In the interest of public safety and sanity, and because much like sexually transmitted diseases and Kardashians, the spread of internet viruses and the destruction and theft of information can be prevented with knowledge. And, quite similar to sexually transmitted diseases and Kardashians, they are far easier to prevent than get rid of, as my dear surrogate father learned.

This is why I am taking time out of my very busy schedule of sitting around and getting fat to make a short little ‘how not to be ‘loved tenderly’ on the internet guide. I am going to post this page on his Facebook page for his friends to read too, which scares me as they will see my other posts, and potentially my other sites, and likely disown him. However I would like to assure these nice people that I became the way I am after I left his care, and Lord only knows what kind of horrible creature I would have become if it weren’t for him. Please be kind.

This is a very simple guide, for novices, so those of you who know me, don’t yell and scream how I didn’t comment on changing HOSTS files or cry about not demanding that they switch to Firefox with Adblock or worse yet go on some kind of *&#@#(@ing rant about Macs. I will kill you in your sleep. This is just basic, helpful information and what to watch out for!

Before I start, let me make one thing clear:

YOU NEED AN ANTI-VIRUS PROGRAM, AND YOU NEED TO KEEP IT UPDATED.

I don’t think I can type any louder than that. If you don’t have McAfee (which is expensive), I recommend Avast, which is free for personal use.

Now for the tips!

First off, Internet Explorer has some useful warnings that can pop up. And some less than useful ones. If you ever go to a website, then get an Internet Explorer window that pops up saying that you have a virus and you should click on it to run a virus scan, you probably SHOULD NOT click on that.

It’s relatively easy for website operators to exploit security issues in IE, as well as trick users into thinking pop-up windows are legit.

Toolbars can be useful, but they are havens for adware, spy ware and malware of all sorts. When installing programs, if you’re given the option NOT to install a toolbar, don’t.

Pictures Now!

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The picture to the left shows the IE download warning. If you EVER get this without having initiated a download, cancel it. That should be pretty much common sense.

Never download anything from someone you’re not sure of, and always download files to your computer before opening them to make sure that your anti-virus can scan them before they are executed, otherwise you risk infecting your computer.

If a website ‘insists’ on trying to download something, close the program. If it won’t, click CTRL-ALT-DEL and force the program closed using the task manager. Never go back to that website again.

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ActiveX is a programming language and ActiveX controls are little programs that run that allow certain interactive events to run on websites.

They can also be extremely dangerous when used for nefarious purposes.

Be sure that the website you’re at is reputable before you allow an ActiveX control to run. If you have any doubts at all, then do not grant permission.

Internet Explorer is the only browser that supports ActiveX controls. That, however, does not mean there are not ways to exploit vulnerabilities in those browsers, so do not feel you are completely safe just because you do not use IE.

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You will need to click on the picture at some point to fully understand this next part.

Phishing is a scam where you receive an email that appears to be from your bank or credit card company. They tell you that there is an issue and you need to follow a link and input vital account information. The problem is that the link you follow takes you to a third party website, the scammer’s, and they collect your username, password, SSN and other information.

This scam is easy to deflect by always doing one important thing. Before clicking on any link in your email like that, hover your mouse over the link. Then look at the bottom, left hand corner of your browser window.

There you will find the address that the link goes to. If the link in the email says Bank of America, yet the browser shows it going to bankofamerica.scammer.net, you know that you’re being phished.

Yes, it still says ‘bankofamerica’ in the address, but that is on what is known as a subdomain. What you need to look for is what is the domain its self, which is what is directly preceding the .com/.net/.org. An example to clear things up:

SUBDOMAIN.DOMAIN.COM

As well, here is an example of a phishing link. http://www.bankofoklahoma.com Mouse over the link and check the bottom left of the browser. See how it takes you somewhere goofy? Bad news.

As well, because banks et all are well aware of phishing scams, they make it a practice not to request such information via email. If you’re even slightly in doubt of the authenticity of an alleged communication from your bank, etc, contact them.

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The virus that’s been going around Facebook is known as the Koobface Virus. There’s a ton of variations of this, as viruses evolve over time to try and thwart AV software (this is why it’s so important to make sure yours is up to date!).

Getting rid of it is an ordeal, but protecting yourself from it is fairly easy, if you follow these four simple guidelines!

1 – You know it’s nonsense if one of your intelligent friends sends you a message where the subject line is in complete gibberish, misspelled, or your friend is a, experienced member of society yet they typed like a dumbass 13 year old kid.

2 – The message seemed to be directed to you, yet was sent to several people?

3 – The link goes to some foreign website. With rare exception, .com/.org/.net are the only top level domains used in the United States. The link here is .dk, which is a site in Denmark.

4 - Unless you actually are worried you were in a dirty movie, there is only one thing you should do with a message like this. Click delete.

All done!

I hope this proves useful for some people. If not, well then, whatever. I’m well over 1,000 words which makes up for the fact that I haven’t posted any boring blah-blah’s about my vacation!

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