Security | WindowsTalk.org

Feb

3 Online Backup Websites You Should Know About

by Mitz

In recent years, computer backup and disaster recovery services have become increasingly important as more and more business owners rely on computers for running their companies. For the home users, things like family photos, videos, and music as well as documents are sometimes irreplaceable. Online data backup is easy secure backups and is like having an insurance that protects your data against viruses, theft, or accidental deletions.

The conventional backing up systems uses Tapes (obsolete now), CDs, DVDs and personal Hard drives. Unlike the conventional system, the online backup services securely store your files away from your premises at off-site server locations, which might be some hundreds or thousands of miles away. The best part is you can have 24/7 access to your files from any internet connected computer, smartphone, or tablet style device. A new word “Cloud Storage” which is a synonym of online data backup is being increasingly used nowadays and has almost became mainstream.

The following are the top 3 online backup websites and their main features:

#1. Mozy

The combination of cheap storage space with useful features and strong security make this service the perfect place to store files, photos, videos, documents and anything you want to safely store outside of your home computer. This service is currently being offered under two products, “Mozy Home” for home users and “Mozy Pro” for business users.

Mozy home has the following features:

Encryption
Data centers highest security standards and are SAS70 or ISO certified.
Near-continuous data protection which automatically detects and backs up new and changed files.
The ability to pause and resume uploads easily
Multiple restore options
Bandwidth throttling
Excellent customer support via live online chat

Pricing:

Trial version is free, but limited to 2GB.
Mozy Home:
50 GB – $5.99/month (for a single computer)
125 GB – $9.99/month (for 3 computers)
A 1 year plan gives you 1 month of free subscription and a 2 year plan gives you 2 months free
Mozy Pro Accounts can be billed monthly, annually, or biennially.

#2. Livedrive

What you have with LiveDrive is an interesting offering in this increasingly crowded space of online backup, online storage. LiveDrive Backup is a previous winner of our coveted Best Buy award, thanks to its reasonable prices, excellent interface. This service is currently being offered under three products, “Backup”, “Briefcase” and “Pro Suite”.

LiveDrive has the following features:

Add additional computers at any time for just $1.45 per month.
Sync files between your computers
Access files on your mobile
Send files to your favorite social networks
Restore deleted files
Military grade AES-256 encryption to keep your files safe.
Stream your music and movies straight from Livedrive
Share files with friends and family
Works on Mac and Windows
Outstanding support

Pricing:

Backup: $7.95/mo or $79.95/yr (if paid annually)
BriefCase: $15.95/mo or $159.95/yr (if paid annually)
ProSuite: $24.95/mo or $249.95/yr (if paid annually)
2 week free trial on any product.

#3. Mypcbackup

This cloud storage company has a one click solution to backing up files so that their customers can get back to their busy lives and not have to worry about complicated backup routines. MyPCBackup claims that with just three easy steps – join for free, download, and then backup – the information on your PC will be safe even if it is stolen or your hard drive crashes.

Mypcbakup has the following features:

Backup Photos, Emails, Documents and More
Hands-free data backups
Get File from Anywhere
Secure and Encrypted Software
Synchronize Multiple Computers
Unlimited Storage Space
Free Online Backup
Automated Backups

Pricing:

Monthly: $9.95/month
6 Months: $6.95/month
1 Year: $5.95/month
2 Years: $4.95/month

Online backup services securely store your files away from your premises at off-site server locations, therefore reducing the need for your own computer backup storage. Your data will stay intact and available even if your local disks are stolen or your premises suffer some disaster. Even external hard drive security is not that great and with online backup you don’t have to buy and maintain or upgrade your hardware.

Save 10% on PC Matic

Categories Security, Technology, The Desktop Experience
Comments (12)

Feb

3 Types Of Computer Security

by Mitz

Computer security experts recognize three different types of computer security—physical security, network security, and executable security. Each different type has it’s own risks and it’s own implementations.

It All Starts With Physical Computer Security

Physical computer security is the most basic type of computer security and also the easiest to understand. In short, anyone who has physical access to the computer controls it. Passwords, hidden files, and other safeguards can’t keep out a determined attacker forever if he can physically access your computer.

