How To Stay Safe Using Facebook

Whether we like it or not Facebook is here to stay. Unfortunately with its ever growing popularity, it's become a hot target for hackers, spammers and internet criminals.
Consequently, it's become extremely important for users to understand how to stay safe when using Facebook.  We'll cover some techniques to help protect your personal information and computer from being attacked.
Facebook is becoming more popular everyday. With millions of people to be targeted, Facebook is definitely a battleground for security and privacy. This website has become a worldwide hit and consequently has become a target for those intent on spamming and stealing private information. In this article, we will cover many techniques to allow you to safely use Facebook.
Friend only Real Friends
It is important that we only share information with true friends and not distant acquaintances. Many people try to friend as many people as possible, perhaps even people they barely know. We believe it is important that people eliminate friends they barely know from their friend list. An alternative would be to create Groups of close friends and only blast more personal messages out to this group. This technique does require more involvement whenever you post.
Think before Clicking on Links
There have been several viruses that have hit Facebook users, many of which have caused links to malware or inappropriate content to be posted on Facebook. It is important that you exercise care before clicking on any links.
Shortened links that do not fully disclose the destination site should be expanded before being clicked. You can expand short links with a browser plugin or visit a site like longurl.org. Virustotal.com checks shortened url’s for malware.
Facebook Applications
Facebook applications have access to all your Facebook data. We suggest users eliminate applications that are unnecessary or seldom used. Many applications are granted access to posting on your wall or pulling information from other websites. There are security risks with all this functionality.

1. Select the Triangle in the upper right corner
2. Select Account Settings
3. Select Apps from the left column
4. Click the x next to any App you do not recognize or need

Beware of:

• IQ tests
• Polls
• Voting for a celebrity polls

There have been Facebook applications, in these areas that have lead to unwanted cell phones charges, privacy breeches, or other malware.
Privacy Settings
If you want to maintain your privacy, then don’t use Facebook. If you want to control your private data within Facebook, it is important that you configure privacy settings correctly. Facebook updates its privacy settings regularly, so it is important to check your current settings frequently.

1. Select the Triangle in the upper right corner
2. Select Privacy Settings
3. Set your Default Privacy to Friends 

The main sharing circles are:

• Friends
• Custom
• Public

Obviously you want to minimize the Publicly shared information as much as possible. You  may want to clamp down with Custom to reduce the expansion of your private information.
ReclaimPrivacy.org checks your Facebook Privacy settings and shows you how to fix possible privacy setting errors.
Insure that you have set Facebook to not allow search engines to access your profile. Be sure the box for public search results isn’t checked.
Sharing Sensitive Information
The following information is sensitive and may not be desired to be shared with others. Thieves can use this information as well those trying to piece together your identity or those attempting to hack your passwords.

• Vacations or times away from home
• Real birthday, at least no year
• Mother’s maiden name
• Pets names
• Children’s names
• Address
• Phone numbers
• Schools attended
• Religious views
• Political views

Facebook Passwords and Access
In addition to a secure password, Facebook supports double authentication which combines a password with authentication on a mobile phone. You will get a SMS text message on your cell phone whenever someone logs into your account from a different computer. It's wise for all users to enable this feature.

1. Select the Triangle in the upper right corner
2. Select Account Settings
3. Select Security from Left Column
4. Select Login Approvals
5. Check Require me to enter a security code each time an unrecognized computer or device tries to access my account

Facebook Website Tracking
Facebook has been tracking websites visited outside of its own. If you would like to prevent this from occurring, install the browser plugin disconnect.me.
Facebook Photo Matching
Facebook has facial recognition technology that can automatically label who is in a given picture. We suggest that you disable this feature or at least prevent it from recognizing your kids within a photo.
Facebook related Email Spam or Phishing
E-mail and instant messages have been used to propagate spam or phishing on Facebook. To receive a message about a new picture, and the link takes you to a Facebook or Twitter login page. The page is faked in an effort to steal your login credentials.

