Protecting Your Privacy
This may be the most important section under computer repair!
When you surf the Internet there are things called cookies in your browser. Cookies are small files that web sites put on your hard disk on your computer when you first visit a site. Cookies are identification cards that are uniquely yours. The job is to notify the site when you have returned. Cookies are not to be confused with viruses. Cookies can be misused in some cases, however cookies by themselves are not malicious. These can be enabled or disabled depending on which operating system you are using. Be careful and know what you are doing before changing these settings. Certain sites require cookies enabled or firewalls put down and when you do this you are highly at risk. I signed up for Project Payday (Scam) and then they wanted all my protection, firewall and everything down. I was trying to help some friends with Craigslist and they wanted something similar. Think before you react because even the best protection can be rendered useless if you have to disable it. A lot of my sites require ActiveX installed since I have a lot of audio, but be careful on some sites when doing so as those sites could harm your computer. The best of the best software is not effective if your protection is down. Computers hold a history and temporary files that can be at risk without securing your privacy. Hackers can access information by getting you to play certain online games. Be careful as some sites may require you to run Active X and when you do you could be at risk. Banner ads can also be a threat to computers even pop-overs or pop-unders. Hackers can asses all this sensitive information. Use sites that have certain trust symbols before giving your credit card information. Be sure to research the trust symbol to make sure it is legitimate if you are suspicious. Don't trust a site just because it has a high page ranking. Also don't always trust your link scanners because the site could still carry an infection. Beware that the right hacker can access all your important information. When a company asks for your email and a pass word do not give them your pass word to your email. That may not be their intention and if it is they can scam you. Typically they are asking you to create a personal password for their site. When you talk on Skype, MSN, ICQ, Yahoo etc.. all your messages are stored on the PC which can be retrieved and stolen. A computer I once repaired had left traces of everywhere they had been which were pornography sites which are some of the most risky sites. When you use a computer and someone else uses it, it is possible for them to see exactly where you have been. Also if you have used your intranet a lot, or you haven't run a scan in a while and your protecting software comes up clean, have suspicion, because the program, "protecting your computer" may not be doing its job. When you have a shared PC and many people use it such as a library someone can see everything you do online. If all that info is used against you, you could be charged criminally for something you never did, lose valuable credit, or get scammed for lot of money and so forth. The importance of being safe online is not to risk your private information making it accessible to persons who shouldn't’ see it. Those people even can use your private information against you - with their own purposes. Do not use private information such as a credit card at a shared computer such as a library. No matter how bad the need, just know private information is at risk. To be safe you should always delete your tracks. It can be done the manually but requires high computer skill. An easy and the recommended way is to use privacy protection software.Privacy protection software can
•Remove all traces of private information.
Remove all traces of private information.•Deletes the history of email applications.
Deletes the history of email applications.•Deletes unwanted history items.
Deletes unwanted history items.•Erase all traces of browser activity.
Erase all traces of browser activity.•With privacy software you can completely clear all your intranet activity with the click of a button? Good privacy software can clear all you intranet history, intranet search history, recently opened files, instant messenger records, and all your video history from media players. Some of this software works so well, it can make it look like you were never on that computer at all. With good privacy software all it takes is the one click of the mouse to take care of history registries. ParetoLogic worked that well.
With privacy software you can completely clear all your intranet activity with the click of a button? Good privacy software can clear all you intranet history, intranet search history, recently opened files, instant messenger records, and all your video history from media players. Some of this software works so well, it can make it look like you were never on that computer at all. With good privacy software all it takes is the one click of the mouse to take care of history registries. ParetoLogic worked that well. The benefits of using privacy protection software are: It can and should be automated like other protection software and it can save you from identity theft.
Recommended software
ParetoLogic Privacy Controls This program was able to find and delete everything we could throw at it. (Like I say I tested it myself.) If you want the ultimate in privacy protection ParetoLogic is the program to use. The scan function is extremely fast and very accurate. It ranked high among competition.
eprivacysolutions.com PC Tools Privacy Gaurdian guarantees your privacy, cleans all traces online, permanently deletes recycle bin contents, temporary files, and document history.
http://www.atherionsecurity.com/idpro.html This is another must have software. Identity Pro goes beyond current protection offered by other anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-spam, or anti-phishing, ect. To protect you where these programs don’t.
Don’t let identity theft happened to you. See:
People can become who you are and do things without your knowledge. Identity theft affects 10 million people a year. No one is immune, however there are a lot of things you can do to protect yourself. Be careful what identity you give out, and to whom you give it. Be especially careful to protect your social security number. Don’t leave around your personal data where people could see it. Invest in a shredder (And never try to shred credit cards with it. Naturally I no no man in the mirror who ever tried this.) I saw one at Walmart the other day for less than $30.00. Be careful your mail isn’t stolen. Be careful with personal information. Others can reap what you have worked so hard for destroying your credit at your expense. Check credit reports often. See:
You can get one free credit report a year. Canceling credit cards is not enough as you need to call credit agencies. If information is misused time is critical because scammers are quick to begin using your identity. Make sure to make a police report immediately also contact:http://www.ftc.gov/idtheft or 877-IDTHEFT
Close suspected accounts as your information is cash. Identity theft can affect you the rest of your life. Here is some advice for purchasing a document shredder: If you buy a shredder keep away from any small children as those things have little knives in them. Also remember to buy special lubrication sheets which maintain the machines better that or simply oil the blades. If you can’t shred items like pill bottles for prescription med's blot it out with black ink. Once It cures put on a second coat of black permanent ink. Don't shred staples or hard objects. An ounce of prevention is to remove staples so shredder blades don’t dull or break. A cheap shredder definitely pays if it saves having information fall into the wrong hands. Just don’t be cheap on protective software. When you first buy a computer many have McLaffie sorry Mgaffee however you spell it. It is constantly McLaughin at you and viruses came right into my operating system like a certain item used for a certain thing men and women tend to do and one that has holes in it. THINK ABOUT YOUR SOFTWARE SERIOUSLY. YOU WANT A DISEASE I DON'T... DON'T TAKE CHANCES WITH POOR PERFORMING SOFTWARE. I WILL TELL YOU HOW TO MAKE AN INSTALL WHILE KEEPING YOUR COMPUTER SAFE WHICH IS A PARADOX IN ITSELF. MORE ON THIS LATER.
Privacy Controls These are links to sites that will keep your computer protected from the loss of personal privacy.
