Recognizing and Avoiding Email Scams

Here's a great little document I found on the US-CERT (United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team) website which you should read. It discusses the various types of email scams that might show up in your inbox, and what you need to know to protect yourself.

Recognizing and Avoiding Email Scams

In fact there is a lot of good reading on their Publications page concerning computer security so get out there and do a little research. Don't wait until it happens to you!

Cheers,
Ken

How To Keep Your Computer Running Smoothly

1. Get a UPS – Be Empowered

(Uninterruptible Power Supply - available at Staples, Future Shop, Best Buy etc.) It can prevent so many issues related to power brownouts and surges such as hard drive crashes, power supply failure, motherboard and component damage, data loss, file system corruption etc.

If your hard drive crashes you may lose everything on the drive, all your installed applications, photos, documents, e-mails, contacts, favourites, and your operating system may need re-installation, you may even require a new hard drive.

When your power supply fails it can also destroy the motherboard and/or CPU and support chips.

2. Use Updates and Virus & Spyware Protection (Safe Surfing 101)

Malware can infect your computer from a number of sources – installing programs downloaded from the web, visiting a website, reading an email or inserting a CD/DVD or USB drive. Malware can slow down and prevent you from using your computer and/or the internet, destroy data, file system structures and operating system files.

Get a good anti-virus and at least one anti-spyware program, keep their subscriptions current and always download virus definition updates. Always download and install Windows and application updates as they are offered.

The best anti-virus programs are not necessarily the free ones, nor are the most expensive. You get what you pay for. Think about it, the big anti-virus companies are not just making profits, they hire dozens of programmers to create the timely updates required to attempt to stay ahead of the thousands of new viruses and variants coming out daily. A number of the more expensive anti-virus applications have grown so huge and have so many features that they can actually slow down your system considerably.

Hint - Never believe any popup or message that says you are infected and asks you to download or install “protection”. Never download or install any “freeware” utility unless you have thoroughly researched it and read the reviews. (from Cnet, Downloads.com, Tucows, Zdnet among others)

3. Friends, Relatives & Teens – just say no!

Believe it or not these can be some of the most dangerous “guests” to allow on your computer. Teens like to use peer-to-peer applications (e.g. Napster, BitTorrent etc.) to download their music, use social networking websites to keep in touch with their friends (e.g. Facebook) and Uncle Ted likes to look at other “artistic sites” while they are on-line. Friends who are trying to help may suggest you download “Joe’s Registry and Spyware Swiss-Army Knife” program to clean up your computer, and then tell you to just re-format the hard drive when the problems get worse. Just say no!

If you are experiencing issues with your computer, and someone suggests recovering it or reformatting the hard drive, be prepared for a world of hurt. Once you realize you've not only lost your favourite installed applications and all your beloved pictures and music are gone forever, you'll kick yourself for not getting a professional to properly clean your system. Less than 2% (in my experience) of badly infected systems actually require the recovery/reformat option, and even then, if done properly most if not all of the user data can be saved beforehand ... which brings us to the next tip.

4. Backing Up Your Stuff (means never having say you’re sorry)

Deprived of the use your computer due to one of the above can be traumatic enough until you realize all your business documents, personal and family photos, music collection, emails and personal settings have been flushed down the data drain as well. Backups, depending on the amount of data can be as easy as plugging in a little removable USB key drive (flashdrive, jumpdrive, store’n’go etc. - $10 or so at XS Cargo), a USB external hard drive ($100+ anywhere else), or even a writeable CD or DVD.

Keep your backups away from your computer, preferably out of the environs of the house or office.

5. Create Recovery Disks

While you are at it, if you don’t have or haven’t yet made recovery disks for your computer’s operating system, do it immediately. If your hard drive fails totally, or you have a severe virus/trojan problem you may need to recover your system. Many computer manufacturers place recovery information on a seperate partition on your hard drive, and prompt you to make a backup copy of this information on CDs or DVDs. Recovery means putting your computer software back to factory/new state. The backup disks will save a lot of time and labour expense when your system needs restoring. Disk images are another way of quickly recovering OS, programs, data and settings after a catastrophic event.

6. Clean Up Your Junk = Speed Up Your ‘Puter

• Regularly remove temporary files from web browsers
• Empty the computer’s “Recycle Bin” and email “Deleted Items” folders
• Defragment your hard drive weekly
• Schedule a Disk Error Check monthly
• Keep your Desktop uncluttered
• Remove or archive the old junk from your email folders
• Remove unused programs
• Disable “lame” startups & services

7. Keep Up With Updates

Don't let your computer get behind. All updates, especially anti-virus and operating system updates are provided to either increase security or rectify existing problems. Delaying or denying updates will only bite you in the long run and may end in costly repair expenses.

Download article.