Archive for February, 2008

Monday, February 18th, 2008

Top 20 Consumer Complaints From 2007

The American Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has released its Top 20 consumer fraud complaints for last year. And guess which one was at the top of the list?

For the seventh year in a row, identity theft was tops at 32% of the 813,899 complaints received. The average loss per person was $349. [...]

1 Comment » - Posted in News by Syd Tash

Saturday, February 16th, 2008

Keep Your Browser Neat & Tidy

The new year is well under way now, so it is a good time to take a fresh look at your computer, and see what secrets it may be keeping from you. If you have an antivirus program, a firewall and two antispyware programs, AND you keep everything up to date including Windows, then [...]

3 Comments » - Posted in Featured by Syd Tash

Friday, February 15th, 2008

Check Downloaded Files Here

I have often mentioned to you not to download anything from the Internet unless you really need it and will use it, and it is from a trusted, known source.

If you are going to download a file, update all your security programs first, including Windows. Create a Restore Point if you like. [...]

No Comments » - Posted in Alerts by Syd Tash

Friday, February 15th, 2008

A Solution for Those Endless Phishing Scams?

Up to 80% of email from large companies, banks and ISPs is fraudulent, or a phishing scam, according to a recent report. However, a powerful new tool is coming, to help us fight these scams. It is called DomainKeys Identified Mail, or DKIM, and has been under development for four years now. [...]

2 Comments » - Posted in News by Syd Tash

Wednesday, February 13th, 2008

The Storm Worm, An Apple Update, and Beer!

I have been writing about the Storm worm for more than a year. It just keeps on changing and coming at us. In the past, Storm has used certain holidays to send out a flood of emails containing a link to an e-card.

You are urged to click the link to download your [...]

No Comments » - Posted in Alerts, Updates by Syd Tash

Monday, February 11th, 2008

Update Firefox Now, and Windows Tomorrow

A Firefox update is available, to version 2.0.0.12. The fix includes 10 patches, of which three are critical. The flaws could allow an attacker to steal your History, or hijack your computer. There are also repairs to some plug-ins. If you use Firefox at all, update now. Launch the browser, [...]

No Comments » - Posted in Updates by Syd Tash

Saturday, February 9th, 2008

Set Permissions & Secure Your Files

I usually write about safety and security on the Internet. Security starts with your own computer, especially if you share your PC with other family members or co-workers. In that case, you probably want to keep prying eyes out of your files and information. You can easily do this by setting up individual [...]

No Comments » - Posted in Featured by Syd Tash

Friday, February 8th, 2008

Apple Finally Fixes QuickTime

Apple has issued a fix for a bug in its QuickTime media player that was first publicized back on Jan. 10.

The update fixes a flaw in the way QuickTime handles streaming video and other media. (It also fixes some incompatibilities between QuickTime and Adobe Premiere, used to capture and edit video, and Adobe [...]

1 Comment » - Posted in Updates by Syd Tash

Thursday, February 7th, 2008

The Tax Man (and the Scammers) Cometh

Tax season is just around the corner in Canada and the U.S., and you know what that means. Yep, the scammers, hackers and criminals are coming out of the woodwork, to try and relieve you of your confidential information and your cash.

In the U.S., tax rebate checks are supposedly on the way, once [...]

1 Comment » - Posted in Alerts by Syd Tash

Wednesday, February 6th, 2008

Internet Explorer 7 is Coming – Maybe

The next batch of updates for Windows will be released next week on Feb. 12, as usual. What is not usual is that Microsoft has announced Internet Explorer 7 will be included. Whether you like it or not. Sort of.

At first it appeared that the IE 7 upgrade would be pushed onto [...]

No Comments » - Posted in Updates by Syd Tash