On today’s Internet, security is a major concern. From wanting to protect financial transactions to simply wishing to browse without every site you visit being scrutinized, there are a lot of reasons to wish for privacy and protection. One of the simplest, yet all-around strongest ways in which to protect your Internet habits is through the use of a VPN. They usually have a monthly subscription fee associated with them but if security is important to you, then there’s no cheaper way to secure your Internet connection. On top of that, there are various options, with quick installs, or even more complicated, option-laden pieces of software which allow for more customizability in what your specific needs may be.

A VPN is defined as a virtual private network. This effective creates a private network across a public space like the Internet. These connections are secured and encrypted, thus allowing for safer browsing experiences. Not only is this great for home network use but especially for people on the go, who might be using WiFi hotspots, public networks and more.

The way most VPN sites work is as follows: You sign up for their service, then usually, you must download a small application. You pay a monthly subscription fee and are given a log in and password. When you wish to use the VPN (Most can be set to automatically connect on Windows boot up) then you open up the software and let it connect. Oftentimes you are able to refresh the connection or change the region to which you are connecting, thus giving you the ability to adjust the connection as you wish. A good VPN will maintain your speeds, with only a somewhat higher ping, allowing for an uninterrupted, hassle-free Internet experience.

Different types of people have different needs. When it comes to home-browsing, one’s security is easier to maintain in general. However, on the go, it is much more challenging. You may not even realize that your security is an issue if you are used to traveling and using WiFi hot spots, but if a location’s WiFi is using old security keys or is even unsecured, you may be in danger of having your privacy invaded.

WiFi / On-the-go

A VPN can be an excellent way to insure that no matter what type of WiFi the user is connecting to, you will be able to bring a secured connection with you. Be it at a local Starbucks, at a hotel, or the local McDonald’s, you will have the ability to keep your information safe even while connecting to the World Wide Web. VPNs are exceptionally useful in this sort of scenario, whether you are a power user or a more casual browser. A VPN is strong in this scenario because it defeats things such as packet-sniffers and other ways in which malicious users can sniff out and observe your Internet usage.

Home Browsing
Home use of a VPN is for the user who cares about the privacy of his or her information. Protecting credit card usage online from hackers, as well as keeping your ISP simply from seeing every little thing you’re doing, this can be very handy for one’s peace of mind. Simply having any and all transmissions be done through secured channels is a much safer way in which to browse online.

All in all, a VPN can be an easy way in which to give yourself peace of mind about your personal information with all the issues that are widespread on today’s Internet. Some people might shy away from paying a monthly fee for a service, but it is available for as little as $6.95 a month.

Many owners of Windows 7 computers do not realize that the System Restore function they found so useful in Windows XP is still there in the new operating system. In fact System Restore is an integral part of Windows 7, and it serves the same function it did in earlier version of Windows.

Running System Restore in Windows 7 is easy. Just follow the steps outlined below.

Click the Windows button at the bottom left-hand side of the screen

Navigate to Start, then All Programs and choose System Tools

Click on the System Restore option

Click Next to see a list of available restore points.

Choose a restore point with a date and time prior to when you started experiencing problems

Click Next and then Finish to begin the restoration. The computer will automatically restart after the restoration is complete.
by beconrad

Facebook defends the way it handles privacy by pointing to its highly customizable privacy settings. As powerful as those settings are, though, they don’t allow you to completely withdraw from intrusive Graph Search inquiries. The most you can do is to control who gets to see your photos or Likes. To a certain extent, you also get to keep marketers out of your account.

Facebook has been asking all its members to take the time to understand its new privacy rules. The problem is that these Facebook privacy settings are complicated and they keep changing.

There has been no better time to review those privacy settings and to lock your Facebook account down. The Graph Search system makes it far easier for anyone to find you and stalk you. For instance, if you say something in your account about the long mountain trail jogs you go on early in the morning twice a month, it may be exactly the information a stalker needs.
Since most of the wired planet is on Facebook, you can’t very well withdraw from it. Your only choice is to understand the rules and protect yourself as well as you can.

Settings for who finds you

The top right of your Facebook page has a link called Who can see my stuff. You need to go there and click on the link that gives you settings to block the search engine from seeing your Facebook page.