Computer hosting companies take physical computer security very seriously—they hire guards, use secure doors, and even put computers on military bases or deserted islands just to keep them safe.

But most average people pay very little attention to physical computer security. For example, they put private files on their office computers—computers they leave unattended for 16 hours every weekday. Or they hand their computer with illegal files over to a computer repair technician without thinking that anyone who can fix a computer can access all of their files.

The same applies for External Hard Drives Security. It is ignored completely but people continue to store precious files on these devices and then proceed to leave them laying around for anyone to grab.

What You Can’t See Can Hurt You—Network Computer Security

Everyone today knows that the firewall is an essential piece of computer security. The firewall provides network security by blocking unauthorized network access attempts to your computer.

But the firewall only protects home computers. Servers on the Internet can’t use firewalls—their whole purpose is to accept access attempts from random strangers. This makes network security tricky.

Trickiest of all is the home computer that wants to be a part-time server. For example, you want to send a file or a print document to another computer on your home network.

Because network security is so complicated—and because networking itself is so important—most major computer security failures today are the result of network security problems.

Executable Security—What Happens When Things Go Wrong

But probably the security type we’re most familiar with is executable security—otherwise known as anti-virus security.

Blocking viruses is important, but it’s also big business, so it often gets hyped over the other types of computer security. Any half-way decent programmer can write a network computer security firewall, but most anti-virus software is written by teams of hundreds or even thousands of programmers due to its complexity.

We call this executable security because that’s what computer scientists call programs—executables. On Windows, especially older versions of Windows, an executable could do almost anything it wanted, so running a virus even once could ruin your computer.

Current versions of Windows include some protections against that, although the system isn’t perfect. Yet Microsoft’s progress has significantly increased executable computer security in the last decade, so we can only hope that it will continue to make our computers more reliable in the years to come.

My name is Mitz Pantic and I’ve been working with computers for over 25 years and love to teach people how to use their computers. If you need any more information about computer security, I have hundreds of computer tips available for free on my website.

Categories Security
Comments (43)

Jan

5 Tips to Protect Your Computer from Credit Card Fraud

by Contributed

Technology these days are getting more advanced, mobile, convenient and useful. Unfortunately the same problems we had with yesterday’s technology, we still have today. Our personal information is sprawled through every sector of our computer’s hard drive. This means that if it is in the wrong hands, our information can be used for just about anything. One of the biggest issues is credit card fraud. This has been a problem for many computer owners when hackers and con-artists get their greedy hands on our personal and financial information. However, there are steps you can take to help protect yourself from computerized credit card fraud. Here are 5 tips to keep yourself and your credit protected.

Never Give Out Information:

This is a tip that seems like common sense, however, many computer users give too much information to the wrong person. Protect yourself by not giving out your passwords, account information, credit card number, or any other personal or financial information to anyone. No matter how much you trust them; there runs a risk that this information can fall into the wrong hands.

Use Only Protected Sites:

There are millions of websites out there. Some of these sites are less than safe. Your web browser has a way to tell you if the site you are on is protected or not. Use only sites that show it is protected and secure. This is commonly indicated by an image of a locked padlock either on the bottom of your browser page or the top of the page in the address bar. This lock indicates the site is on a secured server.

Do Not Send Information Through E-Mail:

E-mail scams have become very popular. The reason for this is because it is effective. By sending out mass e-mails, impersonating a reputable and well known company, and asking for personal information, these con-artists are able to gather what they need. Many companies will never ask for your personal information through e-mail due to the low security. If you receive an email asking for your personal or financial information, discard it. If it is from a company you are familiar with contact that company and ask them questions about it. Even if they did not send the e-mail, they can warn their current customers about the scam.

Be Careful on Public Networks:

There is no doubt that the convenience of surfing the internet at your favorite coffee shop is a fantastic luxury. However, you still have to be cautious when you are using an internet connection that is shared by others. The latest method thieves are using is creating an identical webpage as the one you bank with. As you go to your normal bank website and enter in your login information, you could be logging into a dummy site and giving away access to your account and your money. Do not do any banking or credit card applications on a public connection.

