New Technology Reviews!.: Prevention

Prevention is the Best Cure for a Computer Virus

You're sick. You've got a fever, the chills, and a headache so horrible that you can't think straight. No matter who claims to desperately need your help, you are not going to get out of bed. Your computer can suffer the very same thing--a virus. And, in the worst-case scenario, it might cause your computer to refuse to start up.   The term "virus" in the computer world comes from exactly where you might think--the term used for illnesses like the common cold. Like a biological virus, a computer virus spreads by making and sending copies of itself to other computers.   A computer virus causes a lot of trouble in a computer and the infection occurs without the consent of the user. The copies it makes of itself could be exactly like the original virus, or they might vary a bit. They typically spread over a network or via the Internet.   Many people lump all malicious programming under the label "virus." However, a virus is something completely different from a worm or a Trojan horse. Unlike a virus, a worm can't spread on its own; it requires some action from the user, such as opening or running an infected file. A Trojan horse is a file that tricks the user into running it by appearing to be harmless.   Viruses cause problems for computer users by harming programs, reformatting the hard disk, or deleting files. Although the vast majority of viruses are created for the purpose of doing harm, there are a few that are meant to be harmless pranks that merely display video, audio, or text messages. Regardless, these viruses still use up memory without permission.   The fist virus was dubbed "Elk Cloner" and it was made to run on the Apple DOS 3.3 operating system. It was created by a high school student named by Richard Skrenta in 1982. It was a joke virus that was transmitted using a floppy disk containing a game.   The disk could successfully open the game 49 times; on the 50th the virus was activated. It caused the screen to go blank and then display a poem reading: "It will get on all your disks. It will infiltrate your chips. Yes it's Cloner! It will stick to you like glue. It will modify RAM, too. Send in the Cloner!"   Brain was the first virus for the PC. It was designed in 1986 by brothers Basit and Amjad Farooq Alvi. Their purpose for creating the virus was to protect legitimate software they'd written from being copied illegally.   In the early days of viruses, the usual means of infection was through some form of media that could be moved from computer to computer, like a floppy disk. However, today, it's easier for viruses to be spread over the Internet or through computer networks, so most are designed to do just that.   Because of the popularity of the Windows platform, the majority of viruses are designed to exploit weaknesses in the Windows operating system. However, that's not to say that there are no viruses affecting other operating systems. The truth is, no matter what operating system you're running, unless you take steps to prevent virus infections, your computer is vulnerable.   There is an entire industry of virus protection software. The most common ways these anti-virus programs work are: 1) Detecting viruses using signature definitions, and 2) Detecting viruses using a heuristic algorithm that recognizes typical virus behaviors.   A program that uses signature definitions relies on the user to keep the list of definitions up to date using updates and patches put out by the maker of the software. These are usually available at no cost with purchase of the software or through a paid subscription to the software.   The algorithm method is able to find viruses for which no signature exists.   Other ways of protecting your computer against viruses include making backups of your data and operating system on media not stored on the computer's hard drive. This way, if your computer should be infected causing a loss of data or the inability to start up the computer, you can restore the computer.   If your computer becomes infected, it's unwise to continue using it until the virus has been removed by completely reinstalling the operating system. This is a time-consuming process and often results in lost data. So, as with a virus in the human body, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." An anti-virus protection program is absolutely essential to the health of your computer.

Prevention is the Best Cure for a Computer Virus

You're sick. You've got a fever, the chills, and a headache so horrible that you can't think straight. No matter who claims to...

An Ounce of Prevention - Protect Your PC from Spyware and Surf Safe!

