Security and You: dgoslings Place : General

The Long Awaited Vista SP1 Has Arrived...

Dorothy Gosling — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 16:55:00 GMT

On Tuesday March 18th, Microsoft finally released Vista SP1 in its final form. SP1 contains a year of updates and improves on some of Vista's features the public has complained about. ...(read more)

Procrastination - Habit or Heredity?

Dorothy Gosling — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 23:48:00 GMT

aahhh procrastination…..what causes it? ...(read more)

Visit A New Forum For Developers!

Dorothy Gosling — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 21:30:00 GMT

There is a new forum that may be of interest to Windows, Linux and/or Cross-Platform developers. The Linux and Windows Development forum ...(read more)

Santa Brought You A New PC ... 30+ Days and the Clock Is Ticking...

Dorothy Gosling — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 19:56:00 GMT

Included with your new computer are the OS (most likely Windows XP or Windows Vista), some Proprietary software from the manufacturer and some Trial software.........The operative word here is TRIAL, meaning that this software expires after 30, 60 or 90 days and on that date it becomes totally useless! ...(read more)

Your Home Is As Secure As Your PC...Right?....WRONG!!

Dorothy Gosling — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 22:42:00 GMT

Is your home as secure as your computer? If your answer is "Yes it is", then you are WRONG. ...(read more)

Time For The Beach To Take A Vacation

Dorothy Gosling — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 02:39:00 GMT

Many Canadians at this time of year crave the beach because of the long winters here. Unlike them, I love winter, especially when we have lots of snow. Outside it is so clean and fresh looking, the air is cold and crisp, the nights so peaceful and quiet...(read more)

Upgrade my RAM or Buy a new computer?

Dorothy Gosling — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 17:37:00 GMT

My desktop computer is a 3 year old HP a510n with a 120gig hard drive and 512 K of RAM. To reduce the memory drain when using third-party programs, upgrading the RAM is the easiest, cheapest and most effective solution. ...(read more)

Happy Birthday To You My Computer!

Dorothy Gosling — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 17:32:00 GMT

A Hewlett-Packard a510n, it has been a reliable and predictable, performing remarkably well, with few repairs. Since the life expectancy of a desktop is about 5 years, and this computer has all the features I will need (as long as I stick with XP sp2 Pro) it should last a few more years. ...(read more)

Gone With The Wind? Tom Coyote Forums where are you?

Dorothy Gosling — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 17:16:00 GMT

The Tom Coyote Forums will soon become part of the history of the Security community. However, the owner Tom Coyote Wilson is very much alive as owner of his new computer forum AntiSlyware. The ownership changed in February 2005 and now the name of the Tom Coyote Forum will soon change. The name “The Classroom” may also die with it ....(read more)

AntiSlyware.com - A New Computer Forum

Dorothy Gosling — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 16:42:00 GMT

Today after many months of preparation, AntiSlyware opened for business! AntiSlyware joins TomCoyote.org as another forum created by the fertile mind of Tom Wilson. It can be found at http://antislyware.com/aswf/index.php? ...(read more)

MVP Re-Award Day!

Dorothy Gosling — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 01:05:00 GMT

WOW I was given the MVP Award for the third year in a row. I am humbled to be among some of the most knowledgeable and skilled computer tech people in the world. It is certainly a surprise as well as an honour. As well as re-award day it is also the day...(read more)

Where Ya Been dgosling?

Dorothy Gosling — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 22:29:00 GMT

I guess it's about time I updated my blog since almost a year has passed. You see, I am not a blogger by nature. So many MVPs have GREAT blogs, and regularly give the public current information as well as their thoughts and ideas, that I find it impossible to write anything meaningful.

I like to teach, I like to help people, I like to give people an impartial look at computing and other topics. I really hate it when I find someone who has been victimized by the scumware makers, so they end up losing all of their data to something they had no control over.

The Internet is portrayed as almost a miracle because it allows people to access all kinds of information they never could in the past. It is definitely no miracle when we hear almost daily of Identity Theft and many breaches of individual confidentiality. The sad reality of today's world.

Every time you surf the internet without protection of Antivirus and Firewall (at a minimum) , you risk losing all the information on your hard drive.
Every time you download email from unknown sources you risk downloading malware.
Every time you download email from someone you know, there is a possiblity that their computer has been compromised and some malware will be included or attached to their email.
Every time you click a link included in an email, that link may take you to a spoofed website that looks almost identical to the real site.

