Privacy: Stuff you should know.

Privacy is all of a sudden a huge concern, especially on FB. A big thing people aren't realizing, is that there is no privacy breach going on. You're not sharing anything new, you're just sharing it in a new way. Most people don't mess with their privacy settings, and despite the how-to's and press releases on the matter, people didn't take interest. It was explained from too much of a tech point of view, and it didn't seem to make a difference.

Take a look at it this way: Now you know for sure what's being shared - even if it is more than you had hoped. Fear not. It's an easy fix!


Lists - I keep going there, but it's important.

It makes my brain scream when I see people spending more time copying and pasting about "Let me choose what I want to share, and with whom!" into the digital void than to click on facebooks "Help Center" - which is surprisingly helpful, and easy to navigate (ahem... use it. No matter how great you think you are, you can learn something)

The simple thing: Figure out who should see everything you post by default, and put 'em on a list.

Click on "MORE" on the lists thingy on the left, and create a list.

You'll see a window with your friends. Check the ones you want on your uber-mega-everything update list, and that's that. When you add a new friend, if you want them on the list, there is the option as soon as you send or accept the request.

Go into your privacy settings. The very first screen will show your default posting preferences. Change it to your new list by clicking "Custom"

It really is magic.

The copy/paste message going around telling people to unsubscribe you their updates only applies if the reader is willing to do that. Do you want to trust people to do that if you don't trust them to read certain things?

NOTE: Any time you click on the "Custom" options, it will say "Friends of friends" That is only because it is the first item on the list for that particular option. Check the icon next to the "Post" button to see who you are sharing with for true.

This is not a new thing by any means, and it's something you need to be able to do online.

Every post you make or have made has an icon in the upper-right corner. This shows who you are sharing it with. You can go over any and all of your previous posts, and change them so just people on your list can see them. IF you want. An in-bread cat is just good to share with all.



Security - wait, there's more to the 'net than Facebook? I was soooo not prepared!

This isn't a good thing?

We've all seen 'em. If it's from a piece of software we install that wants to install the ask.com toolbar, or if you play a game and want to get the toolbar to "snag" things.

Toolbars are evil. There are people who say they aren't always. It's probably true, but your best bet is to steer clear. I'll explain why I think that, and then make up your own mind.


Toolbars track you.

  The whole point of a toolbar is to target you with ads. They send your browsing data to their ad managers, who spam, uh, email you appropriate ads. Your history does not go away, and it is uniquely identifiable to you.


Toolbars steal money from people who actually earned it.

  You go to a site you like, to show support for a cause, or because an article someone worked hard on sparked your interest. You see a banner ad at the top of the screen, and click it, sure in the knowledge that the website you are visiting benefits from these well-deserved advertising pennies.

  If you have a toolbar installed, the code on the webpage showing you THEIR ad was hijacked, and the toolbar replaces the ad with one of it's own. The owner of the toolbar just got 2 cents because you were interested in your local animal shelter. The shelter sees nothing.

Toobars can store your passwords.

  We've seen our friends emails and facebooks spam us with messages we know aren't from them. Toolbars, by nature, can record all of your keystrokes, as well as cookies, and store your personal login info anywhere you surf.

Toolbars can deliver viruses. 

  Toolbars are automatically updated by their servers, with no intervention needed on your part. Certain nefarious individuals know the code(anyone can look it up) they use to access your browser through the toolbar. Your info on your own computer can be downloaded - tax returns, credit card statements, the like. Just as easily, malicious software can be installed on your computer quite easily, and in the background.


Sigh...anti-virus, firewalls...ugh.

  Get a decent anti-virus program and firewall. By decent, I don't mean one you've heard of, or one that is preinstalled on your system. The bigger ones (McAfee, Norton, you get the idea) can act like viruses themselves. Have you suddenly noticed your computer takes a couple of minutes to realize you clicked on your browser?  It wasn't like that before! Virus definition files get bulky over time, and everything you open is passed through hundreds of thousands of filters to make sure a virus isn't detected. This eventually can and will cause incredible slowdown. The remedy is to uninstall said virus software. The tech guy you paid $400 tells you the only solution is to format and restore. I'll do a whole separate blog on THAT at another time.


  But the big names have a good reputation, right? Sort of, that's what got 'em contracts with manufacturers. Now they don't have to be so big on quality control, because many people don't feel they have a choice.

There are a ton of free anti-virus packages that work so much better than what you get out-of-the-box. Check the options at www.filehippo.com.

