Be sure you delete Internet Explorer history files if you don’t want anybody knowing what you’ve been doing on the Internet.

What’s that, you ask?

With Internet Explorer open, click on the History icon. It’s located to the right of the Favorites icon (the star) and has an image of a clock with a green counter-clockwise arrow. Or, from the menu bar, select View, then Explorer Bar then History.

Look over on the left side of the screen. Surprised at what you see?

A lot of people are. Most don’t even know that this feature exists, that it, until they’ve been caught visiting web sites they shouldn’t have been visiting. By then, it’s often too late to delete the Internet Explorer History file.

The Benefits of Deleting
Don’t think you can get into any trouble because you don’t visit “adult” sites?

What about all that time you’re spending at work searching for a new job, or monitoring the stock charts, or whatever else it is you do that’s not work-related? Or after work when you’re visiting online dating sites?

The point is, if you don’t delete the Internet Explorer history file, you might find yourself explaining your computer use to another.

How to Do It
It’s easy to delete Internet Explorer history files and ensure your computer privacy. First, open Internet Explorer. Then from the menu bar, select Tools, and then select Options. Under the heading of General, look towards the bottom and click on the button labeled, Clear History. Poof—it’s all gone.

Deleting Can look Suspicious
But deleting the entire contents can be just as suspicious-looking to someone’s who’s attempting to breach your computer privacy. That’s probably why you have the option to selectively delete Internet Explorer history entries.

While viewing the list of previously-viewed web sites, right-click on the site you want to delete and then confirm this is what you want to do when prompted. Repeat as necessary today and as often as you need.

In Conclusion
Not everyone who deletes Internet Explorer history files has something to hide. Some do it because they don’t like the AutoComplete feature that finishes filling in the name of a web site they’ve visited previously based on the letters they’re entering. Others simply do it as a way of protecting their computer privacy.

And now that you know this feature exists, you get to decide what to do with it.

Max Penn shows you how to easily find anything on anyone using spy gadgets. You can see and hear everything you want by visiting his website spy gear

Online security is one of the top catch phrases these days, but hardly anybody knows what it means and worse, most home computer users think security only applies to corporations and online businesses.

Most people think online security means simply protecting your credit card data from fraud and theft, but it actually goes way beyond that.

The potential for mayhem and just plain disruption of your life doesn’t just mean credit card fraud - it can mean having your identity stolen, your life disrupted and spending hours cleaning up after an online ‘vandalism’ attack.

You must protect yourself from everyone from the teenage computer hacker to the organized crime syndicate using computer worms and keystroke logging viruses.

The great news is that a number of simple techniques should protect you against the vast majority of threats, since the evil doers will simply move on to easier pastures.

Update your anti-virus files

The widespread ‘Bad Trans’ worm logged keystrokes and transmitted potentially sensitive data such as credit card and social security numbers to the ‘bad guys’.

Though this virus contained a high level of criminal intent, it was easily blocked by anyone with up-to-date anti-virus files.

If you don’t have anti-virus software with current virus definitions installed, you leave the door wide open for security problems.

Install a ‘Firewall’

A firewall helps prevent unauthorized access to your computer by ‘hackers’.

It closes off the entry points (called open ‘ports’) carried by virtually every computer connected to the Internet.

A common misconception is that firewalls are only for people with cable or other high-speed connections.

Even if you use a dial up connection to get online, a firewall can help you detect and prevent people from logging on to your computer, stealing files or even using your computer to break into others!

You can take a free test of your computer’s security by logging on to http://www.symantec.com/securitycheck/ and clicking ‘Find out today if you are safe’. The results may surprise you.

Use secure sites

Only give sensitive data such as credit cards, social security numbers and important passwords over a secure connection.

This means the little yellow lock appears in the lower part of your browser and nobody but the website you are connected to should be able to read the data you send.

Change passwords often

An easy way for you to protect your sensitive data and email is to change your passwords on a monthly basis, or even more often depending on how frequently you use computers away from home.

If you log on to your email at the library, in ‘cyber cafes’ or any other remote computer then the possibility exists that computer could have a key-stroking virus present.

This means everything you type into the computer (passwords, birthdays, social security numbers, credit cards) could be logged and used by someone else.

** Change your passwords at lease once a month.

Though not fool-proof, these security tips should help reduce your vulnerability and keep you safer online.

