Most people are aware of what constitutes a phishing scam even if they haven’t been confronted by one themselves. You receive an email from what appears to be from a legitimate business (your bank, for example) and are persuaded to click through to a spoof website. There you are tricked into entering sensitive personal data – account details, passwords – even credit card numbers.

But how do the phishers manage to pull this off? It’s not all down to the sophisticated “look and feel” of a fake email or website. The truth is that most phishing emails also employ simple psychological triggers in an attempt to make the victim compliant.

Hope, greed and vanity

People like to feel special and people like winning things. Phishers know this and many a victim has been snared by the “award” of some freak prize or lottery payout. Nothing piques the interest quite like the prospect of massive financial gain.

Of course, these days most people realise that they are unlikely to be notified of a 20 million dollar windfall via email. So instead many phishers have begun to tempt people with more credible bait – smaller sums of money, ipods, or increasingly the kind of freebies that appeal to the victim’s sense of vanity, such as a free account upgrade which is exclusive to “only the best and most trusted customers”.

These tactics are made all the more dangerous when combined with the other triggers such as…

Urgency

Phishers don’t want their victims to dwell too much on their handiwork. The spammy nature of the links, spelling errors and grammatical incompetence invariably become obvious upon closer inspection. For this reason, a phishing email will usually urge an instantaneous response. There are only 5 ipods left, the offer for the free upgrade expires within an hour, the 20 million dollars will be given to charity unless there is immediate action….

The small adrenaline rush that this pressure creates can often be enough for a victim to let down their guard.

Fear

Logic is easily neutralised by basic instincts like greed and fear. So phishers will often resort to explicit threats which shut down the naturally suspicious part of the victim’s brain. Traditionally this may involve a warning that the a personal account has been accessed without authorization. There have also been examples of emails apparently sent from law enforcement agencies regarding illegal activity on the part of the victim.

In essence the psychological pressures used by the phishers are no different to those favoured by marketers the world over. In many ways the phisher is the email marketer’s evil twin. It’s just that one wants you to click and buy, whilst the other wants you to click and sign your life away.

Before you do so, take a walk outside and clear your head.

Matt Davies runs a Spanish website which gives free advice about credit cards and avoiding fraud online - Tarjetas de Credito.

I knew one day it would happen. Someone stole the text from my website and used it on their own website. Dirty rotten scoundrels!

According to the US Copyright Office website (http://www.copyright.gov):

"Copyright protection subsists from the time the work is created in fixed form. The copyright in the work of authorship immediately becomes the property of the author who created the work."

What Do You Do?

Here are some ways to discover which sites have stolen your text:

1. Find some text on your website that is so "you" that it’s unlikely that anyone else would write a phrase or sentence that way. Go to http://www.google.com, and put that phrase or sentence into their search, within quotation marks. For example, one phrase that of my own that I searched on looked like this: "you’ll end up struggling to make your business a success, and all your passion and enthusiasm will drain away." (Go ahead, type it into Google and see who’s got my text on their site.) You have to put the phrase within quotation marks so that Google knows to search for the whole phrase with all the words right next to each other.

2. Make note of the sites that have the same text as yours. While it is completely possible in millions and millions of websites that someone might have written the exact same phrase, it’s worth investigating every site that comes up.

3. Another great place to search for plagiarized sites is http://www.copyscape.com

Here are some steps to getting a site to take down plagiarized text:

1. Gather as much information about the offending site as you can.

2. Print out all pages from their site where the plagiarized text resides.

3. Try to find a contact name, phone number and email address from the site.

4. Go to http://www.internic.net/whois.html and get all their registration information. If they are not in the USA, go to Google and type in "whois" plus the name of their country. You should be able to find a whois site that can get their DNS record for you.

5. Go to http://www.alexa.com and find whatever information you can there.

6. Finally, write to the offending site owner and tell them that you found plagiarized text on their site. List the URLs of the offending pages along with the copyrighted URLs of your own pages. Give them two or three days to either delete the pages, or re-write them so that they no longer include your text.

