How to Choose a Firewall

Three basic types of firewalls are available for you to choose from: Software firewalls Hardware routers Wireless routers To determine which type of firewall is best for you, answer these questions and record your answers: How many computers will use the firewall? What operating system do you use? (This might be a version of Microsoft Windows, Apple Macintosh, or Linux.) That’s it. You are now ready to think about what type of firewall you want to use....

January 13, 2009 · 2 min · 380 words · Omid Farhang

Check for Windows Updates

3 Step to make sure your windows is fully updated and patched to have fast, stable and secure windows: Update windows, office and other Microsoft products automatically: Microsoft Update Check for update for common windows programs: FileHippo.com Update Checker Check if you have insecure program using Secunia

January 13, 2009 · 1 min · 47 words · Omid Farhang

Checklist: Protecting your business, your employees and your customers

Checklist: Protecting your business, your employees and your customers Do Unsubscribe from legitimate mailings that you no longer want to receive. When signing up to receive mail, verify what additional items you are opting into at the same time. De-select items you do not want to receive. Be selective about the Web sites where you register your email address. Avoid publishing your email address on the Internet. Consider alternate options – for ex-ample, use a separate address when signing up for mailing lists, get multiple addresses for multiple purposes, or look into disposable address services....

January 13, 2009 · 2 min · 337 words · Omid Farhang

Cleanup Windows Hard Disk

The Disk Cleanup tool helps you free up space on your hard disk to improve the performance of your computer. The tool identifies files that you can safely delete, and then enables you to choose whether you want to delete some or all of the identified files. Why Cleanup Remove temporary Internet files. Remove downloaded program files (such as Microsoft ActiveX controls and Java applets). Empty the Recycle Bin. Remove Windows temporary files such as error reports....

January 13, 2009 · 3 min · 509 words · Omid Farhang

Firewall

A firewall is an application which controls network traffic to and from a computer, permitting or denying communications based on a security policy. A personal firewall differs from a conventional firewall in terms of scale. Personal firewalls are typically designed for use by end-users. As a result, a personal firewall will usually protect only the computer on which it is installed. Many personal firewalls are able to control network traffic by prompting the user each time a connection is attempted and adapting security policy accordingly....

January 13, 2009 · 2 min · 337 words · Omid Farhang

How to handle suspicious e-mail

There are good reasons to be suspicious of e-mail. Some e-mail messages might be phishing scams, some might carry viruses. Images in spam e-mail might turn out to be pornographic, or to include Web beacons, which can be adapted to secretly send a message back to the sender. Follow these guidelines to help protect yourself when suspicious mail shows up in your Inbox. If you receive a phishing e-mail message, do not respond to it....

January 13, 2009 · 5 min · 885 words · Omid Farhang

How to recognize phishing e-mails or links

A few clues can help you spot fraudulent e-mail messages or links within them. What does a phishing e-mail look like? Phishing e-mail messages are designed to steal your identity. They ask for personal data, or direct you to Web sites or phone numbers to call where they ask you to provide personal data. Phishing e-mail messages take a number of forms: They might appear to come from your bank or financial institution, a company you regularly do business with, such as Microsoft, or from your social networking site....

January 13, 2009 · 4 min · 749 words · Omid Farhang

Phishing

What is phishing? Phishing (pronounced “fishing”) is a type of online identity theft. It uses e-mail and fraudulent Web sites that are designed to steal your personal data or information such as credit card numbers, passwords, account data, or other information. Con artists might send millions of fraudulent e-mail messages with links to fraudulent Web sites that appear to come from Web sites you trust, like your bank or credit card company, and request that you provide personal information....

January 13, 2009 · 3 min · 498 words · Omid Farhang

Spam

Spam is any kind of unwanted online communication. The most common form of spam is unwanted e-mail. You can also get text message spam, instant message spam (sometimes known as spim), and social networking spam. Some spam is annoying but harmless. However, some spam is part of an identity theft scam or another kind of fraud. Identity theft spam is often called a phishing scam. To protect yourself against e-mail spam, use e-mail software with built-in spam filtering....

January 13, 2009 · 1 min · 101 words · Omid Farhang

What to do if you've responded to a phishing scam

If you suspect that you’ve responded to a phishing scam with personal or financial information, take these steps to minimize any damage. Step 1: Report the incident Contact the following authorities: Your credit card company, if you have given your credit card information. The sooner an organization knows your account may have been compromised, the easier it will be for them to help protect you. The company that you believe was forged....

January 13, 2009 · 2 min · 282 words · Omid Farhang