(c) Jim Edwards - All Rights reserved

Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the co-author of an amazing new ebook that will teach you how to use fr^e articles to quickly drive thousands of targeted visitors to your website or affiliate links…

Simple "Traffic Machine" brings Thousands of NEW visitors to your website for weeks, even months… without spending a dime on advertising! ==> http://www.turnwordsintotraffic.com

A slightly longer series of articles "Keeping Your Secrets Secret" will examine practical examples in greater detail and provides useful tips and advice. Of course, these will continue with the theme of making crypto and computer security easily understood.

One-Way Hash

Also known as a one-way function, a message digest, a fingerprint or a checksum, the algorithm creates a fixed-length output that cannot be reversed. One-way hashes provide checksums to validate files, create digital certificates and played a central part in many authentication schemes.

Let us consider this example. For ages, the Chinese have a fortune-telling method that relies on "Ba Ji" (eight characters) which uses the time, day, month and year of birth according to their calendar. There are sixty possibilities (almost equal to 6 bits) for each of the four variables. Since the Chinese use two characters for each variable, the result is always eight characters. This is an example of a nonsecure 24-bit one-way hash.

Obviously, this way of producing a one-way hash is not acceptable for security purposes because of the huge number of collisions (different inputs producing the same output).

The most commonly used hashes are SHA-1 (Secure Hash Algorithm uses 160 bits) and MD5 (Message Digest uses 128 bits). In August 2005, a team of cryptographers led by Xiaoyun Wang of Shandong University, China, presented a paper that found faster ways of finding collisions than the usual brute force method. These exploits (vulnerabilities) may make digital certificates forgery a reality.

The implications to e-commerce may be widespread not to mention the millions of websites which used MD5 to hash the users’ passwords in their databases. Any webmaster can tell you that converting these sites to use SHA-256 or SHA-512 will not be a trivial task.

In a recent directive, NIST (National Institute of Standards & Technology, U.S.A.) has advised U.S. governmental agencies to use SHA-256 or SHA-512 (256 and 512 bits respectively) instead.

Biometrics

A biometric device is one that can identify unique characteristics from a finger, eye or voice. Many believe that biometrics should provide a higher level of security than other forms of authentication.

There is a news story in March 2005 of how a Malaysian owner lost his Mercedes car and index finger to car thieves armed with machetes. Obviously the keyless ignition electronics cannot detect whether the finger is still part of the original body nor whether the finger (and by extension the person) is alive or not.

Recent security breaches have heightened concern over depositories of personal information stored on many financial sites. When such breaches occurred, the incidence of identity thefts will thus rise also.

If you lose your credit card, you can always void the card and get a new one. When you lose your fingerprint (stored digitally), or other biometric features, who can replace those?

Passwords

When asked to conjure a random number or characters, most people inevitably used materials that are familiar to them like birthdays, names of family members, pets’ names and so forth.

For example, most will choose dates when asked to choose a six-digit number for their ATM Personal Identification Number (PIN). Doing so will reduce the number of possibilities by nine times.

Random Numbers and Generators

Random numbers are central to crypto. To qualify as true random numbers, the output from random number generators (RNG) must pass statistical tests of randomness. Two suites considered as de facto standards are the "diehard" suite developed by Prof. George Marsaglia of State University of Florida and "Statistical Test Suite" from NIST.

Second, the RNG’s output must be unpredictable even with complete knowledge of the algorithm or hardware producing the series and all the previous bits produced.

Third, the RNG’s output cannot be cloned in a repeat run even with the same input.

The most common approach to producing random numbers is by using an algorithm carried out by a computer program (Yarrow, Tiny, Egads, Mersenne Twister). Such algorithms cannot produce random numbers, hence their names, pseudo-random number generators (PRNG).

Another approach is to use physical events such as entropy produced by the keyboard, mouse, interrupts, white noise from microphones or speakers and disk drive behavior as the seed (initial value).

Some may argue that true random generators are those that can detect quantum behavior in subatomic physics. This is because randomness is inherent in the behavior of subatomic particles - remember the electron cloud from your high school physics.

One-time Pad

The most effective system is often the simplest. A one-time pad (OTP) is a series of random bits that has the same length as the digital object to be encrypted. To encrypt, just use a simple computer operation, exclusive OR (XOR). To decrypt, simply XOR the encrypted result with the same random bits.