Clean Out Your Computer:

One thing many people forget is cleaning out their computer when they sell it. Even if you believe your information is erased, it stays on your hard drive until it is written over by new data. Hackers are then able to retrieve these deleted files and your personal information. Use a program that wipes it out and writes over the information. The best option for when you sell your computer is to remove the hard drive all together. Hard drives are reasonably priced these days and if your customer is really interested in buying your computer, they will be willing to replace the hard drive. You may lose a couple of customers who want the hard drive with it, but that is a small price to pay to keep your banking and credit card information safe. Technology is running our world today. We are always in the presence of a technological device that makes our lives easier. If you are a computer user and take advantage of the convenience computers offer, then take the steps to keep your financial information protected.

Terri Miller is a financial advisor who frequents CreditCardCompare.com.au’s consumer reviews website for information on instant approval credit cards for her clients.

Categories General, Security
Comments (23)

Jan

New Privacy Software from PC Pitstop

by James M. Fisher

PC Pitstop (the makers of PC Matic) have a new product that they just launched called PC Magnum. They are calling PC Magnum a privacy tool. The reason that this product exists is because Windows is storing gobs of personal information about you, your browsing habits, and loads of other personal information. For example, every web site that you visit for months and sometimes years is stores in your browsing history. There is also a less detailed history of your browsing that can be determined through your cookies. The internet cache stores tons of images from many of these web sites including Facebook. On top of all of this, Windows also keeps a record of many of the documents that you are editing and viewing. This includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint and even simple PDF files.

They designed PC Magnum to make it abundantly clear all of the personal information that is stored on your computer and simplify the process for removing this same information. They are even able to categorize each web site (identified in the browser history) into one of 82 different categories such as pornography and online gambling.

Run a Free PC Privacy Scan Now

PC Magnum also uses the same sophisticated scheduling technology that we use in all of our products including PC Matic and Optimize – making it easy to set up regular automated cleaning. Here’s a screen shot of PC Magnum after doing a scan on my laptop (click to enlarge):

Categories Promotions, Security, Software
Comments (21)

Jan

“Phishing” Email Scams- Don’t Make any Online Payments until Reading This Post

by Contributed

Email scammers are getting craftier by the minute. Until recently, almost all of the email scams bombarding our inboxes were obviously just blatant lies. Some classic examples of prehistoric email scams include the following…

A Sob story begging you to send money for someone that you have never heard of, who is in dire straits. In actuality, these are more than likely just con artists who know how to tug at heartstrings.
An email from your friend who went on a trip to a faraway place and got stuck without any money because their wallet was stolen or lost. These scam emails always include a request not to try to get in touch with anyone else that knows the sender because of some phony baloney another. By now, everyone knows not to send money, but rather to call up your friend, and tell him or her that someone has hijacked their email account and is trying to rip off his or her loved ones.
Your long lost relative whom you have never heard of, and is from a country that you didn’t know existed, has died and left you their whole trillion dollar estate, and you just need to send a small fraction of the value of the inheritance in order to receive it.

The list goes on and on, but everyone has gotten wise to these crude and old-fashioned schemes since the first time they opened up their inbox and wondered if that email might really be true.

I have to give it to them, the con artists have gotten much better since the olden days of email scams. Today there is a new, and much more slippery, trick that the scammers have invented, and it’s called “Phishing.”
A phishing email claims to be from a well-respected company such as PayPal, your bank, or the IRS, and it often includes a realistic looking logo and professional background to boot. A phishing email is much less noticeable than most scam emails because it never asks you to actually send any money.
The claimed goal of a phishing email is either to inform you of something that is urgent about your account, to perform a routine check-up for record keeping purposes, to inform you that someone was trying to sign into your account, or something of the like. The phishing email will then request, in a professional and dry manner, that you either sign into your account or provide certain details about yourself “for verification purposes.” Of course, within the text of the phishing email a link to another website is provided, seemingly for your convenience. Clicking on the link will send you strait to a sight that looks very similar, or identical, to the site that it claims to be. If you sign into that site with your sign-in information, or provide any other sensitive financial information, you will have, in effect, given the con artist access to your account.
If you do receive a phishing email the next step is to immediately report it to the FBI, the Federal Trade Commission, or your states attorney generals office.