The Activity log on your Facebook page allows you to see everything you do on Facebook all in one place – your posts, images, status updates and the like. If you are worried about who gets to see a particular post or anything else, you just need to look at the privacy setting mentioned on it.

You have some control over what your friends do with pictures that include you. If your Facebook friends have made their photos of you public, you get to opt out. If you do that, those photos are no longer viewable by others. Opting out of each photo can take time; if you really care about not being visible on your friends’ accounts, though, you have a choice now.

Your profile only displays what you want to show

What if you don’t want your birthday, your wife’s name or even your gender to be visible on your profile page? If you fear being targeted by hackers who can use this information the option to block it can be useful. The About me section on your profile page allows you to keep all these personal details from being visible.

Software to ensure Facebook privacy

A new program called SimpleWash allows you to search for any potentially embarrassing data about you on Facebook. If you are applying for a job and you wonder if you have ever said anything embarrassing on Facebook, this software will let you look it up. SocioClean is another program to help you locate potential Facebook embarrassments.

If you don’t want Facebook to know where you go

One out of five of the top websites in the world use the Facebook widget. If you don’t like Facebook tracking you when you browse the Internet while signed into Facebook, there are many software blockers available that let you keep your anonymity. These programs – with names like Ghostery and Disconnect Me – are browser add-ons or extensions. They constantly let you know when they block Facebook or any other service tracking you.
Facebook works with website owners to show you targeted advertising. When you visit a website while signed into Facebook, the website is able to instruct Facebook to show you ads for its products. If you visit Amazon to look for winter jackets while signed into Facebook, for instance, you could find that suddenly, all the ads on Facebook are about winter jackets. Unfortunately, there is no global button to turn off these ads. They are served by the advertisers and not by Facebook. You have to opt out of advertising from each company – one by one. The X on each ad allows you to do this.

Facebook privacy from friends

Unless you take the right precautions, the Facebook apps on your friends’ accounts are able to know everything about you. A new browser add-on called PrivacyFix helps you stay clear of this. This company also has a tool to help you control your exposure on Facebook’s Graph Search.

Facebook has taken extraordinary measures to insure that they remain relevant in an ever evolving social media climate. As much as they have presented opportunity and convenience, it has come at a price. Anytime you partner with so many different entities and you allow an abundance of third party applications to be marketed, sold and distributed from your site and server, you inevitably are going to have some security issues.

Along with Twitter, Facebook has become one of the most hacked platforms in the world. For individuals this can be an annoyance and an inconvenience, but for companies that are using their networks to run their Facebook campaigns, this could mean a more serious security issue. If a company’s Facebook account is hacked their database and other sensitive information could breached or compromised.

This does not mean that individuals cannot be compromised at a greater scale. With malware, spyware, and phishing expeditions being executed on that platform, an individual’s personal and financial information can be accessed if they are not careful.
Does this mean that companies and individuals should not take advantage of the benefits and opportunities that Facebook presents? Not at all. What it means is that both, individuals and companies have to take the necessary steps and precautions to insure that their activity on Facebook is secure.

If you are looking to take advantage of the Facebook experience, there are several steps that you can take to decrease the risks that are associated with using that platform.
The first thing that you should do is insure that you are using a strong password. Make sure that your password has letters and numbers and that you use upper and lowercase letters. Don’t use passwords that contain information that can be easily guessed and deciphered (things like birthdays and anniversaries, etc.). Never share your password with anyone and don’t store it on your computer anywhere. Lastly, use a different password for every function and endeavor.

Because your Facebook account will be directly linked to any email accounts you use to access the platform, be sure that the server that you are using for your email is secure as well. Email is one of the most common ways hackers and spammers will access your data and information and this includes Facebook.

If you share a computer with others or work from an unsecured network, be sure to log out of your Facebook account when you are not using it.

You should run an anti-virus scan for your computer and all other smart devices that you use to access Facebook. There are number of very effective programs that are specifically designed for the particular operating system that you are using.
You should also add security questions to your account. By simply clicking the account settings tab, you can access the security field, the, click the Security Question section and follow the instruction from there.
You should also use any additional security features that are available to you. Features such as Active Sessions. Active Sessions tracks and list the recent times your Facebook account has been accessed. It includes pertinent information such as the time and date as well as the approximate location from which the account was accessed.