The downside of using OTP is that once used, it must be discarded. Second, the OTP and the digital object must have the same number of bits. Lastly, the obvious problem of synchronizing the OTP between the receiver and sender.

[Author’s note: The concluding Part 3 will focus on keys management and public key cryptography.]

"In God we trust, others use crypto."

The author, Stan Seecrets, is a veteran software developer with 25+ years experience. © Copyright 2005, Stan Seecrets. All rights reserved. For more of his articles and website promotion, visit http://www.seecrets.biz or http://www.rushprnews.com

Spam and phishing scams try to capitalize on the Hurricane Katrina tragedy.

Hurricane Katrina has set off a wave of online phishing and other scams that try to capitalize on the emotional response of Americans to the disaster, security experts warned Friday.

The phishing efforts, fraudulent attempts to spoof sites to con users, include emails asking users to donate to victims of Hurricane Katrina by using fake news reports and heart-rending pictures. Money donated in this way does not go to any relief agency and is pocketed by spammers and con artists.

“We are seeing attempts similar to those we saw after the recent tsunami in Asia where some people do not respect a tragedy and instead try to exploit it,” said Scott Petry, vice president of products and engineering at Postini, an enterprise email security and management company.

Experts said that phishing attempts usually begin two to three days after a disaster, once public awareness about the event increases and there is widespread coverage of the incident.

This makes the timing for the current wave of Katrina-related spam and phishing just right, said Susan Larson, vice president of global threat analysis and research at SurfControl of Scotts Valley, California.

“Just last night, President Bush brought the former Presidents Clinton and Bush on national television to start the relief campaign,” said Ms. Larson. “Once the money is flowing and the relief is legitimized, then the scams will prey on these sites, putting up spoofed ones and even trying to compromise the legitimate ones.”

Spam and phishing attempts in the wake of the Katrina tragedy have increased the demand for Internet domain names that contain references to the disaster.

eBay currently lists a number of domain names related to Hurricane Katrina for sale with claims that proceeds will go for relief work. But Johannes Ullrich, chief research officer at Sans Institute, a computer security training and research company, said that more often than not it will be used by online con artists.

“We have seen an increase in the number of sites registered with the URL relating to Hurricane Katrina in some way,” said Mr. Ullrich. “A vast majority of this has happened in the last few days.”

Creative Crooks

Online scammers are coming up with some creative ways to dupe users. Sophos, a United Kingdom-based IT security company, has issued a warning about a spam campaign that poses as a news report about Hurricane Katrina. The email entices readers with a fake news story and then asks them to click onto a link to read more. The link takes them to a fake web site that tries to infect their PCs with malware.

Sophos says a typical example of this kind of email reads like this:

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said Tuesday that Hurricane Katrina killed as many as 80 people in his state, and burst levees in Louisiana flooded New Orleans.

Just before daybreak Tuesday, Katrina, now a tropical storm, was 35 miles northeast of Tupelo, Miss., moving north-northeast with winds of 50 mph. Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center said the amount of rainfall has been adjusted downward Monday.

Read More..

The “Read More” link pretends to have a more complete version of the story, but in reality tries to install malicious code to give hackers control of a victim’s computer, said Sophos.

“Receiving or reading the emails themselves does not mean you are infected,” said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. But clicking on the link could be dangerous, he said.

There are not just attempts to solicit donations using the plight of Hurricane Katrina’s victims. Enterprise security company SurfControl said it has seen web sites that foment religious intolerance and use that to ask for donations.

“We are seeing a lot of hate sites that characterize the disaster as the wrath of God and have asked users to donate to them,” said Ms. Larson. “This only shows that anytime there is a topical and emotional event it will be used by scammers to trigger people into an immediate response.”

On the Case

FBI spokesperson Paul Bresson said that the phishing attempts and other Katrina-related scams have been noticed by the agency.

“It has come to our attention that there are some web sites that may be operating under the guise of being legitimate organizations trying to provide relief to victims of Hurricane Katrina,” said Mr. Bresson. “We are actively looking into tracing the owners of these sites.”

But until the FBI can accomplish that, security experts said that online users are better off following a few rules. “If people want to donate money they should do it through the well-known organizations like the Red Cross or Project Hope,” said Postini’s Mr. Petry.

