Virtual PC - The Safe Way To Test Applications

Let's say you've installed an application and wanted to test several settings with it. However, if you mess up with the settings, it'll also affect your Windows. So, how you can test it without damaging your operating system?

The answer is Virtual PC. You need to install a virtual PC in your Windows so you can try out new software and experimenting with it without damaging your OS. You can install other operating system such as Ubuntu in your virtual PC.

There are many software that can do this, but some of them are not free. In order to create a virtual PC, you need Innotek VirtualBox and it's available for free.

Virtual PC has many uses and it will help you if you like to experimenting with software. For example, if you would like to know if a software is safe or not, you can install it in your virtual PC and see what will happen.

CAPTCHA Images - How The Spammers Can Get Through It With Your Help

There is a new way on how the spammers can make you spam for them. Even though the target site is using CAPTCHA, the spammers can get through it with your help.

You might receive a message from a hot woman that willl ask you to enter CAPTCHA images numbers and she will strip for you after you've done it. Without you knowing, the CAPTCHA images are actually from the websites that the spammers want to attack.

Therefore, by entering the CAPTCHA images numbers and letters, you've helped the spammers to create a massive amount of email accounts from websites such as Yahoo!. Imagine if there are 1000 people are entering the numbers at the same time, the spammers can create 1000 email accounts by doing nothing!

This is just an example, they (spammers) might use it for other reasons. So, be careful if you received messages from unknown people.

I read this from PandaLabs. Here's the link
http://pandalabs.pandasecurity.com/archive/A-new-way-of-social-engineering.aspx

PC vs Mac Commercial Spoof

I think some of you have seen this video. It's a spoof of "Get A Mac" commercial by Apple and this video is in South Park style. I like this video and decided to share it here with you guys.

419 Scam and E-Card Emails

I received another e-card email yesterday and it also contains the same format as I posted before. The link in the email is in IP address and it will immediately download a Trojan Horse to my computer if I click it.

Another email that I received yesterday is a 419 scam email. This email ask me to help transfer some funds and it's from a bank in Nigeria. For those who don't know what a 419 scam is, you can visit this website to learn more.

http://www.419eater.com/

Please remember that when you received this type of emails, do not click the link provided and do not believe the fund transfer request. However, the website above stated that it's better for us to 'play' for a while with the 419 scam sender in order to waste the scammers time.

You will find all the information that you need from the above website. You can also learn how to become a scambaiter from that website.

Why Pay When You Can Clone Your Hard Drive For Free?

So you want to upgrade your hard disk? But you want to move all your old files to it?

If you would like to do it, you need to clone your hard disk entirely as it is and not just by copying and pasting all the files to the new hard drive.

In order to do this, there are software that can do this for you. You can try Norton Ghost or Symantec Ghost Corporate Edition if you have the money. But why pay when you can do it for free?

There are two open source software that can do this job. The software are Partition Image and Clonezilla. However, Clonezilla is recommended by Christopher Null. (For those who don't know him, visit his blog here http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null;_ylt=AiKhrY3u9wvyMWB_Ha7uAY4WLpA5

Clonezilla can copies 100GB of data as fast as 20 minutes and it also has unicasting and multicasting feature. However, this software are not for computer novice and you need to have an advanced or intermediate knowledge in computer in order to use this software.

"How To Secure Your Computer From Spyware" Download

My e-course subscribers have received this ebook several days ago and as I promised, I'm going to release it to public right now.

This report only covers basic knowledge on how to detect and remove spyware. You can download the report here
http://www.chuangcomputer.com/getmyfile.php?file=securespyware.zip

Download, read it and pass it to anyone that you think will benefit from it. If you want to give me some feedbacks, feel free to do so by commenting here or email me at azwan[at]chuangcomputer.com. I'll be glad to have some feedbacks.

If I update this ebook in the future, I will post it on this blog and you can download it for free.

How To Spot Bogus Emails

Bogus emails or phishing emails are aimed to trick you into giving your banking or sensitive information to the hackers. How you can spot bogus email?

First of all, the email will not address you personally. Instead of 'Dear [yourname],' it will be something like 'Dear Friend'. As you can see, the emails are not personalized to you. So, there is a great chance that this type of email is bogus.

Spam emails always use the same format. It didn't address you personally, instead it will be just 'Hi' or 'Greetings'. Such as the 419 scam.

Second, try searching the Internet for the same email subject or body. You will probably find out more and will know if the email is a bogus email.

Third, view the message header. You can do this on your email clients or using PopTray. PopTray can reveal a message header and raw body. So, bogus and phishing emails cannot hide the links inside the emails.

To spot bogus emails, these three tips can help you.

Malware - Drive-by Download

Read this story:

Steve is a person who takes Internet security seriously. He installed protection software such as antivirus and anti-spyware. But he didn't installed a firewall because he thinks he already has enough protection.

However, there was one time when Steve click a banner ad and was brought to a malicious website. He closed the website after reading it for a while. On the same day, he received an anonymous HTML email and after he read it, he deleted the email.

But, at this moment, Steve has been infected by malware. It's because, malware can be downloaded into your system if you've visited malicious websites or open malicious HTML emails.