Scott Hersh is a business blogger for BCAblog.com the official blog of BusinessCashAdvance.com, leaders in merchant financing.

Categories General, Security
Comments (30)

Nov

How to Check If Your Account is Hacked

by Alan Tay

I’m sure we all live in a world where we assume our accounts are all safe as long as we can still use them regularly. Same goes for our banking account, as long as the amount does not disappear suddenly, we will assume our account is safe.

What if I were to tell you that your account is already hacked and someone knows your username and password? By having these two criteria, it is sufficient to enter into sites like Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Paypal, and many more to try out your username and password combination.

I’m sure today with every one of us holding at least 5 online accounts, we share the same username and password between accounts. If you are one of those, you are at the right place for today I am going to share with you a site where you can check whether your account is hacked or compromised.

Pwnedlist.com is a creation of two security researchers Alen Puzic and Jasiel Spelman from DVLabs, a division of HP/TippingPoint. What you need to do over there is to enter the username or email address (not the password) which you usually used to login into any online websites and hit the Check button. In just seconds, the result will be shown whether your account is compromised or not.

Up to now, they had discovered close to 5 million sets of username and password which were compromised. Those data were collected from places like Torrent dump or Pastebin where hackers love to upload those stolen accounts at.

If you are worried that sending your username to Pwnedlist could be dangerous, then you don’t have to worry as you are on HTTPS where your transmission is encrypted. Whoever that can tap into your transmitted data will get something that is total gibberish and needs to be decrypted to know the actual values.

Lastly on the security of Pwnedlist, they don’t store your username or email address on their server. This means that if anyone hacked into Pwnedlist, they will not get the 5 million records of username and passwords combination.

If you somehow found yourself in the list among the 5 million records, don’t panic as no one is sure that your account is used out there. What you need to do now is quickly log into all your accounts and start changing passwords. Do ensure that you create a strong password where it should lengthy and complicated.

So now, do run a quick check for the sake of your account safety. Trust me that it does not take any longer than 1 minute to complete the process.

Alan Tay is the author of IT Security Column, a blog that features on IT security news, tips and tricks and also security product reviews. He is also a frequent contributor to WindowsTalk.org. If you are interested to learn more about IT security, do pay his blog a visit and subscribe to it by email address to get the latest about IT security.

Categories Security, Technology
Comments (48)

Nov

Free Security eBook

by James M. Fisher

Frequent WindowsTalk contributor Alan Tay has just released his first eBook and you can get a free copy from his site, IT Security.

What’s in ‘Build Your Own Security’?

10 simple steps to get your security up in every perspective.
If you are on tight or no budget, you are on the right track. Alan recommends some free software that can help you out.
If you are willing to invest, this eBook will make your security better and life simpler with recommendations on some Premium security products.
Apart from having a secured system, you will also experience a system with better performance.
15 Bonus tips on how to stay secure using your computer and going to the internet.
lots more!

Are You Ready to Build Your Own Security? Then visit IT Security and find out how you can get your free personal copy of “Build Your Own Security” by Alan Tay.

Categories General, Security
Comments (11)

Oct

How to Find Your WEP Key

by Roger Corwin

The ways in which we can connect to the Internet has not changed much; it’s either a wired or wireless connection. Wired connections are typically plug-and-play – just connect the Ethernet cable to the computer and the connection to the network or Internet is made. Wireless connectivity, however, has a few more obstructions. One of these obstructions is the Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) Key.

The WEP Key is a ten digit series of numbers which is a security feature built into the wireless router or gateway. The WEP Key prevents unauthorized wireless access to the network and, by extension, the Internet. All computers that attempt to gain access through this wireless gateway must enter the WEP Key before granted network or Internet access.

