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Internet tips to help protect your personal info and keep it from prying
eyes -
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Use BCC when
sending or forwarding to multiple addresses...
(Like
forwarding humor or contacting several people at once)
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What most
people do not know is if you simply add everyone in the "TO" field (text
box) when mailing a bunch of folks is EVERY one of these addresses is sent
along with the message to EVERYONE you are sending the message to. They
are included in what is called the message header. Most people never see
this in their e-mails because by default most mail programs (mail clients)
are set to hide this. The headers are essentially a bunch of internet info
about where the message came from, what servers it passed through and where
or to whom it was going to.
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Nearly
all mail programs worth anything give you a "TO" field where you add the
intended recipients address or alias, but they also include a "CC", or
"Carbon Copy" field that allows you to send a Carbon Copy of the message
to someone else. What most people are not aware of is there as also what
is known as a "BCC", or "Blind Carbon Copy" field that acts much the same
way except any addresses entered here will NOT become part of the headers
as they will with the TO and CC fields. What this means is no matter who
you send the message to, they (and their computer) will only be aware that
the message was sent to them and will NOT know who else the message was
sent to.
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I
am not opposed to jokes, humor, interesting links, or the like, but I AM
opposed to my friends adding my address along with others to the "TO" field
instead of the "BCC" field when the message is intended for more than just
myself. PLEASE! If you are going to forward something to me, either send
it JUST TO ME then mail the rest of your buds separately or add our addresses
to the BCC field instead and mail the message back to yourself. Most poeple
will appreciate your respect of their privcacy and would be comforted in
knowing thier addresses are not being replicated across the internet and
stored on hundreds or even thousands of computers just waiting for some
scumbag spammer to glean them.
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The
safest thing to do when mailing more than one person is send the message
TO yourself and BCC everyone you want to send the message to. Doing otherwise
is a lot like putting everyone's home phone number on the bathroom walls
of all the local seedy bars. It just takes one jerk to copy them down and
start making "friendly" phone calls!
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Use TRUSTED
spyware utilities and updated Anti-Virus...
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Spammers
and crooks/hackers take full advantage of both known exploits as well as
peoples' browsing habits. It is not that difficult to lure someone into
installing a plugin for IE or convincing someone to install programs that
on the surface seem innocent or even beneficial but in fact are malicious
in nature and intended to cause harm or steal information.
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You
would be surprised to know how many sites attempt to track your browsing
habits in order to target your interests with marketing and even spam.
The more benign of these methods is the use of "tracking cookies" to the
more insidious browser hi-jacking and trojans.
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Search
assistants and IE toolbars have become the worst of the bunch. Often once
a victim is lured into installing one of these useless utilities it will
install more in the backround without the user's knowledge. You have to
remember that there is no such thing as a free lunch, and even Yahoo and
Google are getting something out of your using their "free" toolbars. In
my opinoin these utilities are completely useless as everything that they
do one can also do by visiting the search engine's home page in their browser.
The best rule here is: If you don't absolutely have to have it or are not
completely sure of EVERYTHING it does then DON'T INSTALL IT!! I can't emphasize
this enough. I cannot count how many times I have had to help a friend
clean trojans and spyware from their system and this can be a genuinie
pain in the rear, and sometimes even irreversible.
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Using
trusted spyware utilities such as Spybot
Search and Destroy and keeping your Anti-Virus software up to date
will definitely reduce your risk of being compromised. Not just e-mail
addresses could be stolen but personal information such as logins, passwords,
bank account numbers, and credit card informatoin. Information and identity
theft is a REAL and GROWING problem, and no one is going to protect you
if you do not take the necessary steps yourself FIRST.
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Exercise
prudence in the sites you visit...
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Everyone
subscribes to thier own set of morals and interests. It is our right in
every free country in this small world we live in. I am not going to tell
you what or what not to do. I will however suggest that if you are into
adult enternaintment you avoid online sources such as web sites and mail
lists and stick to magazines and movies. Your computer cannot be compromised
by a magazine or vhs tape laying next to it. On the other hand, many sites
of this nature on the web DO try to take advantage of these interests.
Everything from selling your e-mail address to spammers to trying to compromise
your machine in order to steal personal information. Some would like nothing
more than to obtain your bank login information or credit card info, and
yet even others want to commandeer your machine for malicious activity
such as internet based attacks or worse.
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Is
it really worth it to risk any and all the personal information stored
on your machine just for the convenience or the illlusion of free "stuff"?
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Recently
I had to clean a number of trojans from a friend's machine who was at times
visiting adult sites. Unbeknownst to him and his girlfriend a site managed
to shut off their anti-virus, install a trojan which installed other trojans,
and had hi-jacked their browser. His girlfriend has a daughter of grade-school
age who also used the system. Every time the sytem booted up a whole herd
of popups littered the screen even before the desktop finished loading.
Many of these depicted adults with their parts fully exposed being used
in ways the daughter was clearly not ready to be aware of. Get the picture?
The daughter sure did! Was my friend a victim? To some degree, if only
through ignorance. The real victim here was the daughter. |
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