The final step is a practical but powerful one. Be judicious in clicking on links and downloading applications, software, and files. One of the fastest ways to invite malware or spyware into your system is by not executing caution when performing these particular functions.

Although these steps will not provide a 100 percent guarantee of security (nothing will), they will help reduce the risks associated with using the Facebook platform.

Staying safe in a virtual sea of potential danger can seem exhausting and intimidating at the very least to most regular PC users but it really needn’t be so complicated. There are just as many useful resources online that we can use for protection as there are threats to the safety of our computers and files. Information and programs designed specifically to help people with these kinds of issues abound on the Internet and it only takes a few moments to acquire the knowledge and the tools needed to stay safe while you surf the Web.

One of the first things that people think of when they contemplate online threats is the presence of privacy violators and exposure of their private files. Keeping your documents private to you and your family can be a very important issue but it does not need to be a difficult one. One way to increase your level of privacy when browsing the Web is to pay close attention to your browser’s cookies. All popular Web browsers keep a log of the pages you visit while you browse the Web and allow this log to be accessed by websites that you visit unless you specify otherwise. A quick check of the “options” of your Web browser should clearly show what your computer is telling each of the websites that you are visiting. By paying attention to this file, you can make sure that your Web browser doesn’t dish out more information than you would like it to.

Another major cause for concern is general safety of your PC. Although the importance of your machine’s safety is equal to that of your privacy when browsing the Internet, this sort of issue is quite often overlooked by users who are far too eager to get online. The best thing you can do to ensure that your computer keeps running well in the future is make sure that it is adequately protected from threats online. Luckily, modern Web browsers come with a good amount of effective threat detectors and blockers. However, it is not a good idea to rely solely on the capabilities of your Web browser when it comes to staying protected from Internet-based threats. Investing in a good antivirus service that actively protects your system from attackers and viruses that live primarily on certain Web pages is a fantastic way to protect your system from unwanted interference.

As long as you make sure to pay close attention to the health and safety of your machine as well as the privacy of your information, you can rest assured that you will remain safe whilst you are online. Thus, you can go back to enjoying the time you spend on your favorite websites without having to fear any cyber-attacks or privacy violations.

By Jeff Mitchell

Why do the antivirus makers offer free software even when they do business selling premium paid products? Do you get real protection when you choose a free product over a paid product?

The makers of antivirus give software away for free for the reason that if there are plenty of viruses running amok on computers around the world, they can become so entrenched that retail antivirus software will no longer be able to redeem the situation. This could be harmful to the prospects of their industry.

What about the question of efficacy?

Even if you do have high quality antivirus that’s paid for, it still won’t give you full protection. According to AV-Test, a German security research organization, there are nearly 50 million separate kinds of computer virus in existence today, with dozens of new ones coming up each day. The antivirus firms are unable to keep up with this level of innovation by the hackers.

One important reason often quoted for why you should choose paid antivirus software over the free kind is that paid software usually comes with antivirus updates several times a day – while the free kind gets updates only once or twice a day (the content of the updates remain the same whether you buy your software get it free). The multiple updates for paid antivirus software, you are told, make sure that you are up-to-the-minute with every new virus out there.

In reality, multiple antivirus updates every day do not mean that you are up-to-the-minute. A study by the security firm Imperva aimed at dozens of major paid antivirus products finds that it can take antivirus companies weeks to catch up with new viruses. The top paid antivirus products detect only about 5% of new malware.

In other words, the biggest reason suggested in defense of paying for antivirus is an imaginary one. In antivirus reviews by various magazines and security authorities, products like Avast consistently offer the best detection rates for malware. Avast has a free version, too. If the update frequency doesn’t matter and Avast’s database is the same for both the free version and the paid version, there is really no reason to pay for their software anymore.combofix is free software,there is no free version or paid (premium) version.

Magazine reviews that pit free antivirus against paid antivirus tell the same story. Paid antivirus is shown to offer little value over the free kind. Time and time again, the only way magazine reviews are able to fault free software is by pointing to their lack of customer support (Avast is the one exception).

Buying paid software for the firewalls and other tools included (they call these security suites) doesn’t make much sense, either – standalone firewall makers offer free versions, too.

