TechKathy.com » Internet

Conficker Set to Strike

Kathy — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 08:46:55 +0000

One of the biggest computer worms in recent history, called “Conficker,” appears set to strike on April 1, 2009. No one knows exactly what this worm will do, but you can be sure it won’t be good. If you’re running any Windows operating system (including Mac users who have Windows installed), you could be at risk.

To be sure that your computer won’t be one of the millions affected, please take a few minutes this weekend to protect your computer. First, visit Microsoft’s update page at http://update.microsoft.com/windowsupdate/ to make sure that you have the latest version of your operating system and any patches that are available. (Microsoft has released a patch for all the current versions of its operating systems to combat Conficker.)

Second, disable Auto-Run / Auto-Play on your computer. The How-to Geek has simple instructions in this article.

And third, use your anti-virus software. Download any available updates to your anti-virus software, and then allow it to scan for and remove any worms, viruses or other malicious software on your computer. If you don’t have anti-virus software, please get some! There are many out there, and some are even free, including AVG.

To learn more about Conficker and what you can do to avoid it, please check out Wikipedia’s page on Conficker, the Conficker Information site or some of the many articles on Conficker that have been published in the news lately.

Good luck, stay safe and, as always, thanks for reading my blog!

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To Tweet or Not to Tweet…

Kathy — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 23:41:15 +0000

I thought that was one of the big tech questions of late, but I was surprised to find out from some friends that their question was actually, “What’s tweeting?” or more precisely, “What’s Twitter?”

With all the buzz Twitter receives in the tech world, I assumed that everyone had heard of it and that I was a relatively late adopter. (I created a personal account in December 2008, and I created a TechKathy account in January 2009.) And while it has taken me a few weeks to understand what all the fuss is about, I have to confess that I’ve grown to like the service.

In a word, Twitter is “microblogging.” What does that mean? If you think of blogging as writing about your thoughts, feelings, activities, secret crushes and other things on your own personal site, then imagine Twitter as a miniature version of this. You get your own page (mine is http://twitter.com/techkathy), and you write about whatever you want in 140 characters or less. How much is that really? Here’s a post that I wrote that’s exactly 140 characters:

I made my first animated gif using a cool Twitter logo I found thru Smashing Magazine. My new gif is now at the bottom of www.techkathy.com.

So obviously, you’re not going to tell your life story in 140 characters. Twitter tells you to just answer the question, “What are you doing?” One thing I really like about Twitter is that only people who actually WANT to know what you’re doing will see your Twitter posts. When you join Twitter, the site prompts you to find friends to follow so you see their posts, and it allows others to choose to follow you. You’re never spamming people with your posts, and you’re not getting spammed either—what you see or don’t see is completely up to you.

I have chosen to follow tech writers like David Pogue and Gina Trapani and tech-related organizations like Macworld and WordPress, so most of what I see on my Twitter homepage is tech-related news.

Most of what I write and post on Twitter is also tech-related. When I first joined Twitter, I started out writing rather mundane things, but it recently dawned on me that I could use the service to provide additional small tech tips to people as I discover them. My tips are usually for websites and services that I’ve found useful that I may or may not have time to write a full blog post about. You can see my tips, and all my Twitter posts, without having to join by visiting http://twitter.com/techkathy. If you do decide to join and choose to follow me, you’ll get my posts delivered to your Twitter homepage automatically.

If this all sounds interesting and you want to learn more, please check out this two-and-a-half-minute introductory video from the Common Craft:

And for still more on Twitter, here are a few articles:

Twitter Tips for Beginners, by David Pogue,
What is Twitter?, by BBC Panoramic, and
How to Use Twitter Like a Pro, by Sean Tibbitts, (a response to Pogue’s article).

As always, thanks for reading my blog, and happy tweeting!

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Protect Yourself from Windows Worms

Kathy — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 16:40:37 +0000

More than three million Windows computers around the world have been hit by a malicious worm, but your computer doesn’t need to become one of this growing number. Just a few simple steps can protect you and save you hours of trouble.

A computer worm is a self-propagating piece of malicious software. Computer worms use networks (like the internet) to send copies of themselves out to other computers on those networks. Since no action is necessary on the part of computer users for a worm to infect their systems, users are often unaware they’ve been infected, and they unwittingly allow the worm to infect other users.

On Friday, the BBC reported that, in this particular case, “the malicious program, known as Conficker, Downadup or Kido was first discovered in October 2008.” Microsoft released a patch specifically to stop this worm from infecting machines, but it remains a problem because many owners of Windows computers have not downloaded and installed this patch.

To ensure you don’t get infected, you only need to take a few steps:

Go to your computer’s Control Panel—you’ll find this under the Start menu.

For Windows XP users, find and double click on Automatic Updates. Depending on the configuration of your computer, you’ll find this under System or Performance and Maintenance. If you can’t find it, just run a search for Automatic Updates within the Windows Help Center.
For Windows Vista users, go to Security, then Windows Update and then Change Settings.

Your Automatic Updates should be set to “Automatic” and the computer should be checking “Every day” at a time when your computer will be on, if you have broadband internet access. If you’re using dial-up service to connect to the internet, choose a day of the week and a time that you’re usually connected to the internet.