This is not the time to play nice guy! Tell the offending site owner that you are copying their hosting company and domain registrar on the letter or email, and do so.

Make sure when you write this email or letter, you don’t use any passive language, and do not say "please". Demand your rights. It is illegal and unethical for them to do what they did and they need to stop doing it immediately.

Another great resource is http://www.waybackmachine.org. This allows you to check what their websites looked like throughout the years. You may be able to pinpoint the date when those people served themselves with a hefty spoon of your web content.

Someone pointed out to me that sometimes the offender is the website designer, not the owner of the site. If you are an owner of a site, and you did not write your own text, ask your designer where he or she got the text. Make it clear to them that you will not tolerate any plagiarized text and that you will hold them legally responsible in any charge or lawsuit that comes up over the copy on your website.

Some final notes:

Always put a copyright statement on your site. If it took you a long time to write your text, you should be the only one benefiting from it, not some unethical person who is looking for a shortcut.

If the site doesn’t comply with your request, you might have to get your attorney involved. Only you can decide if the expense of an attorney is worth it for you.

I have written to the six sites that stole my text. Two have complied and taken down the offending pages within three days of my request. If the others don’t comply, I will be posting their websites in my blog. I’m not afraid of a little publicity, but I bet they are.

© 2006 Karyn Greenstreet.

Karyn Greenstreet is a Self Employment expert and small business coach. She shares tips, techniques and strategies with self-employed people to boost focus, create sustainable motivation, and increase profits.

Visit her website at http://www.PassionForBusiness.com

The days of riding horseback through the wilderness to deliver a message are over. But make no mistake; we’re not out of the woods yet. The digital world exposes us all to a virtual wilderness. Email offers simplicity to both the messenger and the malevolent.

Email has grown in vitality, now becoming the most important communication tool in the corporate world. The perpetuation of emerging threats has transformed email from an asset to a liability. Gone are the days when organizations could manually cope with the occasional email-borne nuisance. Email security has become a necessity and organizations must know the best way to ensure the integrity of their email network.

Perhaps an even greater threat to your organization’s effectiveness is an over-investment in an under-effective email security solution. Organizations must seek a comprehensive, future-proof solution on a platform that integrates flawlessly with their current infrastructure.

The email security market is not bound by in-house software or hardware solutions. Organizations can push the war against spam, viruses, and other email borne threats outside of their network using a managed service.

What is a managed service?

Unlike software and appliance solutions, a managed email security solution sits entirely outside of your network. With a quick change of your organization’s Mail Exchange (MX) records, mail is routed through the managed service, effectively filtering your email and delivering only genuine messages to your network. Such an infrastructure offers a number of benefits over traditional appliance and software security measures.

Benefits

Instant Deployment

Since a managed service introduces no hardware or software into your infrastructures, deployments typically consist of only a simple MX record change. Moreover, managed solutions come pre-configured to maximize effectiveness with minimal user intervention.

Zero Maintenance

Updates to hardware and software are a necessary evil that demands time and money. This is especially true with security technology in order to stay ahead of new threats. But a managed service introduces absolutely no hardware or software into your infrastructure. All updates are performed by the managed service transparently to the end-user.

Failover / Redundancy

Implementing a redundant infrastructure is rarely cost-effective, especially in small to medium businesses. Yet, downtime is never acceptable. Deploying a managed solution is your ticket to enterprise-class reliability, without expending financial resources to integrate a redundant network infrastructure.

Disaster Recovery

Internal network and hardware glitches that compromise the availability of your email are inevitable. During downtime, not only is productivity lost, but also data which can cost your organization countless dollars. With a managed service, your email is queued during downtime. After connectivity is re-established, your email is promptly delivered to you. Organizations which deploy managed email security are able to focus solely on regaining connectivity, without worrying about lost messages during downtime.

Scalability

A managed service allows organizations the flexibility to grow without investing in additional information technology. Organizations with multiple geographic locations must purchase, implement, and maintain a software or hardware solution in each location that has a mail server. However, geographically dispersed organizations can be wholly controlled through a managed service, without any additional investments, installation, or maintenance.