Perhaps we should look at the problem differently

The entire model on which current antivirus software works, experts say, is outdated. Today, the antivirus makers need to see a new virus and study it before they are able to write an update to detect and remove it. Often, writing antivirus software for a very new kind virus can take weeks. For example, it took the antivirus makers years to find an antivirus solution to the malware known as Flame (can read about it in an article on Wired entitled Why Antivirus Companies Like Mine Failed to Catch Flame and Stuxnet).

Security companies like Symantec are changing the very philosophy they use to detect viruses. With Norton software these days, 60% of the time, it is the new technologies that detect malware – not the traditional antivirus database.

These new technologies monitor every piece of software that runs on your computer to look for suspicious behavior – the way they access the Internet, for instance.

For now, it doesn’t make sense to simply go with paid software because you believe they must update your antivirus database in a better fashion. This isn’t true. The antivirus industry is changing over to new technologies today. When the industry settles on a new standard for how detection should work, you’ll be in a better position to determine if you should go free or paid.

The online world runs on passwords. Yet, most of us don’t yet know what kind of password really gives us the best security. This is a little primer on the latest in passwords.

Judged on their own merit, passwords are a great way to secure an online account. The people who use passwords, though, are the weak link in the chain. According to a report published by the antivirus vendor McAfee, three out of four people online use one password across all their accounts. Anyone who gains access to that one password has access to every one of their accounts. While recycling passwords does make your account more vulnerable, there are worse password problems.

All these years, people have been coached by every website they sign up to that they need to set up a mix of numbers, letters and special characters to create a strong and uncrackable password. According to Intel’s Password Day password contest, though, these traditional password creation tips have had it wrong all along.

The complex passwords that the traditional tips recommend usually only help secure your account if the hacker gives your account personal, one-on-one attention. This rarely happens to people who are not wealthy. Most regular people are attacked with automated tools that access thousands of accounts online at a time and try to crack them the brute force way – they automatically try millions of possibilities.

Since these tools simply try every possibility available, using a mix of special characters, numbers and capital letters doesn’t help you – sooner or later, your password will fall to such a tool if it keeps trying.

What kind of password then really secures you?

What Intel and McAfee recommend is simple – when your problem is fighting the automated password crackers, you need passwords that are long; not ones that are complex.

By this idea, a password to your online banking account that goes “I love money in the bank” would be far safer than something like “d@V351985” since it has 10 extra characters. It would take an automated password cracking tool more than a year to crack it.

While these rules for password safety can be very useful, Microsoft has new plans for the humble password. Many Windows 8 users aren’t even aware that they now have access to new password technology called picture passwords (you can check out Microsoft’s article called Signing in with a picture password on the MSDN blog).

Owing to Microsoft’s size, the directions in which the company decides to take the personal computing experience usually become the worldwide standard.

Picture passwords aren’t actually passwords that are pictures. These are quite like the gesture-based passkeys that smartphones use. On those devices, you mark a gesture out on a matrix of nine dots laid out on the screen. Windows picture passwords are the same, except that you scratch your gesture out on a picture rather than on dots. On the example photograph on the Microsoft website, they show you how you might do this on a family picture with four people. You start on the face of one person and trace a line going from one face to another.

Password experts wonder, though, if gesture-based passwords are only meaningful for mouse-based computers. There could be times when one could look at a user’s greasy finger marks on the screen of a phone or tablet and find out what points it touched.

Many people expect their computers to get slower over time, chalking it up to an inevitable consequence of old computer age. But the truth is that there is no reason why your computer shouldn’t run as quickly and smoothly as the day you got it. All it requires is some simple and regular maintenance with built in Windows utilities or free-to-download programs.

1) Defragment the disk

Over time, a computer’s efficiency may be hampered by a fragmented disk, making it harder to quickly access the correct files and data. Using the inbuilt Windows utility called Disk Defragmenter is a great way to increase your computer’s speed and start-up time. Simply open your start menu and type Disk Defragmenter into the search box. Once it is open just select the disk you would like to defragment and click the “Defragment disk” button. The process may take only a few minutes to several hours, depending on how fragmented the disk is. With regular maintenance you should find the time decreasing. Disk Defragmenter can handily be set to run on a schedule.