Mr. Petry also suggested that in the wake of the widespread phishing attempts users should try and mail a check if they want to donate to an organization that they are not familiar with, instead of making an online donation.

SANS Institute said those who do wish to donate via the Internet should check the charity’s credentials through the IRS web site, which lists all the nonprofit organizations registered with it.

For more information and articles visit: http://www.MagazineMillions.com
http://www.LanceGroom.com

My name is Lance Groom and I am formally from the Hit TV Show "Making Money", also past board member for "Susan Powter" health fitness, and Infomercial guru. In 2001 I led one of the largest advertising campaigns in over 6,000 newspapers. This campaign resulted in over 25,000 sales all over the world creating "Classified Millions".

This week I’m an entirely different kind of road warrior. Usually I’m the type that lugs my laptop from city to city telecommuting my way across the nation. This month I’ve had a few weeks in the office – my real office in downtown Richmond, not my virtual office. The complaint I have is the treacherous commute from the West End into the city via I-64 West and I-195 South. The roads are atrocious! One day recently I thought my entire tire would be swallowed by a pothole – let me rephrase that – a pot crater!

I’ve been so distracted by trying to avoid the gaping holes in the road I forgot to be a good defensive driver – keeping alert to what other cars around me are doing. In the few decades that I have been driving, I’ve become quite adept at avoiding road obstacles the likes of branches, traffic cones, the occasional lost shoe and most important – road kill. However, the vast quantity of craters lately has made it impossible to navigate the roads without falling into a few holes during my daily commute. I haven’t even been able to enjoy my new 100% Funk CD because of the irritating and damaging potholes.

Last weekend, I made the trek to my mother’s house and finally hit a nice patch of road (Route 17) and was able to let my mind wander a bit while humming along to War’s “Low Rider.” It occurred to me that maintaining a highway system is a lot like running an IT department. Seriously, think about it – what do they call roads and bridges – infrastructure. What are our computer systems running on – the infrastructure. I’m like a little IP packet on the network! Do you see what direction I’m headed (pun intended)?

Much like a highway, our IT systems need constant care to allow optimum efficiency for our users. Ah ha! – Potholes are bad and must be patched. Think of security patches as the asphalt used to fill potholes! Just think if we never patched our roads – it would be a nightmare; our vehicles (and lives) would be in constant jeopardy. The health of our IT systems is likewise in jeopardy when we fail to provide appropriate care.

There are more similarities, for example, capacity planning, ensuring quality materials are used, evaluating vendors, establishing service level agreements, and so forth. In fact, I listened to the remainder of my new CD on that part of the ride just thinking of the parallels. It is important to focus on some of the basics of security planning and practices to keep our systems safe, secure and optimized.

The Computer Security Institute (CSI) released its annual Computer Crime and Security Survey recently. The results of that report and others have prompted me to focus on some security basics this week. Of nearly 500 IT and security managers surveyed, 53% have experienced an attack within the past 12 months. The cost of such security breaches was estimated at $141 million. The number one type of attack was denial-of-service (DoS) accounting for about 18% of the total cost of these invasions.

Another study, conducted by Deloitte & Touche, indicated that 83% of financial services companies acknowledge an outside break-in within the past year. OUCH! About 40% of the companies polled indicated they had suffered financial losses due to the attacks. Ironically, more than 25% of the firms said that their security budgets had stayed flat over the past 12 months and nearly 10% actually had their budgets cut!

On top of that swell news, the General Accounting Office reported that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s (FDIC) IT systems place critical financial information at risk of unauthorized disclosure, disruption of operations and loss of assets. Maybe Grandma knew what she was doing when she stuffed her money in the cookie jar; at least if some was missing from it, she could narrow the culprits down to family members.

Let’s face it, cyberpredators are part of life and we must be diligent in our efforts to fight them! Many experts agree that most home computer users as well as small and medium businesses (SMB) are typically not proactively addressing security issues. The experts have outlined the basics to addressing security risks as follows:

Develop a risk management plan for IT assets. There should be a process in place for the identification, analysis, control and communication of risks. Managing risk is critical to the success of any business. A plan will allow for proper allocation of staff and financial resources to address issues.