The WEP Key is usually found on the router itself, usually below the serial number of the router. Newly manufacturer wireless routers now secure the WEP Key in the router which will have to be accessed through the router’s administration panel.

Equipment Required

Computer with Ethernet Port
Wireless Router

Material Required

Ethernet Cable
Pen
Paper

Instructions

Power on the wireless router and wait ten minutes for the router to boot up properly.
Using any computer with a functioning Ethernet port, connect the computer to Port One of the router.
Navigate using the Start Menu to: Programs, then Accessories and click on “Command Prompt”
At the prompt, type the following without quotation marks: “ipconfig”. Write down the”Default Gateway” as it will be used for the next step.
Open any Internet browser, such as Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox, and then enter the “Default Gateway” as recorded from the previous step including “http://” at the start. The address should look similar to this (without the quotation marks): “http://192.168.1.1“. This address will display the router’s Administration Panel.
Some wireless routers will require a password. The default password is usually stated in the instruction manual; if there are no instructions; contact the Internet Service Provider (ISP) for assistance. Common default username and passwords are:
- Username: admin
- Password: (no password)
- Username: admin
- Password: admin
Upon successful login, navigate to the Wireless Setup page which should display the WEP Key. Write the
Key down and store it in a safe, secure area which is readily accessible for future use.

Tips, Warnings and recommendations

Always issue the WEP Key to users who are responsible for holding the key specific to their computer. Unauthorized issue of the key may allow other users to connect to the wireless network without the knowledge or permission of the owner.
When logging into the Administration Panel, if the password is not any of the default options, nor supplied by the ISP and is not stated in the instruction manual, follow the router reset procedure as stated in the manual. This should allow the user to log into the Administration Panel of the router without a password. Ensure a password is set after this insecure login.

Categories Hardware, Security
Comments (15)

Oct

Benefits of Scanning your Desktop Remotely

by James M. Fisher

As my background is also medical, I was recently involved in a discussion regarding the benefits of keyhole surgery vs. open surgery. A day or two later, while trying to cure a system that had developed some unusual symptoms, I realized that our bodies have more in common with our desktops than I had previously realized.
Ever since I can remember, bugs and viruses have been a part of my life. growing older, with more experience, and (hopefully) a stronger immune system, I realize that in today’s world, with constant interaction between people in multiple environments, bugs and viruses are inevitable, but not untreatable.
This might be true of our human bodies too. The abundance of vitamins, pro-biotics and other ‘preemptive’ medication could easily parallel the vast, and sometimes confusing wealth of software options promising to keep our systems healthy and safe. Our concerns, however, remain the same, namely: What should we use? When should we use it? And what are the long term effects?

Over the past two decades, the trend in family medicine has been to avoid over-prescribing anti-biotics, and by doing so, strengthen the human immune system. When we use anti-biotics we give our immune system a helping hand. Giving the patient too many anti-biotics too often, no longer allows for the immune system to gain the learning experience that it needs in order to adapt and dispose of the threat. The immune system passively relies on the anti-boitics to do the work for it.
As with the human immune system, our desktop security system needs to rely on experience, or better yet, the experience of others. Provided you are using a valid and updated version of one (or more) of the many solutions installed on your system, you may benefit from the experience (and misfortunes) of others. With the harsh competition in the market , you can safely rely on software companies to work day and night in order to stay ahead of the game, finding a cure for a malware or virus before it spreads, goes “airborne”, and becomes an epidemic.
Unfortunately, there is no shortage of malware that can infiltrate your system and neutralize your security settings, or disguise itself as a valid part of your system while it wreaks havoc.

It’s Sterilized
Remote scanning allows a separate sterile system, with the most updated database, to scan your system. This is extremely important, more so than 10-15 years ago, as new malware spreads faster, sometimes before we have had a chance to update our security system.

