Viruses can now enter your computer by opening a dodgy email. To prevent this, set Outlook Express so that the Preview pane is not displayed. Click Hide preview pane to see how you do this.
Kill off chain emails containing hoax virus warnings.
These are sent
by well meaning acquaintances.
Refuse to worry your friends,
break the chain.
Make sure you know
how to recognise and deal with a hoax warning;
click
Here
for information.
Phishing: Emails purporting to be from banks and building societies are scams called phishing (fishing for bank details). Kill them (hold down Shift and tap the Delete key). Scam emails will use well known names, e.g., spam pretending to be from Norton is labelled 'Online Symantec Store'. Kill any emails from unknown sources or sources you do not subscribe to. Emails from an unknown source saying you have been sent a greetings card are spam. Kill them, they may contain dangerous or unpleasant content.
PayPal members
will receive phishing emails. Genuine PayPal emails will
be addressed to you with
your full name. (not Dear Member or Dear
PayPal Member)
Genuine PayPal emails will
never ask you for
personal information. Some Paypal phishing emails may appear to be sent by
service@paypal.co.uk and the subject might be something like
'Notification of Limited Account Access'.
Forward that type of phishing email to
spoof@paypal.co.uk and then delete the email. PayPal will investigate
the source.
Security essentials.
Make sure you have up to date anti-virus and
anti-spy programs installed on your computer. Removal of viruses and
spies can be expensive.
Anti-virus and anti-spy
programs are useless unless they are updated
regularly
Pop-up messages:
Click Yes, OK or Install on the
following pop-ups:
(i) Outlook Express can compact messages...
(ii) Windows Updates are ready to install...
Pop-up messages
emanating from a yellow triangle containing an exclamation mark. These
contain a
false
warning that you have a virus or Trojan. The pop-up urges you to click the
pop-up to download a cure. DO NOT CLICK. You do have a Trojan, but not the
one in the warning. The false one mentioned in the warning is a decoy to get
you to click and download a much worse Trojan/virus.
SpyBot S&D or PC Tools Spyware Doctor will kill the Trojan which causes the
pop-ups.
Messenger Service pop-ups in grey panels: These are nothing to do with the MSN Messenger program. Close the pop-ups immediately as they are dangerous. To stop these pop-ups from appearing on a Windows XP computer click Start--> Control Panel-->Administrative-->Tools . Then double click the Services icon. Scroll down the list of services and double click the Messenger Service . Select Properties. Click STOP in the messenger properties window. After the service stops, use the drop down list to change the Startup Type to Disabled. Click OK and close the Services window using the red and white X in the top right corner.
Spies
are now a bigger menace than viruses. I am increasingly called
out to fix non-connecting internet or email programs which have been
crippled by spies. The symptoms of an infection by spies are:
(1) computer slowing down (b) slow shut down or failing to shut down (c)
slow start up (d) can't access internet or emails (e) home page has changed
(f) pop-up messages.
Spies often disable anti-spy and anti-virus programs. The Windows Defender,
McAfee, and Norton anti-spy programs are not very effective. A most
successful strategy is to scan weekly
with the free SpyBot S&D (version 1.6.2). Spybot
immunises the computer against 150,000 spies.
For an effective free solution to combat scareware, download and
install SuperAnti Spyware.
You could try PC Tools Spyware Doctor for an annual subscription of $30 (£15).
Beware of programs with names similar to Spyware Doctor, they are very dangerous
Beware of tear jerking emails.
Sometimes these are aimed at
Christians and they ask for help for Africans and victims of natural
disasters. Do not send money, always donate to a reputable organisation. The
emails always contain a request for your bank details. NEVER give any bank
details to anyone except when logging on to your Internet Bank.
Internet banks use a web page with a secure code with drop-down lists for
complete protection against fraud.
Ordering goods on the internet using a debit or credit card is completely safe providing you are buying from a reputable company. Look for a gold padlock at the bottom of the screen (Internet Explorer 6) or to the right of the address bar (internet Explorer 7), this means your entries will be encoded and will be safe.
Another security test: When internet banking or giving debit/credit card details on a company website, look at the web address at the top of the screen, it must have the prefix https instead of http, (the 's' stands for secure).
Cream balloons:
When an irritating cream coloured balloon
appears in the bottom right corner,
don't click it. Read whatever the
balloon says and act on it. For instance if it says your anti-virus database
or anti-virus definitions are out of date then go on-line and update the
anti-virus definitions/database using the icon on your desktop. Clicking the
balloon is a waste of time as it merely results in another warning in a
different format.
That little yellow shield
with the exclamation mark puzzles some
people. It appears in the Notification area when you are on-line. It simply
indicates that, while you are on-line, it is downloading the latest
improvements to your Windows XP, i.e. security and other critical updates.
Rest your cursor on the yellow shield and it will indicate what percentage
has been downloaded so far. You do not have to stay on-line until it says
100%. Go off-line whenever you wish, when you next go on-line, the download
will continue from where it left off.
When the download is eventually complete, a cream balloon may inform you.
Agree that you wish to install the downloads. Another balloon will tell you
that you can carry on working on other things while the installation take
place.
When you next shut down your computer, you will be told not to power off
(shut down) because the updates need installing. The installation is
entirely automatic,
just wait. When the installation is done the
computer will power-off all by itself.
The most convenient method of
downloading and installing Windows XP updates
is to set it to be semi-automatic as follows:
Click
Start-->Control Panel. On the next window, look at the left
hand panel, if it says
Switch to Classic view, then click that
instruction to select the classic view. If it says
Switch to Category
view, you are already in the classic view. Near the bottom of the screen you
will see an icon labelled
System, double click it. Click the tab
labelled
Automatic updates.
Now select
Download updates for me, but let me choose when to install
them.
Click
Apply
and then click
OK
.
Windows XP users: If you see a screen from Microsoft announcing the new version of Internet Explorer (IE 7), download it if you have broadband. Do not uninstall the old version, it will be replaced automatically. If you are on dial-up, it will take 90 minutes to download, alternatively, call a technician (like me) who can promise to load it from a CD in 15 minutes.
Adrian West © 2007 computer help, computer problems solved
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