Spyware and Adware programs are the latest tools in the insidious world of information farming and computer hacking. The terms Adware, Spyware and Malware are typically used in an interchangeable manner by many end-users of PCs, but in truth, the definitions of the programs are different.Spyware programs and applications are often downloaded unbeknownst to the end user, and installed in the computer's hard drive. These applications then (as their name implies) spy on the user, transmitting surfing habits, sites visited, demographic information and more to the company that inserted the program. A tremendous concern about spyware is not only breach of privacy for the end user, but a growing trend in identity theft, credit theft and other forms of illegal usage of the information harvested. Spyware programs are rife among sites that employ shareware downloads, such as Kazaa, Bonzi Buddy, Morpheus and other shareware sites.Adware applications are generally applications that come bundled in with a software program in order to encourage the consumer to purchase more products, upgrade to a pricier version or to test out other programs.Malware programs are programs designed specifically to destroy or bring harm to a PC and its functionality. Malware includes the typical viruses, Trojans and worms that are typically protected against by anti-virus programs such as Trend Micro's PC-Cillin.While most end users typically employ some type of anti-virus shield, an alarming number of PCs are vulnerable to a spyware or adware program. Specialized programs exist which will shield computers from these specific threats. These specialized programs protect the end users in two ways. First, they protect the end user by employing a scanning technology similar to an anti-virus program. They will scan the PC and identify and remove and existing spyware on the PC. The second functionality is real-time protection, which prevents the re-infestation of the cleaned PC from any additional programs by notifying the end user of potential threats and preventing insertion of malicious code into the registry or other programs and downloads.Most Spyware protection programs are downloadable from the internet, and several of them, such as NoAdware (downloadable at <a href="http://www.spybreaker.com" rel="nofollow" target="_new">www.spybreaker.com</a>">), offer a free scan of the end-user's PC before purchase. An ounce of prevention, though, is worth a pound of cure, though, and I highly recommend downloading a spyware protection program before your information gets hi-jacked.

An Ounce of Prevention - Protect Your PC from Spyware and Surf Safe!

Spyware and Adware programs are the latest tools in the insidious world of information farming and computer hacking. The terms Adware, Sp...

Information Technology Forum For Spyware Prevention

An important advise from tech help experts to all online PC users is to to install good anti-virus programs. Such software programs protect your personal computer from malicious threats in the form of corrupted software programs and online piracy of data. As a result, once you buy your PC, one thing that you should do is to protect your personal computer from such malicious threats. Tech help experts suggest you as an online PC user to make sure that your PC has a good anti-virus protections loaded.If you want to know more about protection of your computer from malicious online hacking activities such as spyware and malware, why not visit a good information technology forum right now for technical support assistance. Such technical support assistance would help you in making your online use secure from online piracy of your confidential data and identity.Your free online information technology forum would help you in performing trouble shooting steps that you need to carry immediately in case of such spyware invasion. As you first see signs of something strange, start checking for malicious software. Once such spyware invades your computer, you will immediately see additional web browsers with advertisements that may be irrelevant for then internet use. Such stuffs may not have anything at all to do with what you are searching or doing on the internet.The first thing that tech help experts ask you to do immediately is to run a system restore. Once you do this, your personal computer settings return to a time that is set prior to spyware invasion. For security reasons, spyware programs are often downloaded in a place that is different from the system restore itself. Now as you reboot your computer, all such foreign programs will be removed.Next, you now need to activate your pop-up blockers. This will stop all additional web browsers from appearing. As spyware programs operated from some of these browsers, their impact now only becomes limited.Performing such immediate trouble shooting steps for your computer is important. If left unaddressed, it could also lead to a host of PC-related problems such as slowing down your computer or worse could even crash your personal computer.According to information technology experts, this may also be the reason why your personal computer has suddenly become slow. It may be that your PC is infected by a spyware invasionToday, it is not unusual for you to have your computers in different places far away from your head office. One suggestion for your e-mail protection could be using Mailwasher. By using Mailwasher, you will see all the mails. This will help you delete illegitimate emails before they are on your personal computer. You can also use a hardware router. A hardware router provides an intermediate hardware layer, giving protection from the outside. Also, as an online user, it is important not to access doubtful sites. You as an online internet user must not "just click" on everything. Before clicking anything, you should readIt is not unusual for many users experiencing their workstations being affected by malware. Bogus windows pop up informing the user they are infected by viruses. These windows look so legitimate from windows OS or Symantec AV that many users take it on their own to clean up the virus. However, for a more practical solution, you can use a good web filter. Using a good filter instead of forcing the users to filter individually themselves will be good for your over all IT data security. Also, it is important to keep your PC protected with all the latest Microsoft security patches. You could even go for a personalized intrusion detection system in consultation with your computer support provider.Today, you as an online PC user need to take precautions against malicious online software such as spywares and malware which can jeopardize confidentiality of your data as well as damage your PC. You can consult your tech help experts at your information technology forum for assistance.

Information Technology Forum For Spyware Prevention

An important advise from tech help experts to all online PC users is to to install good anti-virus programs. Such software programs prote...

