Cerebral Palsy Alliance

Archive for September, 2008

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Help! How can I tell if a website is safe to use?

This week Web2Go spills the beans about how to ensure your information is safe online, especially when you use Internet banking sites.

A few of my friends flatly refuse to use Internet banking sites and online retailers like Amazon.com and ebay for fear of getting their money, or perhaps worse, their identities, stolen.

They’re right – it’s a jungle out there – but if you take care online with some commonsense steps, you can diminish the risk of being another victim of cybercrime. Sadly, you’ll never be able to remove the risk altogether.

Firstly, be very selective about the info you give out online. (I’ve seen so many people putting their mobile numbers and home addresses on their Facebook profiles lately, it’s scary.)

Using email to send credit card or password details is never a good idea. It’s not secure, which means that potentially anybody could view the contents of your emails as they travel between your computer and their final destination.

If you are entering personal or financial details into a website, check to see if it has SSL (Secure Socket Layer) encryption. When information is encrypted it gets scrambled so that others can’t view what is being transmitted.

When it reaches its final stop the encrypted info is deciphered so that it can be read in its original format. Verisign, a company that sells and authorizes SSL certificates for websites, has a good explanation here.

If a site has SSL encryption you will usually be able to see a little gold lock icon sitting somewhere at the top or bottom of your Web browser. The web address may also slightly change to show ‘https’ at the beginning which stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure.

Alternatively, a site may include a logo from a company such as Verisign or TRUSTe, an organization which certifies and identifies trustworthy websites and helps online consumers to find them.

Using malware (virus) protection software will also help you to weed out any dodgy vendors.

Internet banking can be a minefield if you don’t take similar precautions.

Change your password regularly and remember to use a combination of upper and lowercase numbers and letters. Additionally, never follow a link to a banking site sent to you in an email (it’s most probably a phishing scam, like the one my friend Carrie got drawn into).

Also, ring your bank for confirmation of their website address and bookmark it rather than just Googling it each time you need to use it. (Setting up bogus – but authentic-looking – sites and getting them listed on search engines is another way that scammers can find their way to your bank account details.)

If you do want to shop online, consider getting a credit or debit card with a low limit or opening an account just for online transactions. (PayPal is another popular way to exchange funds online.)

Yes, you are taking risks when you provide your personal or financial information online but there are many things you can do to make your cyber-shopping or banking experience a whole lot safer.

If you’re still worried you can always check out websites such as StaySafeOnline.org or the Australian government’s StaySmartOnline or NetAlert sites.

Next week … Help! How do I add stuff to my Facebook profile?

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Help! I think I’ve been scammed

Earlier this year, a friend of mine – let’s call her Carrie even though that’s not her real name – was looking for a job when she happened to receive an email from a New York-based financial company offering her a well-paid position working from home.

All she had to do was to fill out a form on the company’s website giving her bank account details, her mobile number, her date of birth and her home address. She followed all the instructions and waited.

By the time Carrie realised that something was definitely awry she was getting threatening half-hourly text messages from the would-be scammer. Eventually, she had to call her bank’s consumer fraud department for help.

It turned out that the job offer email wasn’t from a financial firm in New York at all. Instead, a teenager holed up in his bedroom in the heart of Texas was using a dodgy Internet address and a bit of image manipulation software to lure random strangers into an elaborate money laundering scam.

This is a true story that made me think twice about the personal information I shared with others through the Internet.

The Internet and the World Wide Web are making it much easier for people with crime on their minds to reach a global audience. And, as it happens, Australians have recently been voted as among the most gulible on the Planet when it comes to falling prey to cybercrime.

Phishing scams, like the one Carrie found herself caught up in, are legitimate-looking websites or emails designed to get people to part with their personal info. They are one of the most common types of scams circulating on the Web.

Although scams seem unavoidable in this day and age, luckily there are some things you can do to protect yourself. For example, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) maintains a comprehensive website called ScamWatch which gives you all the latest about on and offline scams.

Here’s a selection of the ACCC’s hottest scam-fighting tips.

You can also sign uup for the ScamWatch email alert which keeps you informed about freshly-hatched scams.

If you suspect or know you’ve been scammed ScamWatch also has some advice about your best course of action.

The Trend Micro’s Hoax Dictionary (thanks to a Web2Go reader for the heads up on this one : )) is also a great resource for confirming the authenticity – or not – of suspcious emails and websites.

The bottom line is: don’t get caught out like Carrie. As the old saying goes, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

If you’ve been scammed and survived, please consider sharing your story with other Web2Go readers. Just leave a comment below and help other Web2Goers to learn and grow from your hard-won experience.

Next week…Help! How can I tell if a website is safe?

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Help! I just lost all the stuff on my computer

This week Web2Go takes you through some options for backing up your precious computer stuff.

Believe me, there’s nothing worse than the light-headed feeling that you get when you realise you’ve lost two years worth of email, five years worth of accounts, the beginnings of The Great Australian Novel and your entire collection of graduation photos.

Yet so many people (including, until recently, me) are willing to risk it by not regularly backing up their computer files.

It’s one of those ‘oh it won’t happen to me’ situations that so often come back to haunt us just when we are fooled into thinking that everything is going swimmingly.

I was shamed into taken action a few weeks ago when teaching a workshop about backing up computers. “Up to 30% of businesses don’t have a proper back up plan in place!” I was booming down from my soapbox.