How do you protect yourself ?

Have a full time Antivirus program with up-to-date definitions that scans email as well as all files.
Have a Firewall active at all times on your PC
Have a full time AntiSpyware program with up-to-date definitions that works the same as your antivirus program
Do a full scan regularly at least once a week with your AntiVIrus program and AntiSpyware program.
Keep your browser updated and Windows updated so the vulnerabilities have been taken care of.
Be careful when surfing.. if you go to a website and you are asked to approve a download...DON'T
beware of websites that look odd or have images that look odd on the page.
if you receive an email from a bank, eBay, Paypal or somewhere that offers a secure login. Check to make sure it is from the place it is supposed to be. If you are suspicious about where the email originated you can find the IP address in the header of the email and paste it into the box at http://www.samspade.org/

In Outlook Express right click on the message and choose 'properties' then click the 'details' tab. You will find the header of the email and if you look for the first entry of "Received From" you will see the IP address beside it. Copy the IP address and then paste it at http://www.samspade.org/ and hit ENTER. The next page will tell you where the email came from. If you don't recognize it, then delete the email without clicking any links.
Eudora and other email programs that include the header in the email, just find the first instance of the originating IP address, copy it, then paste it at http://www.samspade.org.
you can also hover your mouse over each link in an email and the link should show up in the status bar. If the link is NOT to the expected website then delete the email.
eBay and Paypal copy all emails they send to the message area of your account. If in doubt about the legitimacy of the email, check your account, if the message is not there, it is NOT from them.
most if not all banks will notify you online at their Website if they have something to tell you. Check your account online if you doubt the source of the email.

Many scams sent by email look very legitimate, don't get caught by them! They are ALWAYS too good to be true.
Be Wary and Be Aware when using the Internet, that will save you a lot of heartache.

Have Fun While Using the internet...when it isn't fun anymore, it isn't worth it!

Vista Launch Postponed

Dorothy Gosling — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 02:28:00 GMT

Microsoft anticipates that Vista will be launched in January 2007 for new PC's....(read more)

Snow - So Pretty!

Dorothy Gosling — Mon, 06 Feb 2006 20:49:00 GMT

It is so pretty outside today, snowing like crazy, it is so nice to see, finally. Here in Canada, everyone is usually so sick of snow by this time of year, that they pray for spring, but this year they pray for snow. All we've seen is rain and more rain, since the last snow storm just before Christmas, when the snow melted in a day or two, to be replaced by rain.

We've had so much rain, the grass is starting to grow, and my roses starting to bud. The grass almost needs mowing, but that would really kill it, because in this climate it is inevitable that it will get cold again. I am hoping the grass and plants survive this early growth when spring finally arrives. If I have to live with winter, and cold miserable weather, then I want to see snow.

I remember a year when we had snow all winter, it didn't melt until spring. The kids had so much fun that year, what can they do when all we have is cold and rain. I miss the snow this year, rain doesn't do anything for me at all, except make my joints ache. The rain can come back in the spring, to help the plants and trees grow with outside temperatures around 75° F (~22° C), much better than just above freezing.

Ahhh snow......

New This Week

Dorothy Gosling — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 19:53:00 GMT

IE7 Beta is out and is available to the public for download:http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/ie7/ie7betaredirect.mspx

News of the MyWife.E@mm worm, that nasty new worm I talked about the other day http://www.microsoft.com/security/encyclopedia/details.aspx?Name=Win32/Mywife.E@mm

Best Practices Keep your antivirus software up-to-date with the newest Virus definitions and employ the use of a firewall.

A New Article

Dorothy Gosling — Sun, 22 Jan 2006 19:10:00 GMT

Today I added the first article about how to add security to your computer without any expense. I have several more articles to add , so keep coming back as there should be something new to read on a regular basis. You will find the new article by clicking on "Add Protection" on the left side of this page.

My First Blog!

Dorothy Gosling — Sat, 21 Jan 2006 22:20:00 GMT

Many Home Users' do not realize what nasty things exist on the Internet. They can very easily become victim to Adware,(not to be confused with the program Ad-Aware by Lavasoft), Spyware, Malware, Phishing Schemes and ID Theft, if surfing the internet on an unprotected computer....(read more)