I mean! I’m talking about the infamous passwords like “1234,” “password” and “qwerty.” I hope most of you are answering, “Not me!” But I’m second guessing, because I read an article a few days ago that just blew my mind.
Recently, a study was done on 28,000 passwords that were stolen from a… Continue reading