“So, what plan do you have?,” came one participant’s reply.

“Ahhhh – I don’t have one either.” Followed by silence and that rising hot feeling you get when beetroot-red shame and embarrassment are spreading rapidly across your face.

I raced home, and that evening, after a bit of web-based research, I purchased a 500 GB external hard drive, specifically for the purpose of backing up my files.

Now I can say with complete confidence that businesses, small and large, really have no excuse for backing up their stuff. Likewise, home users, who regularly depend on their files being in one piece, shouldn’t neglect backing up either.

A good back up plan includes how you’re going to back up (the media), when you’re going to back up (the schedule) and where you’re going to store your back ups (the storage).

For media you have a few different options including CDs and DVDs (probably still the best value for money option), USB/Flash drive, external hard drive or an externally hosted online backup website.

One of the things you should keep in mind when thinking about media is that they won’t last forever. USB drives for example can only have data ‘written’ (saved) to them a limited number of times before they go to silicon heaven or before errors creep into the data saved on them.

Similarly, there’s always a risk with CDs and DVDs that errors can occur during the burning process. In other words, you need to weigh up your needs and options carefully before choosing your backup media.

You could also do what I did and purchase an external hard drive for backing up. It’s just an additional drive that plugs into your existing computer and is set up to save all of your stuff.

Most popular CD and DVD burning software such as Roxio or Nero come with their own backup facility which enables you to schedule regular backups. (Windows XP and Vista also have their own backup features but the last time I checked the XP version only enabled you to back up a maximum of 4 GB of data).

I’ve now scheduled my backup software to do a full file back up every Tuesday and a nightly incremental backup (which updates only the files that have changed since my last backup).

If you want to use a program specifically designed to create backups and drive images you could try Acronis True Image Home Edition (about USD$50.00) to purchase online or the free Cobian Backup program.

At the moment, my backup is onsite (i.e. it’s in the same place where my original data is stored) but it’s probably a good idea to consider keeping a copy of your data offsite (somewhere like your home or office, or wherever the original copies of your data aren’t stored). This can be a digital lifesaver if a natural disaster strikes. You might also want to consider online backup as another viable offsite storage option.

I can’t stress enough how crucial it is to back up your computer stuff. If you’re reading this and you don’t have a backup plan in place, take fifteen minutes out of your day today and get one started. You’ll thank yourself later. And if you’re still stuck, give Web2Go a holler!

Next time … Help! I think I’ve been scammed.

17 September 2008

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Help! I’ve just got Windows Vista and I’m totally confused

In this post, Web2Go spills the beans about Vista and where to get further help if you’re still feeling more than a bit bamboozled by it all.

I have to fess up that I don’t actually have Microsoft Windows Vista on any of my computers yet. It’s a rule of mine not to upgrade to anything new until at least eighteen months after it’s released. I figure that way, the boffins will have time to weave their magic and close any gapping security holes or swat the stray bugs that were overlooked when the product made its debut.

My rule was sorely tested by the appearance of Apple’s iPhone on the Australian market, but thankfully, at least for my bank balance, I didn’t cave in to peer pressure.

Firstly, it’s probably a good idea to take a step back and clarify what Microsoft Windows Vista actually is – it’s operating system software for your PC. Computers have two main types of software installed – operating system software and application software. Operating system software, like Windows XP, Mac OS X or Windows 98, for example, is designed to co-ordinate the smooth operation of all the other bits of software and hardware connected to your computer. Application software is another term for the computer programs you use to do stuff with your computer such as Microsoft Office Word or the Mozilla Firefox Internet Browser.

Every few years since the release of the Windows 3.1 operating system in 1992, Microsoft has launched a new (and supposedly improved) operating system for Windows-based PCs. The latest contender is Windows Vista. While some people I know are still clinging to Windows 98 – acknowledged by many Windows aficionados as one of the most stable and reliable Windows-based operating systems – most of us are at least toying with the idea of getting acquainted with Vista.

If you’ve just bought your first PC and it’s pre-loaded with Vista, you have an advantage. That is, you won’t have to struggle with getting your mind around the differences between Windows XP and Vista. You can play with you new toy without panicking every 30 seconds or so that something that used to be there in XP seems to have vanished in Vista. (The renaming of XP’s ‘Add and Remove Programs’ Control Panel icon to ‘Programs and Features’ in Vista is one small but good example of this.)

If you’ve just swapped from another operating system to Vista and you’re feeling overwhelmed, here‘s my advice:

• Try not to panic. There are heaps of online and offline resources that will see you through those first few hairy months. Some of the ones I’ve come across are Microsoft’s Windows Vista Help and How-To page , Paul Thurtott’s Supersite for Windows and About.com’s Windows Vista guide.

• Go out and buy or borrow a book if you have to – I bought Windows Vista for Dummies in preparation for The Big Changeover (TBC).

• If you get the chance, play and experiment with Vista before working with it. Playing and experimenting is how most of the experts ; ) work it out.

• If you’ve done TBC and found that you just can’t cope with Vista just yet you can always remove it and go back to Windows XP. Instructions here – not for the faint-hearted.

Most of all, be thankful that you’re not living in the days of the Disk Operating System (DOS) where you had to learn, remember and type in hundreds of different commands to make stuff happen on your computer.

Good luck and thanks Web2Goers! Remember to let me know about your computing gripes or success stories with Windows XP and Vista.

Next time … Help! I just lost all the stuff on my computer.

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