This is called drive-by download and malicious software can easily slipped into your system without you knowing. Therefore, be careful when visiting a website and if you've already visited malicious websites, make sure to scan your computer to remove the threats.

To avoid reading HTML emails, configure your email clients to read all message in plain text. It's safer.

E-Card Greeting Card (Trojan Horse Attack....Again!)

I got one email about a greeting card that was sent to me. The email subject title is 'Ecard Greeting Inside' and the body reads

Here is the new Psycho cat card. [link removed]

The link is actually an IP address and I removed it for security purposes. Be careful when you received this Ecards type of emails and as I always mention in my post, never ever click any links in unknown emails.

I locate the IP address using http://www.ip-adress.com/ and found out that the location is at Romania.

Spam In MP3 Format?

Spam in MP3 format?

Will you believe if I say there are spams in MP3 format nowadays? I read it on PandaLabs blog. The MP3 will use different names to trick us into downloading it and after you've downloaded it, you will realize that it's not a song but an advertising MP3 instead.

It will use name such as oursong.mp3, and bartsimpson.mp3 to trick us. In order to avoid this type of spam, I suggest you to download songs only from the websites that you trust and remember to install McAfee Site Advisor. It will tells you which websites are spam websites.

Here's the direct link to the PandaLabs blog
http://pandalabs.pandasecurity.com/archive/MP3-spam.aspx

Your opinion?

Reduce Your Startup Time/Boot-Time

zI forgot to mention this one on the previous post, so I will post it in this post. My previous post is about reducing boot-time and the reasons. I'm sure some of you have already learned so much from the previous post.

However, I found an ebook that explain in-depth about reducing startup time and if you're looking ways to reduce it, why don't you take a look at this ebook. If you see the video on its website, the Photoshop in his system only loads in 5 seconds!..Which is amazing because Photoshop usually take longer than 5 seconds to load.

Here's the link to the ebook http://tinyurl.com/yq2ubr and if you buy through this link, you can get PC Safety 101 for free from me.

Just email me at azwan[at]chuangcomputer.com after you've bought it with your receipt number and I will send it to your email.

P.S - Here's the link again http://tinyurl.com/yq2ubr

The Reasons You Have Longer Boot-Time

Slow startup Windows has become a problem for Windows users and most people don't want to waste their valuable time because of this. There are many reasons why your Windows startup has become slow. These might be the reasons:

1. You have too many installed software in your system that make your registry full of entries. Therefore, you registry full of the unused software entries. Just keep software that you always use and uninstalled other software. Clean your registry using registry cleaning tool, or you could defrag your registry.

2. Fonts will be loaded on startup and it'll also makes your computer boot slower. Go to your fonts folder on Windows and copy it to a new partition or burn it on a CD and delete the fonts that you don't usually use.

3. Check you tray icons and see if you have too many software loaded at startup. If you have too many software, try typing in 'msconfig' in start>-run and uncheck every software that you don't need to load during startup such as Quicktime, Real Player or Yahoo Messenger.

4. In Vista, there are two reasons why its boot-time takes longer. The first one is indexing system and the second is the System Restore. But, please be careful when disabling System Restore and indexing system if you don't need them.

5. You don't defrag your system. Maybe you always defrag your system, but not using Power Defragmenter. Power Defragmenter is a freeware and you can download it to defrag your system to make it faster.

5. Too many malicious software on your system. Install, update and run the tools required for malicious software removal.

New Free Report - How To Secure Your Computer From Spyware, How To Filter Spam Using PopTray

I'm almost finish creating my new report for spyware protecion. It covers basic spyware protection knowledge and I'm going to make it available for free. I hope the report will help everyone who don't know a thing about spyware or knowledge on how to remove it.

Right now I'm just checking for grammar and spelling mistakes in this special report. I will give you guys the direct link for this report and you don't have to subscribe to my 5-day e-course to get it. However, my e-course subscribers will get a special security resource report in addition to this report and they will get it first before I post the link to this blog. In that report, they will find links to free firewalls, antiviruses,anti-spyware, spam blocking tools and so much more.

I'm not so sure when I will be able to finish this report because I will be very busy this week and next week. However, I will try to post useful tips everyday to this blog.

For today's tip, I'm going to share with you how PopTray managed to filter spam from my inbox.

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How To Filter Spam Using PopTray
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PopTray is a freeware where it will check for email messages in your inbox every 5 minutes. It also has 'rules' feature where it will be able to set rules for spam messages. Everytime you received spam emails, right click to the emails and you can choose either to add rule to email from sender or to add rule to email with subject.

The rules are mark message as spam or delete message. Therefore, everytime an email come with the same subject or from the same sender, it will automatically deleted or marked as spam for manual deletion.

It's actually a good program because you can filter your inbox from spam message automatically. Other than that, you can also preview the emails and it will show you the body and the raw message. This way, you can identify a phishing email because you can see where the link in the phishing email pointed to.

I strongly suggest you to download this freeware to improve your computer security.

P.S - If you would like to subscribe to my e-course, feel free to do so here http://www.chuangcomputer.com/5day

*Ebook cover design by Chaker Saaf

McAfee Site Advisor - In-Depth Analysis on Websites

If you read my previous posts, I think some of you already installed McAfee Site Advisor in your browser. For those who still haven't installed it, I suggest you to do it right away.