Tactics of Online Fraud Prevention

With the increased police and FBI forces and tightened law enactment, the chances of making fraudulent activities have been decreased to a considerable extent in the present days. This being satisfactory and peace of mind at one side, the incidents of online fraudulent cases are consistently raising too. Advancement of technology leads to both positive and negative ends, however the impact of the negative consequences seems to be higher.Certain common online fraudulent activities include Phishing scams, auction fraudulent cases, credit card fraudulent cases and online shopping frauds. Phishing scams are email threats and email messages that bear attractive offer coupons which ask for the personal account details and address details. These emails can also contain certain links that needs to be clicked which will help the fraud activity performers to track the entire information of your computer system and thereby hacking accounts, sending viruses and to its highest extent possible, activating the system itself from where they are. They may hack your id and password and make your account disable. Most notions behind these phishing scams are curios towards doing something crazy. Though, the frauds do not gain anything out of this action, they tend to have a happy attitude on making people sick.Everyone must take responsibility in making steps towards online fraud prevention, as it is in the hands of the individuals only. It is always compulsory to delete the spam messages from the email box and should never respond to the same. In most cases, try avoiding opening your spam messages at all. Just selecting and deleting all will help to a certain extent. Whenever there is a pop up window asking you to click on the given link, read through the entire details and click only if you feel it's necessary, because most of these are scams. Do not close your mail box and blog without signing it off. Any account that you create online must be made with combination passwords that are unique and unidentifiable.For online fraud prevention tactics, Ensure that your web browser includes EVSSL (Extended Value SSL) certificate as it provides additional safety to your system by itself. Install the Microsoft security updates and keep them updated always. If you are using a computer that is connected to a network, say your official PC, do not entertain paying of bills and transaction of accounts either by yourself or by your friends, as it is completely not safe.Online fraud prevention is absolutely in our hands. In case, you happen to find such fraudulent activities being attacking you, make sure that you do not respond to the same. Furthermore, you can file complaints on various available websites such as Hotmail and Microsoft. Before involving in any kind of business dealing through online support, check for the physical location and the personal and official contact number of a person. Do not just rely on the website details that he/she provides you. This case is more likely to happen in online job offers. Most communication happens through online and at the end of the day when you mail the person for your payment, you will receive no reply. It is in our hands to ensure online fraud prevention methods when being online.	 	 		 			 				 					 						Use our <a href="http://www.safeid.org/lead_verification.php" rel="nofollow" target="_new">ID verification</a> system and online fraud prevention system at <a href="http://www.safeid.org" rel="nofollow" target="_new">http://www.safeid.org</a>

Tactics of Online Fraud Prevention

With the increased police and FBI forces and tightened law enactment, the chances of making fraudulent activities have been decreased to ...

Fraud Prevention at Work

While there are the obvious and not so obvious signs of fraud being committed within the workplace it is the behaviour of people who state or imply that they are what they patently are not, who cause the greatest distress by their unequal and shameful behaviour towards business owners who trusted them. Imposters; who through their slick working methods, have the ability to really cause detrimental financial imposts against their employers.Businesses need to formulate certain workplace policies and practices that emphasize the fact that fraudulent behaviors are unacceptable - make staff responsible for their actions. Early prevention outweighs an expensive mop-up later.Fraud prevention measures could/should include a Business Code of Conduct where the in-house, formulated and pertinent workplace policy relates directly to employee practices. In a perfect world and prior to starting work. a new member of staff would be required to read and sign the relevant Code of Conduct document - as an outward sign of acceptance of his/her responsibility towards his new place of work. This policy and the subsequent work practices would need to cover all areas of potential fraud while stressing the expected employee behaviors. For example for a positive identification of the new employee a police check would be required; the potential employee would need to provide a specified number of referees, references and of course a specific number of living identity proof documents i.e. a passport, a drivers' license, educational certificates, an invoice directed to the potential employees' home etc. All required as positive proof of identity. Naturally these proofs of identity documents would then need to be examined and their honesty assessed. The burden of proof would lie with the employer who if they did not have the manpower to follow through, would ned to outsource this requirement with the clear knowledge that they are doing everything within their power to avert possible future fraudulent behaviors.I remember organizing a police check on someone applying for work in a school. The police check revealed that this person was a convicted pedophile. Results - this check ensured that this person was not going to be tempted into a new crime and that the company I was working for did not have to face a possible court case sometime in the future. The person had paid for his crime so he was not discriminated against rather he was better placed within his work environment.Another preventative measure entrenched into the employment process could be that the company limits the giving of gifts and entertainment to their employees. Particularly if an employee could possibly be influenced via the expensive wining and dining process and the receipt of unsolicited gifts directed to his home from a potential contractor hoping to sway the final results in his favor.On this basis the Code of Conduct policy could highlight that:o Any gifts over the value of say $25 had to be reported to the Security or Human Resources Officer - someone outside the direct area of the particular workplace. o Any meals with a potential contractor could not take place if there was a Tender process currently in place o Maybe a process of sharing could be instigated whereby any gifts could be put into a common pool to be shared with all staff members. More measures o Every employee would be required to sign a non-disclosure clause to protect the companys' intellectual property. o Every employee would have to undertake to protect the companys' assets, i.e. acquired knowledge, silent business partners, budgetary matters etc. Sign a disclaimer to this effect.In Information Technology there are many programs designed to pick up and report on employees using their work time to fraudulently visit e.g. porn sites or working a second job online - the idea here would be to advise staff and personnel about the I.T. reporting systems and also provide limited online access. Of course there are also outside threats to contend with i.e. hacking for hacking sake; hacking to gain insider knowledge, deliberate insertion of viruses, hacking to gain knowledge to use to discredit or embarrass the company. So the obvious steps would have to be taken to protect the companys' assets. (Virus checkers, firewalls etc.) A company could be particularly vulnerable if for example they were about to publicly list on the Stock Exchange.Then there are disgruntled employees who can make waves by leaking potentially damaging information. Or those who see themselves as white knights or whistle blowers. - All fraudulent behaviors. A way to ensure a happy workplace is know or show no favors to any employee; deal with everyone in the same way; tolerate no bullying, and have strict guidelines to deal with disgruntlement. A fair workplace equals more loyalty and less fraud.copyright anne a gallagher 2008	 	 		 			 				 					 						For more articles and stories please go to my blog at <a href="http://hubpages.com/profile/ajcor" target="_new">http://hubpages.com/profile/ajcor</a> And for further information and videos go to <a href="http://hubpages.com/hub/Fraud-Prevention-At-Work" target="_new">http://hubpages.com/hub/Fraud-Prevention-At-Work</a>