Biggest Malware Threats To Your PC in 2012

2012 is already shaping up to be pretty messy from a computer security perspective. Not only are computer virus attacks up 60% compared to this time last year, but more alarming is the severity of these infections. So what viruses and malware should you be looking out for in 2012? At this time, the climate for attacks is simply brutal. Based on what we've seen and read since late 2011, if the rate and volume of attacks continue, 2012 won't be pretty. Widespread spam-driven attacks, social media scams and plenty of malware look to be on the table for 2012. I've come up with what I believe to be the top 5 threats to keep this article succinct.
So, with that in mind, read our top five threats to watch for in 2012.
Using  legitimate websites by which to stage attacks
The continued presence of  vulnerable Web site code - particularly, vulnerable Word Press blog plug-ins - are going to turn into a big problem in the near future. This coupled with a flood of other malware blazing across the web means we’ll see a lot of sites get hacked in the coming year and used to redirect victims into an exploit kit.
The WordPress.org plug-in vulnerabilities permit malware guys to upload their code onto someone else’s Web pages; Keylogger malware, such as Zeus/Zbot, just rips saved FTP passwords and other stored credentials and ships them directly to People You Don’t Want In Control Of Your Web Site.
It’s already happening, with attacks propagating against other vulnerable WordPress.org code, and the results have been pretty scarily effective. Most of the code we’ve seen uploaded to legit sites redirects the browser into the maw of one or another exploit kits.
Exploiting Vulnerable Web-Browser Plug-ins
Are you using those cool plug-ins that make web-surfing easier? From what I’ve been reading they’re the next gateway for malware. It all starts with Javascript and ends within a few minutes with the victim’s PC owned and the victim’s passwords in the hands of some overseas stranger.
It couldn’t get any more obvious that you need to act immediately. Update Flash, Acrobat, Office, and other vulnerable applications today, right now. Disable Javascript within PDF documents in your PDF reader’s preferences. And at least for the time being, the safest thing to do is to uninstall Java from any system you control, at least until a patch gets released to address CVE-2011-3544.
More Spam? Yep
As ridiculous as some of the spam campaigns this year have been, they must be effective, because the bad guys haven’t spared a moment for months coming up with new and innovative social engineering tricks.
If the spam we’ve seen is any indication, malicious spam we receive in 2012 will come in every available delivery method - email, social networks, IM - and continue to take every conceivable form: shipping confirmations, missed deliveries, reversed credit warnings, utility bills, credit card statements, complaints about you to the Better Business Bureau (whether or not you operate a business), online order confirmations from small boutique etailers, bank statements, electronic funds transfer rejection notices, poorly-spelled ‘friend notification’ emails from a wide variety of social networking sites.
Smartphones and malicious apps
I don’t want to leave the mobile world out of the fun list. The sheer volume of copycat Android malware coming out of, in particular, China is just astonishing. There are whole Markets hosted overseas just rippling with malicious badness, as well as ripoff artists on this side of the pond trying to scam whatever they can.

Should You Turn Your Computer Off At Night?

Here is a very common question we get asked by our customers. “Should I turn my computer off at night?” 
Some people often think that if you keep your computer on overnight, that somehow malicious “hackers” will try to infiltrate your system. 
The fact is that if your computer is full of malware and spyware, the cyber criminals can access your computer any time it is on, even if you’re using it! Having good anti-virus, anti-spyware and anti-malware programs is vital. If you have these scheduled to scan your computer at night, when you aren’t using it, then it is actually beneficial to keep your computer running during the night time.
The problem with keeping the computer on has less to do with security and more to do with power consumption and lifespan. Although mininimal compared to other electrical devices, computers cost money to run. 
So what’s the solution? The answer is in setting your computer’s power options to suit your usage.
First you should make sure that your monitor is set to turn off when it isn’t in use for a set period of time. The steps are different depending on the version of Windows you are running, but basically you will want to go to the control panel, look for your power options, then change how long it takes before the monitor goes to sleep when the mouse or keyboard isn’t being used. Two and a half hours is safe if you plan to watch movies often and for most people 30 minutes is more than enough time to keep the screen “awake”. 
Another important setting is the standby and hibernate options. These are modes where the computer seems to be turned off, but is actually on but in a low-power state. Here are some basic differences between stanby, hibernate and a full shutdown/startup: 
Standby: fastest to startup and shutdown, consumes the most power, aside from being completely on of course. (Important when running on laptop battery power)
Hibernate: takes longer to shutdown and startup than standby-mode but faster than from a full shutdown, consumes less power than standby but more power than a full shutdown.
Full Shutdown/Startup: takes longest to shutdown and startup, consumes the least amount of power when off.
I set my computer to standby after 4 hours, but the optimal setting varies from user to user. It all depends on when you prefer for your computer to “sleep”. 
I don’t like waiting for my computer to boot up. I usually want to just briefly look at a website or check my emails, something that will take 1 or 2 minutes. It wouldn’t make sense for me to wait two minutes to do something that only takes two minutes. Sometimes I will restart my computer when it is acting up. Standby or hibernate won’t fix those issues.
The only time I do a full shutdown is when I am transporting my desktop computer or when I am putting my laptop away for a long period of time and don’t want the battery to drain. Any other time, I am using standby mode. I don’t use hibernate because it just does not seem that much faster than doing the full restart and does not offer the benefits of the full restart (clearing the ram to make the computer run more efficiently.) 
So should you keep your computer running at night? Probably not. Should you turn it completely off? Not unless you like waiting for the computer to bootup. Should you put it in a lower power state? Yes. Standby works the best in most situations.