You will notice that when you search something on the search engines, the Site Advisor will advise you if the websites are safe to visit or not. However, if you want more and in-depth analysis of the websites, you can do so by visiting the Site Advisor website here
http://www.siteadvisor.com/analysis/

The analysis involves three main test, the email test, download test and affiliation test. The analysis will reveal what email messages that usually sent by the websites, download details and link details.

Another details are contact information, year established and how many users are using the website. It's a pretty useful analysis. For example, before you download anything from a website, you can use this analysis to learn what are the downloads.

Three Types of Hackers

In today's post, I'm going to tell three types of hackers. Hackers are categorized by the way they act.

The first category of hackers is White Hat Hackers. White hat hackers are ethical hackers and didn't do any unlawful act. This type of hackers usually will try to find any flaw in their operating system or any programs and they will send an anonymous email to the company stating the flaw.

The second category is Black Hat hackers. This type of hackers are hackers that we usually see in the movies and in the news. They will try to breach a system to obtain something and it's usually money oriented.

The third category is Gray Hat hackers. As the term says, this type of hackers fall into the gray area between Black Hat and White Hat hackers. They're usually ethical but will breach into a system or company if they think that the company is doing something unethical.

Social Engineering - How The Hackers Can Get Your Password Legally

Social engineering is another way of hackers to get into your system and it deals with human nature. It's not an attack using spyware, viruses or any other malware but it deals with human psychology. Maybe the hacker will disguise himself as a certified technician and will ask you your system password and username. Imagine this, your regular technician come from a company named 'Security Technician' and your regular technician is 'John Smith'.

The hacker will call you and said that he comes from 'Security Technician' and an interns or a friend of 'John Smith'. He will then said that John Smith wanted him to check on your system because your system is not secure enough or something like that and he need your password and username so he can proceed to maintaining your system.

It's amazing how many people will respond to this type of attack by giving their login information to the hackers. People naturally will feel safer when they heard a name that they familiar with and trust the people associated with the name.

I cannot go in-depth about social engineering techniques because I'm not an expert in this field and I only know some basic knowledge about it. This is what I know and therefore I would like to share it with you in hope that you will be aware that the hackers will do almost everything to breach into your system.

Maybe in my future post, I will go in-depth about social engineering attack after I have done some research on this topic.

Protect Your Password From Keyloggers

I think many of you know what RoboForm is. But if you don't know what is RoboForm, let me explain a little bit about it to you. RoboForm is a password manager software, form filler, password generator and fill and save forms software.

If you have this software on your system, you don't have to type any password anymore. So, the keyloggers in your system will not be able to record your password and username. Which is a good thing and you will be a lot safer.

Imagine if you don't have this software on your system, what will happen if you do your online banking and the keyloggers recorded your every stroke? The hackers will immediately know your login information and they will use it to log in into your account.

Therefore, that's why it is important for you to have this software. If you would like to download this software, download it here http://tinyurl.com/2xpu9f

This software was named PC Magazine editor's choice and it is a very good software. Install it today before the keyloggers record your keystroke.

How You Can Get Latest Threats Alert At Your Desktop

I found an interesting tool. I think this tool is very good if you want to get updated about the latest threats. It has threat meter and can show you the level of threats on email activities, web activities, instant messaging and file sharing service.

Best of all, it's free to install on your desktop. It's a software and it comes from Symantec which is a very reputable security company. It's called the Symantec Internet Threat Meter and you can download it here http://www.symantec.com/norton/security_response/threatmeter.jsp

This is the system requirement for this software

Win XP w/SP1 or Win2k
Mac OS X 10.3 or newer
Internet connection
512 mb of RAM recommended
Current version 1.4

It's powered by Yahoo! Widget engine and you can use the widget to search for viruses and threats. Both are established and well-known companies and therefore, you can trust the information that this widget deliver.

Try it and if you would like to share your opinion about this software here, feel free to leave a comment.

P.S - First time here? Subscribe to my RSS feed to get the latest updates and future contents.

How You Can Use The Task Manager To Detect Malicious Software

Task Manager in Windows is another way how you can detect malicious software running in the background. But, there will also be a time when you want to use the Task Manager but you cannot open it.

First of all, you need to download HijackThis! because it has Process Manager tool in Misc Tools section and put the shortcut to HijackThis! on your desktop. This is because if you cannot access your Task Manager, you can still kill the malicious process by using the Process Manager.

There was one time when I cannot open my Task Manager and My Computer and therefore, I cannot kill the malicious software process. That's why I advise you to put a direct shortcut to HijackThis on your desktop.

After that, open your Task Manager and search in Google for all the process. Let's say you don't know what CPF.exe is, find it in Google and you'll know that it's a Comodo Firewall Pro process. Using this way, you can know if there are any malicious software running in the background.

I've used this method countless times to make sure that my system is clean from any threats.

How To Get Rid of Spyware

Spyware is malicious software designed to send your private information such as browsing habit to the hackers and it can bring many disasters to you and your computer. It can make your computer to become slow in performance, change your home page, and you will also have a slow Internet connection.

It can also cause you a new PC if you don’t learn how to remove it. Lavasoft reported that 850,000 people have replaced their computer because of spyware infection and these stats only shows the first half of 2007. 90% of computer users in U.S are infected by the same type of infection and most of them don’t know how to remove it.