Bandwidth Savings

Quality hardware and software solutions can effectively halt the flow of junk messages into end-users’ inboxes. However, these junk messages still reach the perimeter of your network. Bandwidth is required to analyze all messages, and messages that are quarantined must be downloaded and stored. With a managed solution, only genuine messages reach your network. Spam, viruses, fraud, and malicious email messages are stopped before they approach your organization’s perimeter.

Complete Threat Protection

There’s much more to email security than spam and virus protection. Directory harvesting, mail bombs, phishing, dictionary attacks, and many other threats assault vulnerable organizations each day, causing countless dollars in damage and lost productivity. Most appliances and software solutions are only a piece of the email security puzzle.

More importantly, with a managed service you have professionals maintaining your email’s security. Spam, viruses, and other email nuisances are growing more sophisticated, and require more sophisticated technology and know-how to combat them. A managed service supplies organizations with access to comprehensive technology and wisdom.

Future-Proof

Anti-spam technology, like no other, has an uncanny ability to lose effectiveness after a year or two. This is because spam is constantly changing, while your software and hardware is staying the same.

Spam is also growing in volume. A few years ago, you may have been receiving an average of ten spam messages a day. A spam solution with a 90% capture rate would catch all but one. Today, however, many users are receiving tens, even hundreds of junk messages a day. More intelligent software is needed to stop these additional messages, without misclassifying genuine ones.

A managed solution’s core competency is to stay ahead of email threats. Thus, organizations are always plugged in to a cutting edge solution.

Platform Independent

Regardless of your organization’s preferred OS and Mail Transfer Agent (MTA), a managed service can integrate easily into your infrastructure. Even organizations that utilize several operating systems and MTAs can quickly fit under the umbrella of a managed solution.

Low TCO / Quick ROI

Software and hardware solutions can rope you in with a large, non-refundable, upfront investment, and annual recurring fees. On the other hand, a managed solution is typically subscription-based, which can be cancelled at any time for a pro-rated refund. With a lower upfront outlay and minimal maintenance, organizations can realize a return on their investment in much less time with respect to traditional email security platforms.

Take Control of Your Email Network

Managed email security takes the burden off your budget and overworked IT staff and places it on the spammers. A managed service makes email what it was meant to be - an effective, hassle-free, business communication tool.

Spam Spy, LLC is an innovative provider in managed email security services. For more information on managed email security, visit http://www.spamspy.com (c) 2006 Spam Spy, LLC. All rights reserved.

Spyware is a hidden software program. It is often used to monitor the browsing and shopping habits of computer users. Spyware can also be a remote control program that steals confidential banking and personal information.

Spyware has quickly become the most prominent internet security problem. According to the National Cyber Security Alliance, spyware infects more than 90% of home PCs. Recent survey shows that spyware is also sneaking into the network of corporate computers.

Spyware is often coupled with free downloads, such as free music, game and software downloads. Spyware may slow down computer, hijack homepage and create uncontrolled pop-up advertisements. Some spyware programs can remain unnoticed, secretly gathering information from the computer. Once installed, spyware is difficult to remove without the help of dedicated antispyware software.

Due to the rise of spyware activity, antispyware programs are in great demand these days. But are these spyware removal tools the same? Do they provide the security consumers need?

There are many reports that some antispyware programs installed their own spyware and adware to the computer. One consumer was quoted saying: “It’s a rip-off. I downloaded the free trial of an antispyware program, only to find out that it added its own adware to my computer.” Other consumers have complained that the antispyware program they use cannot detect all spyware programs. Some even slow down the computer and create pop-up advertisements.

There are a few good antispyware programs in the market today. On the other hand, dozens of spyware removal programs are blacklisted by consumers. Beware of spyware removal tools that are heavily promoted by e-mail campaigns. Never run any free downloads and free scans from unknown software publishers. Their programs may as well be spyware programs themselves. Read independent product reviews from renowned computer magazines or reputable sources. Spending some extra time in research can save you a lot of hassles in the long run.

