6 Online Safety Tips

Hackers commonly utilise socially engineered methods to manipulate end users into installing malicious programs or supplying confidential information. A growing trend is the offering of free or low cost "helper" software to persuade the PC user to download a program or visit a particular website. Often blurring the line of what is legitimate and illegitimate, more and more Rogueware and Ransomware are tricking their way onto your computer. This engineered scams have become a significant force of the malware attempting to penetrate and infest your desktop. Here are some practical tips to minimise download files and emails from infecting your system: Ensure your have e-mail antivirus and that the scanning feature is "ON", to ensure that all emails received with attachments are scanned for malware as soon as they hit your inbox. If you are downloading a file from a webpage, after saving the file, right click on top of the program and use the "scan with" option to ensure is not infected. Your security software should always be up to date. The auto update feature found in Anti Spyware and AntiVirus should be enabled to keeps your protection up to date at all times. Do not install any unnecesary software and only do so from known, trusted and reputable vendors. If you don't know the difference ask an engineer. Be creative and use different passwords for different purposes, in particularly when doing transactions online. Make sure that your password includes a combination of letters, numbers as well as upper/lower case characters. Whenever possible, have a creditcard with a low credit limit for online transactions use only. While antivirus and antispyware will help reduce the risk of falling prey, it will only work with personal precaution and vigilance. And remember, nothing can guarantee total immunity or instant repair and protecttion (regardless of claims). Walter

Rogue Software

How to keep the rogues at bay

Your PC is a very vulnerable machine that can be easily corrupted if you do not take care of it. The biggest threat to your PC is from rogue softwares. Rogue software is basically software that gets into your PC when you succumb to the basic human tendency of downloading freebies or when ever a dialog box pops up and you try to close it. The rogue software then proceeds to advertise or install itself or force the computer users into shelling out the greenbacks for the removal of nonexistent spyware. Rogue software will often install a Trojan horse to download a trial version, or it will do other unwanted things that will ultimately hinder your work. Sometimes rogue software can enter your computer under the guise of a free anti spyware or antivirus program. Other times as a helper program (like search toolbars, screensavers, clock and weather utilities). To ensure the safety and security of your PC you need to practice safe computing techniques. Safe computing techniques that you can adopt are:- Install a security-related operating system that gets regular updates so that spyware and adware cannot enter your system. Download or buy a virus scanner, and ensure that it is updated. A Virus scanner cannot detect all the types of spyware, but it can detect a number of them and thereby provide a lot of protection instead of leaving you exposed. Purchase and install a hardware or software firewall, and regularly update it. Firewalls will be of great help in protecting your computer from rogue software. Try using a different web browser. Google’s Chrome and Mozilla Firefox are currently much less susceptible to rogue software than Internet Explorer. This is because these browsers do not use certain technologies that are usually exploited by malware writers. By practicing these safe computing techniques you can ensure that your PC remains uninfected and will definitely help to keep those rogues programs away. Walter