In this article, I will explain briefly on how to detect this type of infection and how to remove it and I will also tell you two symptoms if you got infected. First of all, if you notice that your home page has changed without you changing it, it may be caused by malicious software. Second, your computer performance speed and online browsing speed have become so slow. These two reasons show that you’ve been infected and you need to remove the threats as soon as possible.

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Editor's note: I wrote this article in hope to help many other people out there who don't know how to remove spyware. However, if you would like to learn more, I suggest you to purchase PC Safety 101 here http://www.chuangcomputer.com/pcsafety There are lots of information in that ebook and the bonuses will help you a lot in dealing with computer problems.
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Nowadays, spyware work almost similar with adware. It will also display advertisements while you’re online. How you can get infected by this type of infection? You might have downloaded software that contains malicious software or maybe you’ve clicked pop-up ads that want you to update your security settings. Another reason is that you’ve visited websites that download the malware without your consent to your computer.

In order to remove it, you need to download anti-spyware programs that can detect and remove any malicious software installed in your system. Another type of protection software that you need is software that has a real-time protection. Having this feature is essential and will make you safer from some threats.

Unlike antivirus, you can have more than one anti-spyware in your system. Ad-Aware and Spybot Search and Destroy are software that I recommend for you to use in your system. If you’re using Microsoft Windows XP operating system, download Windows Defender because it has a real-time protection. If you prefer other software, I would like to recommend Spyware Terminator because it also has a real-time protection.

Download and update the software that I’ve mentioned and you can get rid of those nasty pests inside your computer. However, you can still get infected if you don’t arm yourself with essential knowledge about online threats.

Azwan Asmat is the author of Chuang Computer Tips - http://chuangcomputer.blogspot.com/ - Want to know the secret of securing your PC from dangerous spyware, adware, and malware programs that can ruin your PC, your finances, and your sanity?!

Visit http://www.chuangcomputer.com/5day for more info

How The Hackers And The Spammers Can Get Your Email Address

Spam emails are problem to all of us. It's annoying and some spam emails even will send you malicious software. Another email threat is the hackers can hack into your email and they will demand you to pay some amount of money before they can release it to you. Maybe you're wondering how the heck the hackers or the spammers can get your email address. Below are some of the reasons.

1. You've posted your email address somewhere on the Internet
2. The hackers installed keyloggers inside your system
3. You've used your email username and password in other website (even the non-commercial websites)
4. Your password is not strong enough.
5. You've subscribed to spam websites
6. The hackers sent you a phishing email and you log-in through the link provided.
7. You posted your email as myemail@mydomain.com format

What you should do to prevent this from happening?

1. Don't post your email address in public forum or any websites
2. Scan your system using Ad-Aware 2007 and Spybot Search and Destroy
3. Don't use your email username and password in other websites
4. Use a strong password
5. Install McAffe Site Advisor to know which websites are spam websites
6. Never log-in using any link from any email
7. Post your email in other format such as myemail[at]mydomain.com . Spambots will have a problem catching your email address this way.
8. Use KeyScrambler and RoboForm to prevent keyloggers stealing your information

P.S - Would you like to learn more about creating a virtual wall around your computer? Subscribe to my 5 day PC security e-course http://www.chuangcomputer.com/5day

How Hackers Can Take Control of Your Computer

Hackers can take control of your computer by using a type of software that enabled them to do it remotely. This act can be done by using a Backdoor Trojan. Backdoor Trojan, as other Trojan Horse out there need to be executed by the user.

It can disguise as a fix for another type of malicious software to make the user execute it. It will monitor the infected computer activities and after the computer goes online, the Backdoor Trojan will enable the hackers to take control of your computer.

Infected computers can be used in many purposes such as sending spam emails, changing your files or even installed another malicious software such as keyloggers. It can also turns your computer to zombies computer. Therefore it's advisable that you:

1. Do not install any suspicious software. Make sure the software that you want to install is not Trojan Horse by scanning it first.
2. Use a firewall
3. Install McAffe Site Advisor

By doing the above two, the hackers cannot access your computer remotely because you have a firewall that will filter the ingoing and outgoing traffic. It's also advisable that you install McAffe Site Advisor so you will not visit any sites that are suspicious.

Mousetrapping Websites - What You Should Know About It

Have you ever visited a website but cannot close your browser or leave from the website? This act is called mousetrapping. Mousetrapping is an act of preventing you from leaving a website. You cannot leave from it even though you've typed a new URL in the address bar or you've pressed the close button. It will make you stay on the same website.

Sometimes, it will open a new browser displaying the same site. In order for you to leave it, you can try either of these:

1. Choose a new site from your bookmark. Open your bookmark and select a new website.
2. Use the task manager to kill the browser process.
3. Disable Javascript in your browser.

These three methods will help you in dealing with mousetrapping websites. If you cannot open your task manager, it's a good practice if you place a shortcut to HijackThis on your desktop. it's because HijackThis has a tool that act like a task manager. You can try killing the browser process using the process manager from HijackThis Misc Tools Section. If all the methods above do not work, try restarting your computer.