Fraud Prevention at Work

While there are the obvious and not so obvious signs of fraud being committed within the workplace it is the behaviour of people who stat...

An Ounce of Prevention - Protect Your PC from Spyware and Surf Safe!

An Ounce of Prevention - Protect Your PC from Spyware and Surf Safe!

Spyware and Adware programs are the latest tools in the insidious world of information farming and computer hacking. The terms Adware, Sp...

Spyware - Prevention, Detection And Removal

It seems that every time some good hearted genius develops a cool technology that benefits man, some miscreant develops a way to use it to the detriment of man. I guess this is a spin off of Newton's law where for every action there is a reaction. Spyware is one of these reactions.What is spyware?Spyware is a software application that is usually attached to a file that you download. Virus protection software will not capture or delete it. The purpose of spyware is to gather information about you and your use computer usage. It may gather keywords, text, account numbers, etc. and send them to another computer. The problems can range from your credit card information or password being stolen and abused to a partly or complete failure of your computer. If a site offers a free download, check to see if it has a "free from ad/spyware" certification. If it doesn't, there is a good chance that it has spyware or adware attached to the download.Effects of spywareMost spyware uses "Hacks" to change your windows settings. Usually computers that are infected with spyware have more then one spyware application installed. All these spyware infections are competing to change some of your computer's settings. This can cause your system to slow down and may cause some of windows or your programs functions to stop functioning. If a certain functionality is suddenly missing in windows or in any of your installed programs, there is a good possibility that spyware is the culprit.If enough spyware is clogging up your system, you may notice it slowing down. When this occurs, it is wise to run a spyware check on your computer. Whenever you download something from a free site, a good rule of thumb is to run a spyware check after. There are many free spyware removal tools out there. A search on Google or Yahoo will bring up a ton of references. For a review of some of the best spyware removal tools go to <a href="http://burpau.bezoogle.com/pp/anti-spyware/" rel="nofollow" target="_new">http://burpau.bezoogle.com/pp/anti-spyware/</a>.Helpful hints to avoid spyware Do not download anything from a questionable site. Run a spyware check and removal application if you do. Avoid clicking on popups. Use Ctrl-Alt-Delete rather than cancel. Clicking cancel or no on an add may still get spyware installed on your system. Try using a different browser. Since Internet Explorer is the widest used, it is the most heavily hit. Use a spyware removal tool. 	 	 		 			 				 					 						Paul Burnham is a programmer analyst, internet affiliate marketer and author of information articles.

Spyware - Prevention, Detection And Removal

It seems that every time some good hearted genius develops a cool technology that benefits man, some miscreant develops a way to use it t...

Information Technology Forum For Spyware Prevention

Information Technology Forum For Spyware Prevention

An important advise from tech help experts to all online PC users is to to install good anti-virus programs. Such software programs prote...