Kwan Lo is the owner of http://software.4reviews.net, an online review site promoting award-winning antispyware software and other internet security software.

PC users are facing new computer viruses every day. Computer viruses not only affect home PCs, they clog up internet traffic and disrupt the business of big corporations, causing billion dollars worth of damage each year. To protect your computer and stop the spread of these malicious programs on the internet, you should renew your antivirus software and update it regularly.

The number of computer viruses is increasing at a shocking rate. In 2003, 7 new viruses were unleashed each day. In 2004, more than 10,000 new viruses and their variants were identified. These new viruses include viruses, worms and Trojan horses and they attack the computer in many different ways. Some cause damage to the boot sector, hardware, software or data files. Some create security leaks in the system. Others may use the computer to spread spam e-mails.

Viruses, worms and Trojan horses also spread by different means. Viruses are usually transferred from one computer to another by sharing infected files or e-mail attachments. Worms replicate and spread by e-mail programs. Trojan horses are often downloaded and run by computer users who do not know the true nature of these programs.

The best antivirus software detect and remove viruses, worms and Trojan horses before they infect your system and use advanced script stopping technology. Although there are many new antivirus programs available these days, consumers should remain vigilant. Beware of all the free scans and free downloads from unknown software publishers. Some claim to be antivirus software but in fact, they add adware to your computer.

If you are looking for an antivirus software, you should only buy from reputable software publishers such as Symantec, McAfee, Trend Micro, etc. Remember to renew the license annually and enable the automatic update. This ensures that you are using the most updated detection database.

Kwan Lo is the owner of http://software.4reviews.net - an online review site that promotes the best antivirus software and other award-winning internet security programs.

In today’s online environment it’s important to know what risks lie ahead at each click. This paper will describe so of the malicious kinds of attacks your Home/Office PC may encounter online. Now I’m sure we have all heard of Viruses online and some of you have heard of Trojans.

But there are more than just these few pieces of software out there waiting for you. The internet is a bastion of all kinds of malicious software or “MalWare”. Some examples are Spyware, Scanners/Bots, Trojans, Viruses/Worms, and many other types of MalWare that exploits your PC. Now let’s take a closer look at some of the above mentioned MalWare. “Spyware” What is it and how do I find out if my PC has it? Well this type of MalWare is basically any software that records your online actively without your knowledge and then reports to back to another party. Now Spyware is hard to find because a lot of programs act like Spyware. But the best thing to do is get Spyware removal software. Some fine examples of Spyware removal software are Spybot Search and Destroy 1.3 another good program is Adware SE.

Is Your PC Safe?

Now let’s look at “Scanners/Bots”. Scanners/Bots are programs that try to find victims via port/IP scanning. The best way to prevent from getting infected by this kind of MalWare is to install a Firewall. There are many kinds of firewalls and some are software based and others are Hardware. You can buy a hardware firewall for around $50.00 USD or you can download a software Firewall. Some examples of software firewalls are Zone Alarm another one is Tiny Personal Firewall. Tiny Personal Firewall & Zone Alarm basic are free for home use.

Do you Trust them?

“Trojans” Trojans can be the worse of MalWare. Trojans are sometimes confused with viruses but Trojans are “Program that neither replicates or copies itself, but does damage or compromises the security of the computer” This is just one of many definitions of a Trojan. A lot of Trojans have Key loggers built into them and can record all keys you press and them report them back to a hacker. This is bad because they will be able to use the key logger to find out your passwords, Credit card numbers, and other sensitive informational about you. The best defiance against Trojans is antivirus software but Most Antivirus software won’t find all variants of Trojans so again a firewall is needed.

Worms are not good!

“Virus/Worms” Are malicious programs that replicates itself and may cause damage to a computer system by attacking or attaching itself to boot information, another program or a document that uses macros. The best defiance against this kind of MalWare is to install Antivirus Software. Now that we have reviewed some of the threats you face online lets go over our best defiance. Now just as a heads up there is no 100% way to protect you PC from online attacks because new Viruses, Trojans, and other MalWare are made daily. But you should be pretty safe in you have the following installed on your computer. Online must have software: Antivirus Software, Spyware Software, and Some kind of Firewall.