Beware of Files With Double Extension

Files with double extensions are always a virus. It's because the virus tries to fool you into thinking that the files have only one extension. For example, if you found a file named image.jpg.exe, notice the last extension as .exe. This file tries to trick you into thinking that it's an image file and if you click it, you will execute the virus and your computer will be infected.

In order to prevent this from happening, you can always show file extension from Folder Options in Windows. By disabling the option, you can avoid from clicking virus files.

Trojan Horses and Viruses can also trick you by changing its file icons and make it look like file folders instead of executeable programs. By making you to think it's a folder, there is a chance that you will click it.

Next time when clicking a file, make sure you know its file extension.

P.S - Remember what I told you about my security test? Have you done it? If you have not, better do it right now to know and learn if you're secure enough from online threats. Check what my friend said about the test:

"I took the survey to found out how much I know about online security. I found that the quiz will help a lot of people to understand how to secure themselves from online threats and it shows how knowledgeable you are on the subject. I also refreshed my memory and found out what I was doing wrong by answering the test questions ..."

Karl
http://www.deletespyware-adware.com/blog

Keyloggers - How To Prevent It From Stealing Your Information

Keyloggers is software that will record everything that you type in your browser. It will also take random screenshots and will send it to the hackers. However, there are ways on how you can prevent, detect and remove it from your computer.

In order to prevent the keyloggers from recording everything that you type, you must install KeyScrambler. KeyScrambler is software that will encrypt your login information and the keyloggers will only record the encrypted information. Therefore, the information will become useless because the hackers cannot read the encrypted information.

Ad-Aware 2007 and Spybot Search & Destroy are software that can detect keyloggers inside your computer. Make sure you have both in your computer and update it regularly. Another software that can detect keyloggers are AVG Anti-Spyware 7.5 and Trend Micro Anti-Spyware 3.5. However, the Trend Micro Anti-Spyware does not have a free version.

Make sure you protect yourself from the keyloggers by installing these software. You don't need to install all of them. As for me, I installed KeyScrambler, Ad-Aware 2007 and Spybot Search and Destroy in my system and update it regularly. This way, I can detect keyloggers and prevent it from stealing my login information.

P.S - Have you tried my online security test? Go here to try it today Chuang Online Security Test

Online Security Test

I have just created a test to determine how secure you are. This test will ask you 10 questions on online threats and the result will show you how secure you are when going online. If you didn't have a high score on this test, don't worry. At least you've learned something when answering it.

If you have a high score, don't get cocky. Even a computer with top protection can get infected. Well, I hope you can learn something and if you want, you can post your score here in the comment section.

Here's the link

Chuang Online Security Test

If some of you have any suggestions regarding this test, feel free to drop it on the comment section.

P.S - First time here? Subscribe to my RSS so you will not miss any future contents

Facts About Spyware

I found some facts about spyware attack yesterday and I would like to share it with you.

1. 850,000 people have to replace their computer because of the spyware attack in the first half of 2007
2. Damage from spyware attack are estimated $1.7 billion
3. 90% from computers in the U.S are infected by spyware and most of them don't know how to remove the spyware.
4. 20% to 50% companies will be infected in 2007 and 2008.
5. 67% of those surveyed by National Cyber Security Alliance in 2006 cannot identify a secure website.
6. In 2006, Americans lost almost $49.3 billion because of identity theft.
7. 81% computers does not have antivirus, anti-spyware and firewall.
8. 68% people keep their private and confidential information in their computer.

(Stats from Lavasoft website)

Look at the stats. That's why in almost every post that I posted, I mentioned about online security knowledge. It's important for you to have knowledge about computer security. Learn and learn more to secure yourself from online threats.

Sysfader:iexplore.exe Application Error

Today, I've encountered this problem when opening certain websites and I've been searching for ways to resolve this problem. I found out that the problem relies with Internet Explorer add-ons. So, I tried to disable all of the add-ons and enable it one by one to find the problem.

It turns out that the problem is with SSVhelper add-ons. When you're experiencing this problem, try to disable the SSVhelper add-ons.

North America and Europe Have The Most Active Virus Threats This Year?

My friend, Karl Sultana, has agreed to share his six articles with me. So, that's why the previous six posts were Karl's articles and I hope you can learn something from his articles.

I've done a research about this year active virus threats and from the data that I've got from F-Secure website, http://www.f-secure.com/security_center/virus_statistics.html , I've found that the most active virus threats this year are in the North America and Europe.

If you see the above statistic, you can see that these two places have the most active threats. However, it's not as serious as in Mexico where the virus threats has reached medium level even though the virus threats in Mexico was not as much as in the U.S.

While in the Europe, active virus threats were detected in many places but Iceland, Romania, Hungary, Serbia, Macedonia, Croatia and Lithuania possessed the most dangerous threats that reached medium level.

Luckily, throughout the year, there were no high risk virus threats in North America and Europe and the only medium level threats that almost reach the high level was in the middle of April 2007.

Since April 2007, the only low level threats were in the end of August 2007 and all other threats were in the medium level.

Even though there were only medium risk threats throughout the year and there are no high level threats as of right now, but our computer is still got infected by virus and malware. What will happen if there is high risk virus outbreak? Will we be able to stand against it?