Signs Your Computer Has A Virus

Internet surfing and connecting other devices to your computer are the most common ways viruses are able to access your PC. With the increase in the number and severity of malware (viruses, trojan horses, etc), identifying an infection can mean the difference between saving and losing your important data.

Like human viruses, most computer viruses have symptoms which can tip you off that your Laptop is infected. These symptoms are easy to remember and keep a look-out for. The most obvious sign your computer has a virus is the reduced performance of your computer, but other signs may show up earlier, giving you time to back up and save personal data.

Other signs a virus may be infecting your computer are:

• Applications running stop responding suddenly, freezing the computer and requiring a restart to work.
• Performance and input response is slow - you attempt to open an application and it takes a long time to open or there’s a delay in mouse clicks & keyboard strokes.
• Computer restarts on its own while you’re using it - screen freezes and then shuts down or restarts.
• Unusual error messages and pop-ups - you may notice unusual Windows pop-ups without being online or coming up from the task bar notification area. The pop-ups may ask you to take certain actions immediately (Don’t act on these!) If you follow these instructions you will be in a worse situation so be aware.
• Your antivirus may be disabled without your permission.
• Unfamiliar icons or shortcuts may show up on your desktop. Don’t click these either!
• Unfamiliar Windows system error messages will pop-up.
• You can’t access devices connected to your computer or they may show up as unrecognized devices.
• Programs and applications may be unavailable or removed without your permission.

If your computer shows the above symptoms your PC may be infected with a virus. First, Back-up your important files and documents to an external storage device like a flash drive. Next, scan and remove any viruses using your computers anti-virus program.

If your computers anti-virus program doesn’t fix the problem, shut the computer down and bring it to a computer repair professional. They have access to advanced malware removal programs and knowledge that can remove the infection and get your computer running properly.

What to Consider Before Choosing a Computer Repair Company

It goes without saying (although I guess I am saying), that owning a computer requires regular maintenance to keep it performing properly. However, even well maintained computers can malfunction from time to time, requiring repairs that are beyond the skills of most PC users. Finding a company to fix your PC problem is important, but you should consider more than just whether or not they can fix your computer.

Here are 5 things you should consider before choosing a computer repair service.

First, make sure the pc repair shop is bonded and insured. In the event your computer is damaged while in for service, you want to make sure they can pay for a replacement. Surprisingly, this will narrow your options significantly.

Check qualifications and experience. Make sure they have experience working on your brand of computer and operating system. The more experience they have the more likely your computer will be repaired the first time. Would you want to be without a computer for a month?

The Importance of Doing Windows Updates

If your laptop or computer runs on a Windows operating system (OS) then you’ve noticed the numerous Windows updates your PC installs. Most of us are familiar with the little yellow pop-up box in the corner indicating Windows wants to update the operating system. However, many people don’t know why they’re downloading these updates, what they’re used for and if they are really necessary. Here are some of the reasons why you should do your Windows updates and how they can affect your computer or laptops performance.

Performance
Nothing is more frustrating than a slow computer and one way to prevent this is staying up-to-date on Windows updates. They allow the operating system to run smooth and access programs efficiently. When people bring computers in for poor performance, the glitches and bugs that are found often result from failing to do the Windows OS updates. These updates offer patches to the computer which prevent problems with the operating systems performance.

Good Tips for Avoiding Computer Infections

Laptop and computer viruses have been around for decades and combating these cyber bugs continues to be a challenge for many PC owners. Viruses often result in costly repairs, loss of data and the headache of being without your computer.

Fear not! A basic understanding of what they are combined with a few simple maintenance tasks can help keep you computer virus free and performing at its best.

Just What Is A Computer Virus?

A computer virus is actually a software application that's been developed by an individual. The goal of the virus is usually to cause chaos and damage to the PC. While in most cases computer infections are tied to software programs, on rare occasions a virus can harm a portion of the computer’s hardware.

Thankfully, hardware damage is quite rare. The only way malware can harm the computer’s hardware is by exploiting a problem inside the hardware’s programming. For instance, a virus may target your computers processor fan by reducing the speed that it runs at. This has the potential to result in the processor overheating and causing it to melt down.