Rios Computer Associates
Avoiding Malware Sites
Have you ever seen a page come up in Google’s search results that appears to be just a list of words or names? These are usually sites that will try to put spyware and/or viruses (malware) on your computer. They put all sorts of things on their websites so that they will show up on a wide variety of searches, especially searches that don't have many hits. This makes it likely that you would visit the website, and might even be seduced into clicking on a pop-up or other button that would let them install malware on your computer.
My niece is a budding actress and has a very distinctive name. When we googled her recently, we had about 50 hits—one of which was a website that launched an all-out attack on our computer. It took all of my tricks to regain control. We sent a warning to all the relatives not to visit that site.
Sometimes they will get lists of names of college students, or some such
source, and put thousands of names on their websites, hoping to hook people looking for their relatives or themselves. There are ways to put search terms on a website that are not visible, but will get the search engines to list the site when that term is specified.
The bad guys seem to have an unlimited number of ways to trick people, and to avoid detection. The best rule is that, as soon as you realize that a site is not what you are looking for, leave! Better yet, if you can tell from the search listing that it isn't what you want, don't go there in the first place. Playing on people's curiosity, or paranoia, is a major weapon in the bad guys' arsenal.
Computer hygiene is important, but the paid-for protection programs are often worse than the ones you can get for free. We have solved a lot of our clients' computer problems by removing Norton/Symantec programs.
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Have you been told that buying a Mac will avoid problems with viruses? That can be a good temporary solution—until a lot of folks start buying Macs.
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A word about passwords: lots of people tell you to create screwy-looking passwords with uPPer and LowER case and all kinds of strange symbols in them. It turns out that this is bad advice...
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Almost all messages that you get telling you to 'Forward this to all your friends' are hoaxes. Here are some ways to determine whether you should pass it on or hit 'Delete'.
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The best approach that I have found in deciding what sort of computer to purchase is to identify the things that are most likely to matter to someone and narrow the search from there.
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The bad guys seem to have an unlimited number of ways to trick people and avoid detection. Do you know how to protect yourself from malicious websites?
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There are lots of places that will host you for just a few bucks a month. The critical question is not cost, but reliability and support.
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Regardless of which computer you get, most extended warranties aren't worth the money. But how you pay for the computer matters a lot...
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Microsoft has dominated the office software market with Microsoft Office, but their software package can be expensive for personal use. Did you know that there are cheaper or free alternatives?
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Comfortable reading is all but impossible when you're farsighted, and computerized magnifers are expensive. Luckily, there is a way to get a cheap makeshift magnifier that works better than the real thing!
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Going backwards from PDF to text is usually somewhat messy, but not impossible. Here are some methods to convert your PDF documents into more accesible formats...
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The most important program I have, except maybe email, is my Personal Information Manager: InfoSelect.
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If your computer on which you have Microsoft Office installed dies, you don't need to buy a new copy; the license for Microsoft Office is transferable. You just need the original CD and the Product Key to install it just as you did originally.
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IMAP is one of two commonly-used email protocols. I've heard lots of wonderful things about IMAP, but in real life, I have found it has its own share of drawbacks...
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In more than 90% of cases of hard drive failure the data is retrievable, but the method used depends on the type of failure. A hard drive can 'die' for several reasons...
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