Discover What Adware Is Really All About And How It Effects You

Adware is a problem for most internet users. Tired of Spyware? Tired of Popups? They could be due to annoying Adware on your PC.

Do you need an adware removal tool? If you computer has been running slow, you are seeing new toolbars in your browser, your home page has changed, your internet favorites list has new unwanted entries or strange software loads when you start up your computer then your computer has probably been infected by adware.

If your computer takes longer to load programs, or freezes and shuts down randomly, then chances are it is infected with adware.

Adware is another potential threat to your computer if you access the internet. Adware is free software that is installed onto your computer with your permission and can be in the form of software that is used to automatically fill in web forms. In exchange for carrying out this task the installed adware will track your internet activity and show you targeted advertisements.

Adware in the purest sense of the word is not a dangerous thing, designed only to display targeted advertising to you while browsing the internet. It was originally developed by marketers to be non intrusive and use very little system resources. You can easily recognize adware by the display of pop up advertisements on your computer screen, often appearing when you perform searches or land on different websites. Adware is software that is downloaded to your computer without your realizing it.

The results displayed by a spyware or adware removal program can be disheartening. There are people from all over the world that have experienced adware.

Adware is all over the Internet. From websites, to downloads, it seems there is no escaping its presence. Certain type of spyware and adware removal tool detects and removes 1000's of security threats such as spyware, adware, keyloggers, browser hijackers, tracking cookies, and trojans.

If you have been using the internet for awhile, you know all about adware. If you are new to the internet you will soon discover the horror of adware!

Adware or Spyware as it is also known by is a malicious program or should I say programs that infect your computer with adware. As currently there are thousands of variations of adware and spyware waiting to attack your PC.

Do not get yourself caught by spyware! Make sure you install good spyware or adware removal program into your system. Any computer connected to the Internet needs some sort of protection against unscrupulous companies and persons who use the Internet to spread malicious software. About 5 years ago most of us would have shrugged at the term adware or spyware. Its mostly due to the popularity of adware and spyware that we are now aware about it. Unfortunately, as time has progressed, adware has been changing for the worse.

If you want to have lasting pleasure online then you should have some kind of adware spyware removal tool protecting your computer against adware, spyware, trojans, dialers and worms. Be wary though do not download just any adware spyware program there have been reported cases of programs being advertised as removal tools that have actually installed spyware onto your computer, rather than scanning and removing spyware.

Completing an Adware download is a good thing to do when you want to speed up your computer and also help your antivirus system in fighting the viruses.

But only a fraction of computer users are running any kind of adware and spyware blockers software. It is believed that 90% of today's PCs are infected with some form of adware and spyware.

Everyone should eliminate spyware and adware from your hard drive for your computer privacy protection.

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About the Author

Karl Sultana writes more articles on his blog. You can also download a free trial of a very popular anti adware and spyware software to erase adware and trojans. He gives a free unique software everyday from his blog which you normally have to buy. Link to blog located at bottom of his website.

Discover How To Buy Online Safe And Secure

People are skeptic when it comes to paying online. That is a very good thing otherwise we become victims to fraud.

There are both dangerous places but on the other hand there are also secure and safe websites. You will learn how to identify safe sites and dangerous sites so you purchase only from safe sites.

Look out for these three signs that are a must for a site to be safe.

When you are on the order page the website url in the address bar should start with https:// and not http:// Also when the address bar starts with https:// the address bar color changes from white to yellow.

There should be an icon at the bottom of the browser. It is a yellow lock bar.

Is the process of buying easy and painless with no popups that deliver advertisements? It should be that way. The order form should not have any popups that deliver advertisements.

That is how to play it safe. Now some extra tips you can also do after verifying they are safe:

If they have a Live Chat Service contact them first so you verify they are real and honest.. Ask them something about the product guarantee or support service just to see if they reply.

If you are an eBay member you should never use money transfers like Western Union when paying at eBay. Instead use paypal or credit card.

Paying online is safe when you understand the risks and avoid them. You must also make sure you do not reveal your credit card numbers inside emails, instant messengers, phone, live chat. The safe methods to pay online are:

Payment on a secure website via credit card or online cheque.

Payment via paypal, bank wire and cheque.

A word about paypal:

Paypal allows you to send or receive money from different countries world wide. There are several others like Paypal but no all of them are safe and secure.

It is free to open an account. There are other similar services (if you are not allowed in Paypal) that are safe and work similar to Paypal.

A word about bank wire:

A bank wire is a very fast method to send money. It takes very little time for money to arrive in destination. You contact your bank for a bank wire transfer to another bank in a different country worldwide.

However make sure you know to whom you are sending money. Not everyone is honest, so they can quickly ran away with your money if you do not play safe. Know who you are dealing with.

A word about cheque

Like bank wires, play it safe.

Now you understood how to pay online safety, how to understand if a site is secure or not and what methods you need to use to pay for maximum security.

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About the Author

Karl Sultana sells popular software NoAdware. Articles related to Internet security are updated regularly on his blog. Download NoAdware to remove adware & spyware today.

How To Identify Spam Just by Reading Them Once

Spam cam easily be identified once you understand some key elements of spam messages.

A real life example of a scam sent to my gmail account.

