How to beat the fraudsters

We've all seen them: e-mails that look as if they come from your bank, your credit card company or your favourite social networking site. Most often, they claim to be updating their records, although the excuses can include a security upgrade or a systems crash.

And most often they're a con, designed by criminals to get us to click through to a clone of a genuine website and input all the information they need to impersonate us, take our money and run.

This is a form of one of the fastest-growing crimes of the 21st century, in which crooks get hold of enough of your personal data to empty your accounts and borrow money in your name, damaging your credit rating in the process.

Increasing risk
Apacs - the national body representing banks, building societies and card issuers - reports that it's booming. They received more than 10,000 reports of phishing attacks in the first three months of 2008, an astonishing increase of more than 200% over the 3,394 attacks reported in the same period during 2007.

"We've seen a significant spike in consumer concerns over phishing scams in the past few months," said David Cresswell of the Financial Ombudsman Service. "This suggests that large numbers of people are receiving phishing e-mails and not knowing what they are or whether they should respond to them."

So here's a quick guide that will help you to beat the phishermen and keep your ID and your money safe.

• Don’t open any attachments – they could contain a computer program that will infiltrate your computer and relay your data to criminals.

• Delete unsolicited e-mails asking for sensitive data such as passwords, Pins and account numbers – genuine organisations will not ask you for these.

• If in doubt, call the organisation concerned at a number you find on the internet or in the phone book – don’t use the number given in the e-mail, as it’s likely to be part of the con.

• Always access your online bank, building society or credit card company by typing the full url into your browser – don’t click a link embedded in an e-mail, as it could be taking you to a clone site.

• Never give your login details, Pins, passwords, memorable words or other personal details such as your mother’s maiden name in full by e-mail.

• Install the latest or get antivirus security for your computer and virus help protection programs on your computer – Apacs research found that although 93% of people have anti-virus software in place, 29% of us haven’t got around to installing anti-spyware programs.

• Check for the lock padlock or unbroken key symbols at the bottom right of your browser when you log on to what is supposedly a secure website for an organisation such as a bank. The start of the internet address will also change from "http" to "https" when you connect to a secure page.

• Take care not to be overlooked if you are inputting sensitive data at an internet café, public computer or laptop in a public place – crooks can shoulder surf you. If is better to opt for a good computer security software beforehand.
  

• Check your credit report regularly to be sure that nobody is trying to borrow money in your name. This is your history of credit cards, loans, mortgages and other credit accounts. It includes applications, so you can instantly see if anyone is trying to borrow money in your name.

source: http://money.uk.msn.com/banking/id-fraud/Article.aspx?cp-documentid=8342745

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Q While online I got infected by the VirusHeat program to get the virus help I got two security-related icons on my desktop and one on my toolbar that took me to the VirusHeat Web page, which is about computer security and maintenance. I used the instructions on Symantec's antivirus website to try to remove the VirusHeat software, but my PC is still infected, and it freezes about every two minutes until I close a dialog box. Any suggestions?

WALLY BERGLUND, MAPLE GROVE

A VirusHeat surfaced on the Internet in February, but it's only a threat if you install it on your PC. Symantec calls it a "misleading application that may give exaggerated reports of threats" to your PC.

Since you've already tried Symantec's removal method (others can find it at , try using the Windows System Restore feature to return your computers registry (which contains the settings for the PC's hardware and software) to a date before VirusHeat was installed. (It and other programs installed since that date will stop working.) To find System Restore, go to Start, click Help and Support, search for System Restore and click "Run the System Restore Wizard."

Q I would like to store my photos and iTunes music on an external hard drive so that I can delete them from my PC's internal drive and free up space. Do these external drives crash frequently? How reliable are flash drives for long-term storage?

LARRY RICCA, LAS VEGAS

A Disk crashes aren't that frequent, although any hard drive will fail eventually because it has mechanical parts that wear out. Flash memory also eventually will wear out from use, even though it lacks moving parts. However, flash memory is the more expensive of the two, so today it's more practical to store a large volume of photos or music on a disk drive.

source : http://www.startribune.com/science/18901669.html

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Laptop ER helps students fix spyware, virus problems

Laptop ER" might sound like the title of a bad parody sketch, but it's actually a campus organization that rescues students concerned about the health of their computers.

Laptop ER, a service provided by Northwestern University Information Technology, comprises approximately 40 students who work from different locations across campus. From a single site, these students give computer help and support to others with laptop issues on a first-come, first-serve basis.

In the past, IT specialists made visits to dorm rooms to diagnose and fix computer problems, but NUIT deemed that process inefficient.

At the beginning of last year, NUIT began to phase in the current Laptop ER system, and eventually phased out on-site visits for laptop problems completely.

"Basically everyone has a laptop now," said Weinberg senior Peter Chang, who was working for Laptop ER at the Norris University Center couches Tuesday afternoon. "It's easier for us to set up stations around campus and have people come to us."

