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Welcome to our Online Threat page
The Internet is a great place for information and entertainment, unfortunately there are some bad apples out there that like to mess with the experience. Sometimes no matter what you do you are at risk, but there are a few precautions you can take. Make sure you are protected from the latest Internet threats and dangers like Virus' and Worms, and protect your computer from Adware and Spyware. The links on this page should help you protect your computer from these Internet dangers.
One of the websites I check frequently is Snopes.com. Snopes.com will give you information on current email threats, hoaxes and the ever present Urban Legends that spread across the internet and falsely warn people about viruses and other so called 'threats' that just simply don't exist. Snopes.com will also keep you up-to-date on those pesky emails that get circulated telling you about free stuff from Microsoft (yeah right...) and other so called ‘true’ rants that are really just plain lies about things people have supposedly said that don't make sense but people believe them anyway. If you get one of those emails just go to Snopes.com and check it out. If it is true you will find out, and if it is false (and most are…) you will find that out as well.
Current Virus and Computer Threats
Here are some links to information on some of the current computer threats and viruses that are infecting computers systems around the world.
Have Good Virus Software On Your Computer
Make sure you have a current version of a good Virus software program. I use McAfee, however Norton AntiVirus makes a well respected Virus program, and there are several others on the market.
Do not open any email with an attachment unless you know for sure it is safe to do so!! I cannot stress this enough, however people still do this regularly. Sometimes the email may even seem to be from someone you know, so be very careful and make sure you have an up-to-date virus protection like MacAfee or Norton to be sure you are safe.
Use common sense when downloading anything to your computer. Only download from well respected Internet sites, and then be very careful.
Check for Windows updates on a regular basis for Critical Updates. Many times Microsoft will know about, and fix a particular vulnerability before the hackers, virus and worm programmers can expose it. However, this is not always the case, so you still have to be very careful.
Realize that sometimes no matter what you do you will get infected! The people who write the Virus and Worm programs are very, very intelligent! Sometimes they will get by every precaution you take. However if you follow safe computing practices you will have less of a chance of getting infected.
Spyware and Adware are programs that are installed on your computer as you surf the net. These programs give out information on where you surf on the Internet, information about you and your computer, and slow down your system. I recommend Ad-aware and Spybot to help find and eliminate Adware and Spyware from your computer.
Both of these software programs are free to download and use, and they both work very well.Backup Your Important Computer Files
If you are like most people the chances are pretty good you have a lot of important stuff on your computer like email, digital photos, music, Word documents, financial documents and more. Unfortunately, computers are vulnerable to hard drive crashes, virus attacks, theft and many other things which can erase everything in an instant. Unless you have you backup your files on a regular basis you will be unable to retrieve these files if your hard drive crashes. Current statistics show that one in every ten hard drives fail each year.
Computer Threat Definitions
What is a Computer Virus?
A virus is a manmade program or piece of code that causes an unexpected, usually negative, event. Viruses are often disguised games or images with clever marketing titles such as "Me, nude."
What is a Computer Worm?
Computer Worms are viruses that reside in the active memory of a computer and duplicate themselves. They may send copies of themselves to other computers, such as through email or Internet Relay Chat (IRC).
What is a Trojan Horse?
A Trojan horse program is a malicious program that pretends to be a benign application; a Trojan horse program purposefully does something the user does not expect. Trojans are not viruses since they do not replicate, but Trojan horse programs can be just as destructive.
Many people use the term to refer only to non-replicating malicious programs, thus making a distinction between Trojans and viruses.
Phishing Scams
Phishing scams use fraudulent e-mail addresses and Web sites designed to fool users into providing personal data such as a credit card number, account user name and password, social security number, etc. By impersonating the trusted brands of well-known banks, online retailers, and other established businesses, phishers are able to convince recipients to respond to their requests for personal information.
A rash of e-mail scams have been identified on the Internet. As these scams have become increasingly advanced, they also have become more difficult to recognize as fakes. Examples of this type of scam is an email that sends you to a website that looks like a PayPal, major credit card, or any other site where you have stored personal finance information.
Fraudulent e-mails
Here are some additional tips for identifying a possibly fraudulent e-mail:
Tip No. 1: In most e-mail clients, if you move your mouse cursor over a clickable link without actually clicking it, the status bar at the bottom of the browser window will display the name of the web site you will be sent to if you click the link. If the link displayed in the status bar is different than the link shown, there is a good chance that the message is not authentic.
Tip No. 2: If you suspect an e-mail message may be fraudulent, instead of clicking on a link listed in the e-mail, try opening a new web browser and manually typing the web site address into your browser. By manually typing the web site address in a new browser window, you eliminate the possibility of being sent to a "hidden" web site address by the link in the e-mail message. Remember that even when using this technique, you should still take appropriate precautions to ensure the validity of the e-mail and web site you are surfing to.
Tip No. 2: The chances of anyone you don't know sending you an email that will lead to you receiving money, products or anything of any value is absolutely ZERO!! Please don't be fooled by the fraudulent claims in the junk email you receive. No one is ever going to give you something for nothing, and if it sounds too good to be true, most likely it is too good to be true!!
Don't Get Fooled by Internet Scams...
If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!! The chances of anyone you don't know sending you an email that will lead to you receiving money, products or anything of any value is absolutely ZERO!! Please don't be fooled by the fraudulent claims in the junk email you receive. No one is ever going to give you something for nothing!!
The Computer Junkie...
