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Surfing Safety

Some old scams have raised their ugly heads again to make Surfing Safety an important issue to review. PC users believe that most viruses ride into their PC in email messages. Sometimes this does happen, but most email is filtered for viruses at least once before delivery to your email box.

What cannot be filtered is links to other web sites. So an email that says click on this link to view something interesting is a dangerous email. This also happens with www.facebook.com, www.utube.com, and instant messenger links to other sites. Such links are not tested to be safe and secure.

The worst are spoofing or phishing (pronounced fishing) emails. These look like legitimate emails from your bank, or credit card company right down to the logo and the www.bankofamerica.com link. They always ask you to fix your account by clicking on the link below. The link may say www.bankofamerica.com, but it does not take you to the Bank of America site. Also, some scams and spoofing duplicates legitimate businesses and shopping sites. They seek to capture information from you as though they were a legitimate business. Once they get your information bad things can happen.

If you mistype a web site name or a query in a search engine, that often connects you to a bad web site. All bad sites use your web browser software – Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, or others to load ActiveX (Internet Explorer) or Java (all the other browsers) programs into your PC. These programs capture information, download spyware, or worse.

Lesser evils are tool bars known technically as browser helper objects (BHOs). They filter or steer you to what they want you to see and exclude other sites that may have helpful information. BHO are not helpers, they are web filters. Cookies are like claim checks. When you enter web site you are given a cookie (claim check). Some cookies are sent to third parties for marketing statistical purposes. When you return to the web site the web site retrieves the cookie stored on your PC and uses it to customize or direct you to merchandise advertisements you are likely to buy.

What can you do to protect yourself? Use common sense and Surfing protection.

Common sense should alert you whenever something sounds too good to be true, it is not true and will lead to disastrous consequences. Never click on an email link to your account. Whenever I go to Bank of America, I always open a new web browser widow and type in www.bankofamerica.com. Be very suspicious of any unsolicited request for personal information. Best to call the business enterprise using a telephone to check on whether they are looking for the information before providing it.

Surfing protection is provided by Spybot Search and Destroy from Safernetworking Ltd. It immunizes your PC so when a bad site is requested, the immunization loops the request directly back to your PC. You never reach the bad site. Comodo antivirus runs programs inside a sandbox or save virtual image of your PC. In this manner the programs are prevented for accessing your PC’s vulnerable areas. Comodo also provides special Domain Name Service servers that make sure Domain Names are matched with legitimate IP addresses. When a domain name is looked up by one of Comodo’s DNS servers, they check and verify that it is a legitimate name and that it matches the legitimate IP address. When it does not match, you get an error message saving you from connecting to a bad site. A similar feature that examines web links to check for nefarious sites is implemented in Norton, McAfee, and AVG antivirus software and others.

A good safety strategy is to eliminate all tool bars. Just uninstall them all. They do not help and they slow down your PC. Just think common sense and safety out there when surfing the World Wide Web (WWW).


Link to governmentsecurity.org: "Safe Web Surfing Tips"

P. D. Moulton and Dial A Nerd, a local Columbia, Ellicott City, Howard County, Maryland(MD) PC repair, computer repair, laptop computer repair, Wi-Fi network and wired LAN network configuration & repair, Windows XP repair, Windows Vista repair, Windows 7 repair, network server computer support, and virus & spyware removal. Dial-A-Nerd repairs PC (s), computers, networks, removes viruses & spyware and upgrades slow computers 24 hours a day 7 days a week. DialANerd provides immediate remote access as well as fixed price computer repair, network repair, virus & spyware removal services at its local Columbia, Ellicott City, Howard County, Maryland(MD) repair shop. Repair completion is typically 24-hours to 48-hours. Dial A Nerd recovers hard disk data and saves your data. Each hard disk is tested for errors for free. Dial A Nerd makes a fixed disk image, recovers and saves your data for about a 90% of the desktop computer, laptop computer, and netbook PC (s) serviced. Dial A Nerd, a local Columbia, Ellicott City, Howard County, Maryland(MD) repair business provides fast PC repair, computer repair, desktop computer repair, laptop computer repair, Wi-Fi network and wired LAN network configuration & repair, Windows XP repair, Windows Vista repair, Windows 7 repair, network server support, and virus & spyware removal services with a warranty. Dial A Nerd works on many PCs including Sony computers, Gateway computers, Hewlett Packard computers, Compaq computers, Toshiba computers, Emachines computers, Clone PCs, and Dell computers in the local Columbia, Ellicott City, Howard County, Maryland(MD). The Dial A Nerd mission is delivering the best quality, affordable cost effective PC repair, computer repair, laptop computer repair, desktop computer repair, Wi-Fi network and wired LAN network configuration & repair, Windows XP repair, Windows Vista repair, Windows 7 repair, network server support, virus & spyware removal, home PC repair, printer configuration, PC - desktop computer - laptop computer - netbook computer performance optimization & speed up service. Homes and small businesses with limited IT service and IT support budgets in the local Columbia, Ellicott City, Howard County, Maryland(MD) hire Dial A Nerd.


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DialANerd
7146 Rivers Edge Road Columbia, MD 21044 US
Phone: 410-531-5890 Website: dialanerd.com