With these steps in place you should be a lot safer then the average user and always never open an e-mail or file attachment from someone you don’t know. I hope this paper has help and be safe online.

About the Author:

Brian Wilson
CCNA, CSE, CCAI, MCP, Network+
Slimjim100@gmail.com
http://www.middlegeorgia.org
http://www.middlegeorgia.info

It’s true.

Your ex could have viewed your myspace profile 44 times last week.

Your manager could be viewing your profile on a daily basis.

You could have some crazy cyberstalker that you don’t know about.

Unfortunately you may never know, because Myspace doesn’t allow you to see who viewed your page. That was until a little site popped up a while ago by the name of Profilesnoop.com.

Profilesnoop.com’s motto is "Snoop on them while they snoop on you". How many of us haven’t secretly viewed the pages of our exes, enemies, old high school crushes, co-workers, etc.? We all do it.

Profilesnoop.com provided you with a code to input into your myspace profile. This code would track all visitors that viewed your site, literally snapping a photo of them When you signed on your profilesnoop.com account, it had all that information neatly summarized and ready for you to view.

I was on the of the lucky ones who actually got to use it before it was shut down by Myspace. For about a week, I had this wonderful little tool on my profile. It was just a bit of code, entered in the "Who I’d like to meet" section, not visible to anyone but myself.

It captured photos of anyone who viewed my profile, along with the date, time and IP address. I would automatically be re-directed to a person’s mypsace profile by clicking on their photo. Some were my own friends, others were a huge surprise. I found out that I was getting regular views from the last guy I dated and his on-again/off-again girlfriend. Who knew?

Of course, it was too good to last. Only five days after I registered with the site, the forums were buzzing with talk about the code being stripped from their profiles, along with all the text and photos in their "Who I’d like to meet" section. Apparently, the code is in violation of myspace’s privacy policy.

By the next day, it was gone from my profile as well. I was sad to see it go. But it brings me to this question, is it right for Myspace to block me from being able to know who visits my profile?

I’m sure it won’t be long before profilesnoop.com manages to find a way to get back up and running or all the other copy-cat sites start popping up. And when they do, I’ll be there… ready to sign up.

Of course, if we do manage to find a way to see who’s viewing our MySpace profiles, this means that others will know that we are viewing theirs. Would this damper our MySpace experience by making us think twice before "cyber-stalking" someone? Maybe. But then again, maybe not.

Copyright © 2006 Rebecca Fuentes

http://myspaceoryours.blogspot.com

There are many types of malware, malicious software designed to disrupt the normal use of your computer. Some types of malware are simply nuisances to the one sitting behind the keyboard while others can actually harm or destroy the computer itself. Another threat posed by malware is the invasion of your privacy and it has the potential to cause you considerable personal and/or financial harm. Most types of malware get onto your computer via web browsing, instant messaging, or peer-to-peer file sharing. Malware is a self-inflicted injury. You do it to yourself by using the Internet. Many people use the following terms interchangeably but there are definite differences in the types of infections you can “catch” on your computer.

SPYWARE — Spyware is a program that has been downloaded, usually unbeknownst to you, because it can be piggy-backed with some other type of desired program, usually freeware or shareware. Once this spyware is secretly installed on your computer it can do such things as change computer settings, track viewed websites, collect passwords, history and private information, and can even record your keystrokes. This information is then sent back to the program’s originator or to a third party. Spyware is extremely difficult to eradicate.

A particularly annoying type of spyware is called adware which generates a tremendous amount of advertising in the form of pop-up advertisements or banners scrolling across your screen. This program can actually track your activities and cause similar ads to pop up hoping to interest you in related products. It can be quite intrusive and distracting but hardly as malicious as other types of spyware.

VIRUSES — A computer virus, also rides on the coat-tails of other programs when downloaded, and can reproduce and run itself when the host program is executed. It can infect and corrupt files and sometimes causes hard drives to ‘crash’ depending on its design. A virus can infect other computers through the sending of email and/or file exchanges.