Dear Gmail customer,

From now if you need more than 2 GB of space use this invitation and upgrade your account to 100 GB of space also you can register one free domain name via this invitation your account upgrade will done after 24 hours

Your invitation code is : http://upgradegmail-CLICKSAFE.com/G....fakephisher (I edited link here so it is not clickbable)

Thank You
Gmail Support Department

You can easily understand it is spam just by reading the email. Gmail, Google company will also write email addressing you by your name. Dear Gmail customer, is a sign it is absolutely spam. Second all links should be on the Google domain. For example: Google.com/gmail and not http://upgradegmail-CLICKSAFE.com

Finally try to use more common sense. Gmail will not email you personally to give you an invitation code. If they have invitation codes they will probably put something new on their site to inform everyone.

These are most common types of scams everyone receives:

People selling you any type of

1) weight loss products.

2) love/romance/relationship related products.

3) making money, lottery winnings.

4) emails stating a friend send you a greeting card.

5) gambling/Pharmacy products.

General rule is never trust emails that are trying to sell you something or if you do not know who the sender really is. Does he or she call you by your name? The answer is no if it is spam.

These are all real scam emails, their subject lines (to get an idea):

Order Royal repl1ca w4tches Online

Neighbor sent you a postcard from BlueMountain.Com!

100mg x 90 pills htmlentities.78 per pill

Best Selection of Tag Heuer

URGENT: Earn 0 (net income) over and over again! But, act fast!

By the way, if you never opted in to receive such emails they are 110% fake emails. (spam or scam call them what you want, they should be ignored and deleted) If you never opted in for a weight loss newsletter, ezine or whatever than all weight loss related emails can be marked as spam.

Finally make use of a spam blocker cause they identify spam very fast. They save time and improve your security.

About the Author

A ton more tips from NoAdware blog. Check out the article to discover how to Download Myspace Backrounds now.

Do You Need A Free, Cheap, Expensive Or No Spam Blocker Software At All

Once again people prefer free software and I agree with you with this one. I explain how why you need a spam blocker software but also another method that requires no software at all.

I used to recommend Gmail, from Google which does not require any anti spam software. I still recommend it cause it is very professional. If you use Gmail you do not need any spam blocker software. I receive at least 15 emails a day and my spam folder is full of spam, but my Inbox perfectly spam free.

Gmail has powerful filters that automatically move spam to the spam folder. With a click Gmail deletes all spam messages or trash messages. My tests results show that Gmail is very good at moving spam to its spam folder. I tested Yahoo mail, Hotmail, Mailup and Adpost.

However if you use Outlook or for any other reason you cannot get a Gmail than I do suggest a spam blocker.

Do you know what a spam blocker is and what it does?

Nowadays everyone receives spam, which are emails from unknown sources. These spam may also contain viruses sometimes. Viruses most often are inserted in attachments so never open any attachments inside email that come from people you do not personally know.

To avoid spam the spam blocker software have special features that identify spam and move it to the spam folder. Different spam software have different methods of blocking spam and identify spam. Gmail is so powerful that it already contains the special spam blocker software included.

Pay attention to whom you give your email address. Do not open attachments. Treat your email address as if it is very important and confidential. Finally I suggest you get a spam blocker software.

About the Author

From NoAdware blog you get a ton more tips, tricks and advice including a Firewall Free Ware Download

How To Remove Unwanted Startup Programs As Fast As Possible

You have complete control over the programs that startup when you turn on your computer. Removing unwanted programs from startup will boost the startup speed.

This is how to check what programs are running on startup and removing unwanted ones: (It is very easy)

1) Click Start
2) Click Run
3) Type msconfig
4) Wait for a window to popup.
5) Click on Startup tab
6) Un tick the boxes next to the items you do not want to load on startup. Please make sure you know what you are doing. If something is not familiar with you do not untick it. Certain programs need to start on startup for windows to function properly.

Untick what you are sure you do not want. Example: MSN messenger.

7) Once done hit OK.

When you install new programs like Nero Scout for example, which is a backup utility. This software automatically loads itself on startup. When this happens follow the steps above to untick it. I also had same experience with Trillian (a messenger software) and many more.

What I open automatically on startup are NoAdware, Avast antivirus, and Comodo Firewall software. Those are important for security purposes/

You can also remove most software from running at startup by visiting their settings. Take for example NoAdware or Avast. By opening software and going to settings, there is an option that allows you to enable or disable run at windows startup.

This technique works on all versions of windows, as long as you have start button you can do it. If not simple open the software that is running on startup. Then go to its settings to disable it on startup.

That gives your startup speed a boost.

About the Author

Give Karl Sultana 7 Days, And He Can Turn You Into An Internet Security Expert With The Same System He Teaches Little Kids. Absolutely FREE! Get FREE Internet parent safety tips.

How To Protect Your Computer And Privacy Without Any Computer Knowledge

Cookies store information in small text files about the websites that you have recently visited. Therefore, it is essential that you delete cookies and history regularly. There are two types of cookies, namely, trustworthy and tracking. Trustworthy cookies are used for remembering the usernames and passwords, helps in tracking the items you have purchased using shopping car. Tracking cookies are used for monitoring websites.