It’s Cheaper
Most of the companies providing remote scanning software provide the scanning for free, which means that you don’t have to pay for a solution before you find out that it won’t solve your problem. There is no commitment involved; you can find out what the problem is and then it is up to you whether you to pay for the software that will fix your problem, or seek help (or possibly a second opinion,) elsewhere. Should you choose to pay for the software, it is without a doubt much cheaper than paying for an antivirus and/or firewall package, and definitely cheaper than paying a technician. Some sites offer annual subscriptions, which is even better.
You may argue that these software companies deliberately lure you into accepting a free scan of your system only to inform you of problems that you don’t actually have in order to convince you to buy/subscribe to their product. These days, I am glad to say, it is far too easy to prove fowl play in such cases. Moreover, with the current competitive state of this particular market, were this indeed the case, the software company has far more to lose than it could hope to gain.

Returning to my own misfortune, by the time I had isolated the infection in the system, I realized that with so many problems (missing DLL files etc.) I would have to reinstall windows. This, in my opinion, was akin to open surgery (well, if you really want to get technical, it’s probably more akin to dialysis, which takes just as long with Win XP).
Reluctant to go to such lengths, I decided it was time for a solution similar to that of keyhole surgery. The major benefit of keyhole surgery is that it is far less intrusive, and by avoiding greater trauma to the body (by opening up a larger wound), avoids further complications.
I spent 10mins researching, and just as I was beginning to think that I had hit the jackpot with brilliant new idea, I had found my keyhole solution. Someone else had thought of my brilliant idea before I did (…again).

It’s the Future

Unlike all the other solutions we are all well acquainted with, Reimage is the future. What sets Reimage above the rest is that it surgically removes problematic files and replaces them with original Microsoft approved Windows files. Furthermore, it repairs and replaces the system files without affecting the user data in any way. This alone is a major benefit to any user, not just those in the medical profession. Backing up information is time consuming enough without having to reinstall it. I have used it several times now (even with a half-decent WiFi connection) and have no complaints yet.
You can find out more about Reimage at www.reimage.com

Categories Security, Software, The Desktop Experience
Comments (24)

Oct

Keep Your Data Safe – Back It Up!

by Rob Boirun

If asked ‘what is the most essential information stored on your computer,’ most of us will say it is our data. Our data on a computer may be in many different forms including, Word documents, worksheets, databases, and emails. All this data is usually stored on the computer’s hard disk. Now, if the hard disk crashes for some reason, you stand a good chance of losing all this data. You may also lose your data in other cases:

Virus infection wipes off all information from the hard disk
Natural disasters, such as flood and earthquakes damage equipment
Theft of computer or other data storage device

This is the reason why as a careful user it is essential that you regularly backup your data to ensure that you can restore it in case a disaster occurs.

When implementing a backup solution, the first step you need to take is to decide what you need to backup. Usually, a home PC user making regular backups of user data is enough. Complete computer backup solutions are usually implemented for large server system where setting up the whole server again after a failure is quite time consuming and expensive.

After you have decided what to backup, you need to decide where to backup the data to. If the data to be backed up is small in size, you may just opt to store it on a pen drive. If the data is much larger, you may opt to use an external hard disk, burn to DVDs or Blu-Ray discs to store your data. Moreover, if you are on a network, you may also opt to back up your data on a network location.

Next, you need to decide how to backup. Backups can be of many types. You can simply choose to manually copy and paste the data you want to backup or use a utility to perform the task for you. Some backup utilities, such as Windows Automatic Backup utility, are designed to help users just to back up the user data. There are some, such as Windows 7 System Restore utility, that are used to backup your system configuration, such system files and registry backup. And, then there are some backup utilities, such as the Windows Vista Complete PC Backup utility, that enable you to backup every single piece of information stored on your PC including operating system files, installed programs and device drivers, system configuration and your user data.

Today, many online backup services are also available and if your data is critical, you may opt for such services. One of the main advantages of online backup services is that your data is stored offsite. This way, if something goes wrong at your location, you can easily recover your data from your online backup service.

Although it is a good practice to backup your data on regular basis, it is also essential to maintain a healthy computer to prevent computer problems. Some of the tasks that you can perform to maintain a healthy PC are regular antivirus and antispyware scans, regular registry scan and repair, and regular hard disk clean up and defragmentation.