In some organizations, such as financial institutions, health care organizations, etc., regulatory compliance issues must top the worry list. In your business there may be other high-risk areas, such as remote access for mobile workers, electronic transactions, retention of data and the like.

Document your infrastructure – map it out in a graphics package such as Microsoft® Visio®. Then imagine a series of ever-expanding circles around your critical data stores. Each of the circles will represent a layer of technology and risk. Remember that attacks can, and do, come from both inside the infrastructure and externally.

Starting with some of the basics, ask yourself if you are keeping track of users on your network(s). Are you auditing to ensure that unneeded accounts are promptly removed? Have you checked lately to determine if some staff members have been granted authorities they shouldn’t have? If you have found anomalies, have these been properly addressed? Have password policies been followed properly?

Are you checking for rogue applications on the network? Instant messaging and peer-to-peer applications are the kiss of death! Do you have remote users on the network? How do these users access the network and from where – a home computer can be the open door for hackers to help themselves to your data.

Invest in a perimeter firewall; consider one that includes antivirus and antispam features. Don’t forget about e-mail content filtering – we don’t want rogue executables and other inappropriate material entering our systems from attachments in user e-mail. Consider using an expert to install and set up the device or software, as they can be tricky even for an experienced network administrator to configure.

Make sure that mobile devices are configured with desktop firewalls and antivirus software. Think about all the places you plug in your own laptop; your perimeter devices will not stop any malicious code that enters the infrastructure from the office front door!

Consider software that will automatically look for vendor updates upon connection to the Internet or on a regular basis to keep pattern files fresh.

Moving in closer to your data, take a look at operating systems. Have you applied all of the recommended patches to servers, desktops and applications? Remember the MSBlast worm? The vulnerability it exploited had been known for nearly a month before it infected at least 8 million machines! The Slammer worm infected tens of thousands of systems in less than ten minutes! Proactive patch management is essential, and, folks, it really must be automated in your environment to make deployment fast and economical. Before deploying mobile PCs to staff, configure them to perform automated updates with OS, firewall and antivirus vendors.

While this list is quite obviously not all-encompassing, following it will be a good start on the road to developing a risk-management approach to security. Set your baseline, identify your vulnerabilities, prioritize the risks, establish written controls and set repeatable, widely understood, broadly distributed policies and procedures for all users to follow. Once this phase is complete, it is essential to comprehensively test and audit the processes regularly to ensure continued success.

Let’s see – what might I share with the Virginia Department of Transportation to help them mitigate risk on our roadways? Since I’ve been reading about an ongoing problem VDOT has with office cyberslackers, I would say “reassign that office staff to pothole patrol! This will keep them from idling away business hours and make our roads safer to traverse.” Be safe out there!

Donna Johnson Edwards has more than 20 years’ experience implementing and managing IT projects for companies including the Federal Judiciary, IBM/Lotus and Hamilton Beach Proctor-Silex, where she was the senior member of the New Enterprise Technology Team.

Her clients include Fortune 100, 500 and 1,000 companies as well as not-for-profit entities. Her background includes both the technical and the business aspects of IT projects.

The Internet is supposed to be an even better invention since the invention of slice bread, but it is the most abused media today.

Why is that, you might ask?

Simple, there are many merchants online selling crappy ebooks and software programs, because ebook Internet marketing is big business, once you figure out that 70 percent of the users don’t request a refund.

You can set-up a clickbank account and be in business within an hour, but clickbank has the best refund policy for protecting their buyers.

Well, this article will open the eyes of any newcomer and show you in exactly seven easy steps: "How to spot a bad purchase before you buy."

1) Check Copyright Notice In The Footer Of That Website.

The first thing you should always do when deciding if you want to buy a certain product is to look at the copyright notice in the footer of the page.

If a program is 3 years old online, it is outdated, please walk away from such a purchase, the material your buying is based on old technology that might not be working today.

2) Check Traffic Statistics Of That Site.

This is the worse I have ever seen, you browse over to this SEO site, selling a search engine optimization ebook. The wording on the site is extremely good, it makes you want to get a number one ranking online, but, please get real.

Hold on to your card, let’s see how much visitors such a site is really getting on a daily basis.

Browse over to alexa.com and insert the URL of that site, click on view traffic details, and check alexa ranking for this site.

If this site isn’t averaging at least 100 visitors per day, then how can they help you optimize your site, while they can’t even optimize their own site for higher rankings.