WORM — A worm is a self-contained program that can replicate itself and uses a network to infect other systems on your computer. Depending on how the worm was designed, it can secretly send documents though email and even delete necessary files. Unlike a virus which causes harm to the computer and its files, a worm causes harm to other computers on the network and consumes bandwidth, thus slowing down your environment.

SPAM — Spam is electronic junk mail, usually unsolicited. It uses up tremendous amounts of network bandwidth. Spam is usually trying to sell you some product or service and is sent to generated mailing lists and newsgroups. Though it cannot cause you or your computer much harm, it is extremely annoying and time consuming to delete. It is estimated that more than 60% of all email on the internet is spam.

WHAT CAN YOU DO? — Visiting Geeks technicians strongly urge all owners to install an anti-virus software program on their computers. We also recommend at least one anti-spyware program, if not more than one. Depending on Internet usage, you should set both programs to automatically scan on a regular basis. These programs can actually find and remove unwanted “infections” and can also prevent their future installations. It isn’t enough, however, to simply install these programs and think yourself entirely protected thereafter, because new spyware and viruses are constantly being designed. You must update your anti-spyware and anti-virus programs daily in order to pick up on these newest threats.

Though no one program can be relied on to keep your computer completely clear of sypware and viruses, there are many reputable anti-spyware and anti-virus programs available on today’s market. When our customers need an anti-spyware program our technicians install Counter Spy by Sunbelt Software. For those customers with no anti-virus we will install PC-Cillin Internet Security by Trend Micro which even has the added benefit of Parental Control Features.

It is much easier to prevent your computer from being infected with these above-mentioned malware than it is to try to get rid of them, so browse the internet wisely. To clean a computer of unwanted spyware and viruses can be a costly and lengthy process. “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” so the saying goes.

ABOUT VISITING GEEKS

Marilyn Astell is an employee of Visiting Geeks, LLC, cofounded by Harold Belbin and Sharron Senter http://www.VisitingGeeks.com – an on site computer repair, security and networking company serving north of Boston, Southern NH and Maine. Visiting Geeks’ technicians are crackerjacks at squashing viruses, popups and securing and making computers perform faster. Learn more about Sharron Senter at http://www.SharronSenter.com

The Internet offers a global marketplace for consumers and businesses. However, criminals also recognize the potential of cyberspace. The same scams that have reached us by telephone and in our mailbox can now be found on the World Wide Web and in email. Organizations such as the National Fraud Information Center have emerged to help people recognize shady schemes in order to prevent further victims.

According to the Internet Fraud Complaint Center (IFCC), a partnership between the National White Collar Crime Center and the FBI, the number of fraud victims is in the hundreds of thousands and total dollars lost are in the hundreds of millions, and rising at an exponential rate. A search on Google for "internet fraud" results in over 115,000,000 listings at the time of this writing (updated)!

It is difficult sometimes to tell the difference between reputable online sellers and criminals who use the Internet to separate people from their money. You can protect yourself by learning how to recognize the danger signs of fraud. If you are a victim of Internet fraud, it is important to file a complaint with the IFCC at http://www.ifccfbi.gov quickly so that law enforcement agencies can quickly shut down the fraudulent operations.

• Know whom you’re dealing with. If the seller or charity is unfamiliar, check with your state or local consumer protection agency and the Better Business Bureau at http://www.bbb.org. Search the Federal Trade Commission website at http://www.ftc.gov for the company or organization that you are considering doing business with. Some Web sites have feedback forums, which can provide useful information about other people’s experiences with particular sellers. Get the physical address and phone number (and actually make a call before you give them money-to make sure that the phone number is correct) in case there is a problem later.

• Guard your personal information. Make sure that any website that requires sensitive information is encrypted. An encrypted website usually has a yellow padlock symbol somewhere on the page, typically at the bottom. Don’t provide your credit card or bank account number unless you are actually paying for something. Your social security number should not be necessary unless you are applying for credit. Be especially suspicious if someone claiming to be from a company with whom you have an account asks for information that the business already has.