Laptop ER specialists set up stations every afternoon Sunday through Friday at hubs of student activity on campus. The exact hours and locations can be found online at NUIT's Web site, which also notes that the organization will still visit student residences for any problems encountered with desktop computers.

Though they do not promise to fix all laptop woes, the Laptop ER "doctors" do whatever they can to fix students' problems within certain limits.

"We don't support hardware issues," said Weinberg junior James Jones who was working alongside Chang on Tuesday.

Jones added they can fix just about any problem "if it's on the software end."

"Basic problems like that, or if there's some kind of problem with your windows operating system - we can try to help fix that," Jones said.

On Tuesday, a student came in who was having problems connecting her new computer to NU's wireless network. Chang took the laptop and began going through the basic steps to figure out what was plaguing the student's computer, and took the necessary steps to fix her machine.

Laptop ER representatives have to meet a few basic qualifications to make sure that people who fix student computers do so in a correct and professional manner.

"We have to have pretty standard technical backgrounds," Jones said.

He said skills for a typical "doctor" include recognizing and dealing with issues, such as spyware, viruses and computer troubleshooting tips, wireless networks, to get virus help they used latest antivirus.

Chang added that technical skills are not a prerequisite for working for Laptop ER.

"We're looking for people with good customer skills," Chang said. "If you don't have that many (computer) skills, we have training every week."

source : media.www.dailynorthwestern.com/media/storage/paper853/news/2008/04/22/Campus/Laptop.Er.Helps.Students.Fix.Spyware.Virus.Problems-3340735.shtml

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Q: I have a Dell Dimension 2400 PC, about four years old, that is getting slower and slower. By slow, I mean that it takes about a half-hour after you turn it on to settle down so that it is usable. Once it does get "warmed up" the response is very slow, and it frequently hangs up for a minute or more. If you try to do two things at once, that generally causes a five-minute freeze, accompanied by furious clicking but no action. I have done the obvious things like defrag and disk cleanup and there isn't an excessive number of files (large or otherwise) stored in memory.

The operating system is XP Home and security is McAfee with firewall. I scan the computer regularly with McAfee and with a program that detects adware, so I don't think I have been hacked.

Not that my friends are really all that tech-savvy, but one suggested that the hard drive is about to pack it in. What do you think? If you agree, do you think it is worth fixing, or should I get a new box?

Jim King

A: You've raised two of the most frequently asked questions I get: Why is my computer slowing down? Should I upgrade or buy a new computer? How to fix a slow computer ?

The most common causes of sudden slowdowns in performance are (1) insufficient memory for the applications you're running, (2) an overfull or fragmentated hard drive, (3) a misbehaving application or (4) a virus or hacker.

If you have too little system memory for the applications you're running, Windows will save data to your hard drive. That takes time. As a result, you'll experience slow performance and long pauses.

If your hard drive is too full and fragmented — which means that files are saved in scattered fashion across the drive — it can take longer for Windows to save data and load applications.

If applications aren't properly written, they can occupy so much processor time that other operations are delayed.

Finally, of course, a virus or a hacker can bollix everything up. A hacker or a virus can take control of your computer and use up its resources, leaving you not enough memory or disk space to go about your business.

So how do you figure out which malady you're suffering from? Windows provides a number of online virus help tools diagnose the problem. First, you'll want to call up the Task Manager. Right-click in your system bar along the bottom of the screen and select Task Manager. Next, click on the Performance tab in the utility that pops up. You'll get a display of how much memory is being used and how much your CPU is in use. If your memory usage is above 80 percent, you'll want to explore what is eating up your memory. You can do this by clicking on the Processes tab. If you find that all the memory is being used by legitimate applications, you may want to consider adding memory.

It's true that it can be very difficult to track down memory "leaks" to their source, since many of the processes are obtusely named, but at least the Task Manager will tip you off if a major leak is happening.

As for the condition of your hard drive, you can go to the Disk Defragmenter tool to find out. Click on the Start button and then go to \Programs\Accessories\System Tools and select Disk Defragmenter. As for whether your hard drive needs to be replaced, chances are it doesn't. Grinding sounds or complete failure are more common indicators of drive deterioration.

Finally, while you mentioned that you're running a firewall to deter hackers, it's also important to have up-to-date antivirus support services to secure your computer software.

Since you're having performance issues at initial startup, I'd lean toward the problem being either a misbehaving program or a virus. Before replacing hardware, I'd suggest a reinstallation of your operating system and application software after reformatting the drive.

With the low prices on new computers these days, I certainly wouldn't recommend spending much replacing hardware in your old computer when you're not sure about the problem. And if you do replace the computer, consider donating your old computer to a worthy cause.

source: seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2004374784_ptmrsh26.html

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