3) Send A Simple Email For Checking The Response Time.

I always like to send an email to the webmaster or owner of that site. In that email I simply ask: What is the number one benefit your product will assist me with if I make this purchase?

That question is only to get a response, and see how long it takes for an answer. The response time is an indication as to the quality of service I can expect from this company.

If the response isn’t within a day or two, I simply go looking elsewhere. There are tons of the same products online, go searching for a better choice.

4) Go To The Forums And Ask About That Product.

The forums are a goldmine online, they have many talented and experienced marketers that visit them often. So, if you need to know about a certain product just post a question pertaining to your purchase and you can be guaranteed an answer.

You can also do inquiries about the author or creator of any product. Now the advice in some forums can differ, because some forums are not trustworthy. For advice you can trust visit, associateprograms.com, they haven’t let me down so far.

5) Do A Search On Yahoo or Google For A Product Review.

If in doubt, do a search online for a review of that product. There are many marketers online who will give an honest review of any product they have used.

Product reviews has one flaw, most reviews are posted by affiliates of that product, meaning that they make a commission if you purchase. Some of the reviewers has never seen or heard of that product, but they write a review based on the site content and the commission they get if you do buy.

So, as a bench mark I check the amount of websites that is reviewing that product, the more results the safer I feel with my purchase.

6) The Quality And Content Of The Site.

I seldom purchase from any site that doesn’t have quality graphics and content that flows as you read. It has to capture my attention and keep me reading. Now, I must admit, if it is someone I know who produces quality products online, I don’t look for graphics or anything else.

7) If The Above Didn’t Help, Then Just Go By The Old Saying:

"If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is." Use your own judgement and read the content and make sure there is a money back Guarantee, and use it if your not satisfied with your purchase.

I have also had many problems getting back refunds, so I now judge any purchase I make based on those seven points and I have not had to request any refunds.

It is your hard earned money, be wise and make sound choices before you go and purchase any products online.

Alexander Marlin, Ebenezer St. Maarten A.N.

Has been actively marketing on the Internet for over 3 years, he discovered a new way of reducing the cost to build a website that is fully optimized. One of his many websites can be found at http://how-to-build-website.com

Spyware is a category of malicious software that secretly obtains information about a computer user’s and sends it to a third party without the user’s consent. For example, a piece of spyware running on an infected computer can obtain the user’s bank account number when online banking, user’s username and password when online trading or the user’s credit card number when shopping online.

No computer user is 100% safe from spyware, however it is primarily a concern for users of Microsoft Windows operating systems. The safest bet to avoid being a victim of spyware is to use an alternative operating system like Linux or Mac OS X, however if you are unable or unwilling to leave Windows, there are some steps you can take to protect yourself.

Ditch Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer contains a technology called ActiveX that allows malicious web sites to install software on the browser’s computer without the user’s consent, this ability has been a boon for spyware writers and distributors. Alternative browsers include Firefox and Opera.

Ditch Outlook Express

Outlook express contains several security vulnerabilities spyware distributors use to infect computers. Instead of Outlook express you can use an online email system like GMail or Yahoo mail, or install an alternate email client like Thunderbird.

Install Anti-Spyware Software

There are some tools that will scan your computer and detect and remove spyware. Some of the most popular ones include Spybot-Search and Destroy and Ad-Aware.

Install a Firewall

Hardware firewalls can be obtained for a reasonable price these days, most routers (both wired and wireless) provide firewalls in addition to their primary purpose of allowing multiple computers to share broadband internet connection. Software firewalls can be installed on Windows computers as well.

Conclusion

While nobody is completely safe from spyware, by taking these simple measures the risk of getting infected are greatly reduced.

David Heffelfinger is a software engineer with over 10 years of experience developing enterprise software applications. He is editor in chief of Ensode.net, a technology web site providing information about Java, Linux and other technology topics. He can be contacted via email at dheffelfinger@ensode.net

You must be cautious before you use all the Internet offers, be vigilant while purchasing anything from net.

At time of online shopping take care of the following to make your net shopping experience quite enjoyable.

Always prefer a protected browser: This software facilitates you to steer the Internet. Make sure the browser you are using, meet the terms of industry security values like Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). This software helps to protect your transaction.