2) Perform a disk cleanup

Disk Cleanup is another handy Windows utility that will help your system run faster by removing unnecessary files and clearing up a lot of space. It can be found in the same way as Disk Defragmenter. It will only remove files that you no longer need, such as temporary files or files in the recycling bin, so don’t worry about accidentally deleting anything important. Simply select the disk and run it. You may also want to download a free program called CCleaner. It’s quick, easy to use, and customizable.

3) Run a good adware and malware scanner

Keeping your computer free of adware and malware is absolutely essential to keeping it running smoothly, as well as for protecting yourself and your personal information. One of the very best and free programs of this sort is Spybot Search & Destroy. This program has been a trusted name in getting rid of malicious software for years. It is easy to use and constantly updated, ensuring that it is able to catch the latest threats. Simply install Spybot Search & Destroy and follow the straightforward instructions to run it. It should take no more than about half an hour to run, but don’t worry if it takes more. You are prompted to remove any threat that Spybot Search & Destroy finds, and if you have kept it properly updated than it should have no trouble getting the job done.

Remembering to perform these three tasks weekly, or at the very least monthly, should help keep your computer in good shape and keep it running without much noticeable loss to its speed and efficiency over time.

First of all, if you just now deleted the file, then you may be able to get it back by simply issuing the Undo command on the desktop, which is Ctrl + Z. Click anywhere in the empty space in a folder or on your desktop and press Ctrl-Z. If you haven’t done anything else on the file system, like move a file or copy a folder, then the Undo command may bring the file back from wherever it was moved to, whether it was the Recycle Bin or elsewhere. Speaking of the Recycle Bin, you can check there for your file if the Ctrl-Z command doesn’t work. The Recycle Bin is where files go before they are permanently deleted. You can browse through it, and if you see the file you’re looking for, simply press the Restore button and the file will go back to wherever it was before. While you’re in there, it may be a good idea to empty the bin if there’s nothing else that you need in there, since it will free up some space on your computer.

If you’ve already deleted the file from the Recycle Bin, then the next thing to do is to check any place where you may have backed up the file. Did you copy it elsewhere on your computer, or to external media like a flash drive? Did you back it up using a cloud-based service like Dropbox? If so, then you can go to wherever you backed the file up, and make a copy of that copy to put back in the original location. However, if you didn’t back the file up anywhere, and it’s nowhere to be found on the computer, then it’s time to bring out some specialized tools.

When it comes to recovering deleted files, a file recovery tool can be one of the most effective ways to get a file back. These tools will scan your hard drive for any items that were recently deleted, and you can browse through all of the files that it finds. Once you locate the one you’re looking for, all you have to do is click a button and the file will be magically restored to its original location. There are hundreds of file recovery programs out there, and while there isn’t a big difference between them in terms of efficiency, you should at least make sure you buy from a reputable company. If you’ve tried a specialized tool and nothing is working at all, then you can pursue one final step.

The last step in how to recover deleted files is to try a System Restore. This procedure will turn your computer back to how it was at a previous date — usually within the last week or so. It’s as if you were using your computer a few days ago: everything will be like it was at that point. Keep in mind that, while this may give you access to your deleted file, it will also permanently delete any new files or programs that have been saved to the computer in the meantime. In other words, you’ll lose any changes that have been made in the past few days. Remember also that this is the very last option for recovering a deleted file. If this doesn’t work, then unfortunately, you’re just out of luck.

You may not know it yet, but it is possible to delete a service permanently if you are sure that you are never going to need it. Advanced users who have a good understanding of these Windows services will find this tip very useful. For novice users however, this tip might not be for them. Please bear in mind that it is very easy to delete services, but very difficult to recover them if you suddenly change your mind. If you are unsure, do not do it.

To delete a Windows service, all you have to do is to follow the steps below.

1. Load the Services console

Click on the Start button. Type “services” in the input box. Press Enter.

2. Confirm the name of the service

Double-click a service and memorize the service name.

3. Open a command prompt

Click on the Start button. Type “cmd” in the input box. Press Enter.

4. Type “sc delete” “the name of the service” and press Enter.

The sc (Service Controller) command is used to change the settings of services on Windows. You can also accomplish this using the Services console but to delete services, you need to use sc at the command prompt.

That is all there is to it. As you can see, it is very easy to do. However, deleting a critical service can be potentially dangerous to your operating system. Always make sure that a service is not required before deleting it.

By Ferdinand S.