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All Just just about Computer VirusThe Top Twelve Threats No Computer User Should Ignore by Kai Chandler
by:
Kai Chandler
The Top Twelve Threats No Computer User Should Ignore
The cyberspace is beyond any doubt a fantastic resource for
families and offers a rich vein of educational content.
However, there are potential dangers - welcome to the
seedy earth of viruses, spam, trojans, pornography, spyware
and different nasties.
Here are the Top Twelve Threats No Computer User Should
Ignore:
1. Viruses - A computer program that copies itself. They
often disrupt your computer system or damage your data.
Viruses are commonly received by email attachments so be
careful opening thing
from a dubious source. They can
affect anyone, for example, the annihilative Mydoom worm
affected one out of three small and mid-sized businesses.
2. Spyware - Sends information just about you and your computer
to being else. Spyware may send the addresses of sites
you have visited or worse still, transmit personal
information. With today's concerns just about identify felony
this is a real worry. For example, CoolWebSearch may hijack
web searches, house page, and different Cyberspace Human
settings. Spyware is commonly received as part of package
or package downloaded from the web.
3. IP Spoofing - A technique to gain unauthorized access
to computers, whereby the entrant sends messages to a
computer with an address indicating that the message is
coming from a trustworthy host.
4. Trojans - An apparently legitimate computer program
that is actually intended to disrupt and damage computer
activity by causation
information, maybe even as passwords
onto a third party without you knowing. As an example,
recent emails entitled "Osama Bin Laden Captured" unsuccessful
to transfer
the "Trj/Small.B." Trojan if the embedded URL
was clicked. This trojan attempts to hijack the PC.
5. Spam - Uninvited
mail often promoting products of a
dubious business or sexual nature. Don't leave your email
address on websites and cyberspace bulletin boards as they
are harvested by spammers.
6. Adware - puts advertisements on your screen. These take
many forms including popups, popunders and advertisements
that appear later, even as if your browser is closed. Several are
sent mistreatment the Windows Traveller
service which allows a
spammer to direct an advert straight to your
computer by consecutive
causation
messages to IP addresses.
Always irritating, they are as well often of a sexy
nature.
7. Diallers - for those of us still with dial up modems,
dialler programs direct calls to a really costly number.
You won't cognize until you get the bill.
8. Hijackers - Hijackers take control of your web browser
and may reset your house page, search bar and search pages.
They can direct you to undesirable sites or finish you
going to particular sites.
9. Hackers - With so more personal data accessible online
to anyone with a arcanum you must be sure your arcanum is
secure. If you are mistreatment your mother's maiden name, your
cat's name or your birthday then your arcanum is at risk.
Here are two tips for fashioning a secure password. Know-how
One -
pick two random unrelated three letter words and two
digits. Mix them up and what do you have? A secure arcanum
such as "red19cat" or "hotpin73". Know-how
Two - pick a short
sequence of words such as Now Is The Winter Of Our
Discontent Ready-made Glorious' and you have a arcanum of
"nitwoodmg". You could even as change the I's and O's to
digits.
10. Phishing - Emails purporting to move from reliable
sources such as Paypal, Ebay or your bank. Often wanting
you to verify your account details, they can look really
realistic but are generally scams to harvest usernames and
passwords. Always open a new browser winder and type the
address there, rather than clicking on the link provided.
11. Hoaxes - Chain letters, scams, false alarms. At better
they take up time and information measure
but at worst vulnerable can
be victims of fraud. Pass it on!
12. Stranger-danger - For those of us with children - do
you cognize what they actually do once
they are online? Are
they working on preparation tasks, downloading banned music
or pornography? Or are they chatting to strangers in chat
rooms? You should consider interference access to undesirable
sites and work
their work with a police investigation
tool.
Oh, and don't forget that wherever
children are concerned,
computers should always be unbroken
in a family room and ne'er
in their bedroom.
Three Step Action Plan
There are three essential steps that should be taken to
ensure your PC is unbroken
threat-free.
Firstly, be sensible once
opening attachments or following
email manual from apparently estimable sites.
Secondly, do sure you are mistreatment the latest service pack
of Windows as Microsoft is continually closing loopholes to
tighten up security.
Finally, there's a range of low cost tools such as
firewalls, antivirus, spam blockers and spyware killers
available. Like everything else they vary in quality and
you tend to get what you pay for so always do your research
first and maybe try a free trial before deed your
credit card out.
http://www.surfcontrols.com specializes in providing
reviews and recommendations of top-rated tools to help
protect your online experience. There's a quick reference
list to dozens of top sites promoting some aspects of
safe aquatics packed with useful information and there's
also a great set of top tips for safe surfing.
Copyright Kai Chandler (#12t5109)
Just just about the author:
Kai Chandler is a project manager and journalist
particularly interested in tools and techniques to protect
his family and computer against spam, porn, viruses and
malware. As a father of two he is keen to ensure that
his children enjoy a safe aquatics surfing experience. His
reviews of the really better parental cyberspace filters,
anti-virus, anti-spam, anti-spyware and police investigation
tools
are at http://www.surfcontrols.comIt's essential reading
for any parent and computer owner.
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