Computer Security Usefulness
« Previous EntriesAardvarks Receive More Spam Than Zebras
Friday, August 29th, 2008If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed.In a recent study, it has been found that spammers use the dictionary attacks to send millions of spam emails starting at the beginning of the alphabet, and they tail off towards the end.
So a person called Alan@domain.com will receive 15% more spam than somebody [...]
Are Torrents Worth the Hassle?
Saturday, August 23rd, 2008Recently a woman from London, UK was fined £16,000 [$32,000] for sharing software via a file-sharing network. By the letter of the law, she was found guilty and fined. Much like somebody caught speeding in a car, you do the crime then you may have to do the time.
What you may be thinking is yes, [...]
How Vulnerable is Your Computer?
Monday, August 4th, 2008I came across a handy website recently called http://www.auditmypc.com/. It is a free to use website and will help you determine how exposed your computer is when you are online.
Security wise there is a firewall test and an anonymous surfing check. The firewall test will scan your computer for any open ports that shouldn’t be. [...]
Debit Card’s Have Little Protection When They Get Cloned
Monday, July 21st, 2008The standout sentence in this article is; “My computer had been reformatted about six months before and I had never bothered to get anti-virus software or anti-spyware software.”
I applaud this person for writing their experience online for all to see and learn from their mistake, but not having any anti-spyware or anti-virus protection on your [...]
25 Skills Every Person Should Know: No.2 Protect Your Computer
Wednesday, July 16th, 2008Popular Mechanics website has an interesting list of 25 Things Every Man Should Know. At number 2 is protect your computer, and number 16 is backing up data. Which to me is slightly odd that it is that high up the list, compared to say, changing oil on a car or manoeuvring a car out [...]
91 Viruses & TeamViewer
Friday, June 27th, 2008
91 viruses! My nephew’s computer recently had 91 viruses on it. It took me over 2 hours to clean the viruses and spyware off. He didn’t have an up to date anti-virus program and he intermittently used an anti-spyware program.
In his defence he is only 14, and as much as he enjoys his Myspace page [...]
British Banks Rule Change Prevents Phishing Fraud
Sunday, June 22nd, 2008
Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net
British banks have changed a rule within the banking code to prevent them from paying out to customers that have been victims of Phishing or online bank fraud.
It concerns section 12.13 of the banking code which has been added to state: “Unless you have acted fraudulently or without reasonable care (for example, by not following [...]
Threatfire Gave Me Damp Results
Wednesday, June 18th, 2008I wrote in an earlier post about Threatfire and how it seemed like a useful program to have, in the fight against evil malware attempting to take over the world, my computer.
Well it turns out after using it just under two weeks I am less than impressed by its results. Six suspicious activities blocked and two Malware threats stopped. Wow! [...]
Threatfire Adds to Your Virus Defences
Sunday, June 8th, 2008I have recently downloaded and installed another anti-virus program to my computer. So now I have two anti-virus programs running side by side. Threatfire [from PC Tools - who make Spyware Doctor] works slightly differently from other anti-virus programs.
Blurb from the Threatfire website: “ThreatFire is dramatically different to traditional antivirus software. Normal antivirus products usually [...]
Upgrade to XP Service Pack 3 Was a Good One
Sunday, May 25th, 2008I have successfully upgraded to XP Service Pack 3. It took me about 50 minutes to upgrade, including the downloading of the service pack and the rebooting required. So far, I have had no ill effects from the upgrade.
I haven’t noticed an increase in speed [some people had reported a 10% increase in speed - [...]