• Pay the safest way. Credit cards are the safest way to pay for online purchases because you can dispute the charges if you never receive your order, or if the offer was misrepresented. Federal law limits your liability to $50 if someone makes unauthorized charges to your account, and most credit card issuers will remove them completely if you report the problem promptly.

• Look for information about how complaints are handled. It can be difficult to resolve complaints, especially if the seller or charity is located in another country. Look on their website for information about programs that require standards for reliability and assistance in handling disputes with which the company or organization participates.

• Be aware that an organization without complaints is not a guarantee. Fraudulent operators set up shop and close down quickly, so the fact that nobody has made a complaint doesn’t mean the seller or charity is legitimate. You still need to look for other danger signs of fraud.

• Understand the offer. A legitimate seller will give you all the details about the products or services, the total price, the refund and cancellation policies, the terms of any warranty, and the delivery time.

• Think twice before entering contests operated by unfamiliar companies. Fraudulent marketers sometimes use contest entry forms to identify potential victims.

• Be cautious about unsolicited emails. They are often fraudulent. Recent legislation requires all marketing emails to include a working link that enables the recipient to be excluded from future mailings.

• Beware of imposters. Someone might send you an email pretending to be connected with a business or charity. Others may create a website that looks just like that of a well-known company or charitable organization. If you’re not sure that you’re dealing with the real thing, find another way to contact the legitimate business or charity.

• Beware of "dangerous downloads." In downloading programs to see pictures, hear music, play games, etc., you could download a virus that wipes out your computer files or connects your modem to a foreign telephone number, resulting in expensive phone charges. Only download programs from websites you know and trust. Read all user agreements carefully.

Eric Buck is an established ezine publisher and direct marketer who specializes in helping ordinary people make extraordinary money working from home on the Internet. Put money in your pocket fast-sign up for FREE to the Home Business Tips Newsletter. Learn insider strategies and information from invaluable articles. You can even get your own complete money-making website setup FREE! Just go to: http://www.HomeCashIncome.com

"Growing number of child molestors using MySpace to arrange meetings with minors"

"Teenage girl kidnapped by older man she met on MySpace"

The recent media blitz regarding MySpace has snowballed in the recent months. Parents, teachers and other school officials all over the country are calling for the banning of MySpace. Will they succeed?

No.

Why not? Because MySpace is free, fun… and everyone is doing it. MySpace is not anymore dangerous than any school, mall, neighborhood park.

Still this doesn’t mean that MySpace users couldn’t benefit from a little common sense while navigating through MySpace. The surprising thing is that MySpace offers tools and options for users to take control of their profile. Many users just don’t know that those options exist.

I’ve compiled a list of options/tips that you can use to protect yourself on MySpace and take control of your profile.

1) Private profile
Yes, MySpace allows users to have a private profile. Having a private profile means that only those users on your friend’s list will be able to view your profile. Unfortunately, this privacy option is only available to MySpace’s younger users. That being said, some adults simply change their age under Edit Profile-Basic Info to use this feature. Be warned — MySpace has a policy about adult users doing this. Yet, it’s a good to know that it is available for younger teens.*

2) Require Last Name/Email Address To Add As Friend
Tired of getting random friend requests from strangers? Change this setting and users will have to enter either your email address or last name to be able to complete the add process. **

3) Hide Your Online Status
Don’t want other users to know when you’re online. Change this setting and the "Online Now" icon won’t appear next to your photo when other users see it. **

4) The ‘About Me’ Survey
This popular survey is posted on many users profiles as a way to introduce yourself. It’s all in fun… except for a few questions. The survey asks for your full name, birth place and date of birth. Do not post this information! Anyone viewing this information could use it to piece together your identity and find your address, phone number, social security number, request a background check, even break into your email. Never reveal this information to anyone who you don’t already know.

*Changes can be made under Edit Profile - Basic Info. Read MySpace’s policy regarding this option.

**Changes can be made under Account Settings - Privacy Settings.

© 2006 Rebecca Fuentes
http://myspaceoryours.blogspot.com