Step-By-Step Techniques A Child Can Do

To delete cookies, open Internet Explorer > Click Tools > Internet Options > In the General tab, click “Delete Cookies.” > You will be asked whether you wish to delete cookies > Click Yes. Now, Click Settings > Click View Files > Press Ctrl + A > Click Delete. There are also a few software’s available for deleting third-party cookies like Cookie Crusher. Sometimes, when you install these software’s, it is possible that the internet speed is slowed.

To surf the web safely, you can update the relevant security patches that are available in the operating system vendor’s website. You might also use a firewall as it controls Internet Cookies and also blocks unwanted data. There are a lot of other hardware and software firewalls available on the web. In general, pornographic gambling, etc. websites pose a greater risk of installing spyware or adware in your system.

Other important things you will have to take care when surfing the web are to block pop-ups and disable AutoComplete.

To block pop-ups, you can download toolbars from Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc. To add a site to the Restricted Sites zone in Internet Explorer, Start Internet Explorer > Click Tools > Internet Options > Click the Security tab > Click Restricted Sites, and then click Sites > In the Add this Web site to the zone box, type the Web address for the site that you want to restrict, and then click Add. Repeat this step if you want to add other sites to the zone. > Click OK > Click Default Level to set the Restricted Sites zone to the recommended level, which disables Active Scripting > Click OK.

You can also disable Active Scripting in Internet Explorer for all sites. This might cause many Webs sites to be displayed incorrectly.

To disable Active Scripting for all Internet sites, Start Internet Explorer > On the Tools menu, click Internet Options > Click the Security tab > Click Internet, and then click Custom Level > Under Active Scripting in the Scripting section, click Disable > Click OK > Click OK.

To disable AutoComplete, Start Internet Explorer > Click Tools > Internet Options > Click the Content tab > Click AutoComplete > Remove the checkmarks from Web addresses, Forms, Usernames and passwords on forms > Click Clear Forms and then Clear passwords > Click OK > Click OK.

Unless absolutely necessary, it is not recommended to download and install any freeware. If you do download free software, only download from developer’s site. Many copycat sites exist that are fraudulent. Downloading from them will most certainly install spyware on your system.

It is also recommended to set the security settings to high if children have access to computer. This can be done by launching Internet Explorer. Click Tools > Internet Options > Select the Privacy tab > Move the slider and set the security settings to high. Also ensure that you do not click pop-ups.

Never ever store your email addresses and password in the system. People might get access to the stored passwords. The best way to store passwords is in the form of an encrypted file for example on a floppy disk. Buy a package of floppy disks from a computer shop and save a text file with your username and password. Then send the file to a floppy disk and delete the file from your computer.

You can also use a free software. This software called Password Safe will save your passwords on your computer but you will create one unique password to access them all.

This is also great if you do not want to use floppy disks.

If the above are followed properly, you just improved your security. The easy to follow instructions make your computer more safe and immune against threats.

About the Author

Karl Sultana sells popular software NoAdware. Articles related to Internet security are updated regularly on his blog. Download NoAdware to stop adware and spyware dangers today.

U.K Have The Least Malware In Their PC In Europe

U.K has become the country with the least malware on their PC in Europe for the last two weeks with only 8.1% PC scanned show active malware threats. However, most of this 8.1% also have antivirus software installed on their PC.

"Interestingly, almost 8 percent of those scanned and who showed active threats also had anti-virus software installed, which appears to support the company's controversial view that conventional signature-based malware detection is no longer enough to protect PCs"

Link:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20070929/tc_pcworld/137711

This shows that even though we have antivirus protection in our PC, it's still not enough. We need to know what are the do's and don'ts while going online. If we know nothing about online threats, it's like going to war naked. However, if we know which websites we shouldn't visit and which software we shouldn't install, the chance that we will get infected by the threats can be reduced.

Antivirus, anti-spyware and firewall will not give us 100% protection. At most, these tools can give us 90% of the protection that we need and the rest is up to our knowledge on PC security. I suggest you to visit SpywareWarrior.com so you can learn which software are fake free adware spyware removal software.

http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm

Before you install any removal software, be sure to check it first if it's a rogue anti spyware.

Password Tips - How You Can Use Password Effectively and Securely

We use password in almost everything that we do online. From email to membership sites, all of it need password so we can gain access to the websites. Therefore, in today's post, I'm going to give you tips on how you can use password effectively and securely.

1. Make sure your password is strong and no one can guess it and use password other than your birthday, street address or something that people can guess. Make it hard to guess.

2. Don't use the same password for all the websites that you participate. If it's possible, use one username and one password for a website. If the website ask for email address, use or create another email address. This is to prevent the hackers from getting your password and email. If the hackers can gain access to one website that you're a member of, they will know your email and password instantly. They can use it to gain access to another websites that you're in or they can try it to open your email. Don't use the same username and password as your paypal or any payment processor in any websites. This will lead to bigger problems.

3. Always make sure the Internet Explorer or your browser didn't save any password. This will make it easier for anyone that has access to your computer to use it and open your account on any websites.

These three tips will help you to become more secure while browsing and to make things easier, use RoboForm so you don't need to memorize your password.

Moving This Blog

I think I'm going to move this blog to chuangcomputer.com. This way I'll have more control to my blog. Maybe not right now. Maybe when the time is correct and I'm going to redesign this blog to make it more attractive.