You can download these browsers for free of cost over the Internet; however, nearly all computers have browser software installed.

Shop with known companies: There are lots of online shopping sites that will lure you by mouth-watering offer, but prefer to shop with the companies you know. You can also have an idea about new shopping sites by demanding for a catalog or brochure. Also, go through its money back and return guidelines before you place order.

Keep privacy for password(s): Never unveil your password to anyone. At all times try to use unique password that you only can make-out. Do not use birth date, mobile no., a telephone number etc as your password.

Be careful while paying by credit or charge card: Some companies offer an online shopping assurance that you won’t get any liabilities for unauthorized charges made online, however many cards facilitate added warranty, return and/or purchase protection benefits.

At all time keep a purchase order copy: Prefer to keep a copy of your purchase order and proof for your records.

Paras Yadav is freelance Article and Content writer, having experience of creating and editing over 3500 articles.

You can contact Paras Yadav at: reach2paras@gmail.com

In early 2005 Webroot Software released its State of Spyware Report which was conducted by Webroot and Earthlink. In the survey over 4.6 million computer systems were scanned during 2004 and the results have shown how threatening spyware has become.

It was suggested that more than 90 percent of all computers with internet connections are infected with spyware. During the first quarter of 2005 approximately 88 percent of systems scanned with Webroot’s SpyAudit software had some sort of unwanted application detected.

On corporate computers over 55 percent of PCs had unwanted programs, excluding cookies because they are thought not to be as intrusive or detrimental. The corporate computers averaged 7.2 non-cookie spyware infections per computer.

In 2004 the last quarter yielded 19 percent of consumer and business computers with keyloggers and in the first quarter of 2005 that number had dropped to 7 percent, according to systems scanned with Webroot’s software. In both the last quarter of 2004 and first quarter of 2005 19 percent of consumer PCs and 7 percent of business PCs had Trojans.

Another daunting piece of information gather through online research by Phileas is that 4,294 sites were found to have some type of spyware. This information has proven that in a short amount of time spyware has skyrocketed into the top internet threat. As the internet become a rapidly growing medium used by millions online threats such as spyware can thrive and spread a quick rate, infecting and damaging nearly all user unless protective measures are taken.

Mitch Johnson is a successful freelance author that writes regularly for http://www.1st-in-spyware.com/ , a site that focuses exclusively on spyware removal software, as well as tips on how to prevent spyware from popping up on your computer. This site articles on has spyware guard, http://www.easy-spyware-killer.info/ as well as spyware scanner, http://www.easy-remove-spyware.info/

Dear Mr. Hacker

I hope your head hurts this morning and I hope your fingernails fall out…

I had to think long and hard about not wishing this on your malice. When you work hard in making a success in business,(yes it all comes down to sheer hard work) you do expect a negative reaction from people with malice and jealousy in their mind make up.

You outdid yourself. You made me more determinded to make this a success.

You know we have launched our Magical Casino site at last and worked non stop on marketing, to get our site out in the big old world. Is that why you were sniffing around my PC all night?

Clever too, I grant you that, to use the MsTask, so that the tinbrain thinks you are legit in the world of numbers and letters.

I try and stay amused, for you did not quite succeed. You kept me and my internet gurus awake most of the night but the fact that I am writing and posting you this letter, would show that blind faith shines a light in the darkest moments of internet hacking nightmares.

Jokes aside. We are living in the 20th century with computers and cell phones and high tech ways of communicating BUT with all this brilliant technology comes trojans, hackers, worms, and what not.

We must be doing something right because we had all three of the above seeping through our computers causing irritation, frustration and not to mention a loss of sleep.

A firewall or antivirus is like a birthcontrol pill. It is never 100% safe. I saw this last night, hacker of the darkness.

You need to understand though, that as much as you had fun in making me dance around my internet service provider, explaining the possible spam coming from my tin brain, I have fun, knowing that whatever you wished for me to go through, will be returned to you by the good forces of the universe.

Luckily our site is hosted at another location so guess what…?

Evil Trojans, hackers and worms
Spite and malice WILL make you squirm
Our site is protected by the power of three
As I speak so must it be!!!

Funny how negative situations can be turned around into positive ones. These little monsters got the juices flowing and look, we have created yet another opportunity to send all the bad, back to its source.

http://www.magicalcasino.co.za