To be sure your computer is up-to-date right now, use Internet Explorer (hopefully you’re using the most recent version, which is IE 7 right now) to visit Microsoft’s update site at: http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com. Click on Express, and Microsoft’s site will check for you.

For more information and advice on security from Microsoft, you can consult their website or your computer’s Help Center. And for more information on the latest worm and the damage it has caused, you can read the BBC’s full article Three Million Hit by Windows Worm.

Good luck keeping your computer protected, and, as always, thanks for reading my tech blog!

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Learn to Spot Phishing Messages

Kathy — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:35:58 +0000

Most of us have spam filters to help shield us from the junk that spammers send us via email, and I really hope that by now everyone knows that those Nigerians needing help “freeing” their funds are really just looking for naïve people to scam. But how well do you think you can spot “phishing” messages?

“Phishing” is an illegal method of tricking someone into providing very personal and sensitive information (like usernames, passwords, credit card numbers and etc.) to people who are not who they say they are. Phishing typically happens through email or instant messages, and these messages may have real business names, real logos and/or legal-sounding language requesting immediate action. The messages often include forms to fill out and return by email or links to fake websites with online forms to fill out.

What makes this phenomenon something to worry about is the ever-increasing sophistication of phishers’ methods. The messages they send look more and more legitimate, which is how phishers deceive people and then hijack their email accounts, drain their bank accounts or do some other harmful and fraudulent act.

Some internet browsers (including Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox 3) include anti-phishing filters, which display a warning if a site you try to visit is suspected of phishing, and some anti-virus and spyware applications also include anti-phishing filters. These filters, however, do not catch everything, so it’s important that you learn some basic strategies to keep yourself safe.

Here are a few warning signs that you can look for when reading messages from people you don’t know personally and from companies. First, look closely at any logos in the message, the “from” address and any website addresses the message asks you to visit. If they look odd or the email or website address is suspiciously long, the message is likely a fake. Second, read the message carefully for odd typos and grammar mistakes. Company CEOs and bank managers don’t send out messages without proofreading them first. Third (and most importantly), don’t trust messages that ask you to provide your username, password or account number in a message.

If you’re still not sure if the message is legitimate, call the person or company using their phone number from your statements or the telephone book and ask them about the message. Or do a little checking online. Snopes.com is dedicated to debunking urban legends and exposing misinformation, and it has a good article about phishing and many examples of past phishing attempts. In addition to reading that, you can also check out Snopes.com the next time you get a suspicious looking email – it’s updated daily with the latest exposed schemes. Simply go to the website and do a search for the company who appears to have sent the message.

Another great resource I found while researching online for this post is a quiz by SonicWall called the Phishing and Spam IQ Quiz. SonicWall’s quiz presents you with 10 email messages, and you examine each one and state whether you think the message is legitimate or phishing. I scored a 9 out of 10 – I was a little too wary, and I thought a legitimate message was a scam. The best part of the quiz is the detailed results at the end. SonicWall shows you each individual message and shows you why it was legitimate or not. You can take the quiz here:

www.sonicwall.com/phishing/index.html

Good luck!

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Internet Explorer Security Issues

Kathy — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 18:37:53 +0000

I’m always surprised to see how many people around the world still use Internet Explorer as their web browser of choice. I think there are much better browsers available to people, but I guess I can understand why people stick with it. Internet Explorer (or IE, as it’s often referred to) comes pre-installed on the vast majority of computers, and it’s a bit of a hassle to find, download and learn to work with a new browser. But if you are one of those people still using IE, please consider this compelling reason to switch…

Microsoft and IE made the news this week, and not in a good way. Hackers have exposed serious problems with all versions (new and old) of the browser that Microsoft has not yet addressed. The browser has a flaw which can expose your usernames and passwords to others when you visit “infected” websites. From what I’ve read (see below for links), your computer can be attacked as soon as you visit one of these “infected” websites.

PC World estimated that more than 2 million computers have already been compromised, and more are sure to follow. Surprisingly, Microsoft hasn’t released any fixes or permanent patches for this yet, only some temporary measures you can take to minimize your risk. However, technology experts say that these work-around solutions are difficult to employ and ultimately not very effective.

Luckily, there are a number of other safe, free and easy-to-use alternatives. I am a long-time, happy user of Mozilla’s web browser, Firefox. You can find out more information about the application and download it by visiting www.mozilla.com. Other free browser options include Opera (www.opera.com), Google’s Chrome (www.google.com/chrome) and Apple’s Safari (which comes pre-installed on Macs, for Windows visit www.apple.com/safari/).

So my message to all you IE users is: Please do switch to something else – at least for now. There are plenty of safe, free browsers available, and you just might find that you really like one of them! But you don’t have to delete Internet Explorer from your computer, and you can always switch back to it once Microsoft updates it (and you install the updates). Just PLEASE find another browser to use in the meantime.

If you’d like to read more about the Internet Explorer security issue, here are a few articles I found while researching this post:

From the BBC: news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7784908.stm

From the Washington Post: www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/16/AR2008121601022_pf.html

From Yahoo’s Technology Blogs: tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/111811

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