Why on Earth would I recommend a free antivirus over a big-name-bloatware-piece-of... Easy. The free software is free for home users. They want you to like their product so companies may be more likely to pay for the commercial licenses. They have to be good.

The one I'm using now is Panda Cloud Antivirus. It uses cloud computing to scan for viruses, but uses almost none of your computer's resources to do it. I was skeptical at first, but it's been wonderful.

Firewalls are another concern. Why do you need one? What if someone is trying to break into your computer, or is runnng a script to exploit your toolbar that you refuse to drop? A firewall does a decent job of blocking intrusion attempts from unknown sources. I'll say this, and this is a rarity: The one that comes with Windows does a good job.

If you just plain don't trust what your given, or just want a choice, I will recommend Comodo Internet Security It's a great firewall and Anti-virus combo. You need to get used to taking control over your privacy. Something great, though, is the ability to "Sandbox" - install a piece of software to see if it has a virus, without that virus being allowed at the rest of the computer. If it fails the test, it's removed, and it's like it never happened.

There is an additional tool, for the extra-wary, called Peerblock. This works much like a firewall, but it uses lists of know "bad guys" and it's updated by default every 48 hours. Download, install, it'll ask you for a list to subscribe to - Ads and P2P are all you need. THIS IS IMPORTANT: you'll see a peerblock icon(in blue) at the bottom of the screen, by the clock (The "System Tray") right-click on it, and select "Allow HTTP". Otherwise, it would block certain websites without your consent. I won't go into the exact reasoning, but it's for the user to be able to do more nefarious sorts of things, and that's certainly not you, right?


Browsers and addons

If you don't want to change your browser - good luck! The internet is a place of change and newness, and as you can do more online, your browsing experience will change. Never updating leaves you vulnerable to attacks. 

I won't go too far into this, but Internet Explorer has historically been the worst. Take a look at Windows updates, count how many say "This fixes a bug in IE that would allow a remote user access to your system." It's been over 15 years, and there have been thousands of updates saying the exact same thing, and yet there continue to be loopholes in IE secutiy.

As of the writing of this, I recommend Firefox. It displays pages the correct way, is faster than Chrome and IE. Chrome is a fine choice, even if it doesn't display heavy-java pages(ahem, facebook?) very well. FF and Chrome focus on speed and security, both deliver. 

In addition, being able to get used to a new browser will prepare you for when your browser updates and looks just like the one you didn't want to update to.

If you've read this far, here is a super-cool trick that may just astound the geeks in your life!

 "Computers do what you tell them to do, not what you want them to do." -  Unknown, but smart.

When you go to a page like "www.google.com", your computer doesn't care what google means. It asks a thing called DNS - Domain Name Server - who owns it, translates it to a bunch of numbers, and lumbers along on it's merry way.

Your internet provider most likely uses it's own DNS. There are options - to speed up browsing AND prevent a ton of malware attacks. I'll stick to one - Google DNS.

Using Google DNS 

The instructions are very straight forward. If they're to jargon-y for your comfort, let me know, I'll do my best to translate them.

Using google for DNS has always helped keep a lot of fake pages from loading, but about two weeks ago, they enhanced the service, to make your overall page loading  faster.

If you mess up, or something doesn't work, you can go back into the settings and remove the Google DNS numbers - no harm, no foul.

Lastly, a primer.

This is more background information, but you should know this stuff. Not everything is a virus. Not everything that sounds bad is.

Virus -  It acts like, well, a virus. It's a little bit of code that copies itself into other files, when those files are run, it spreads further, eventually causing slowdown. Some viruses execute another bit of code on a certain date, or when it's spread so much.

Trojan - Toolbars. Grrr. Like the "Trojan Horse" from where it gets it's name, a Trojan is downloaded as a program you're supposed to want. (Remember Elf Bowling?), but executes nasty nasty code instead.

WORM - This isn't even malware. It's an acronym for Write Once Read Many. A CD-R is a WORM.

Malware - Any software or code intended to have negative effects on the system running it.

Hijacker - Code(usually from a toolbar) that forces you to certain pages, getting the author of the hijacker advertising $$ he didn't earn.

I put this here, because I see a commercial all the time on TV that says "Blue screens and slowdowns are usually the telltale signs of a virus". No, no, no, not even close. It's usually poor maintenance (ANOTHER blog I'll write ASAP) and/or a ton of programs running. It could be something as simple as a static electricity zap that confused a single bit on the hard drive.


These are the basics. Take control, because what you're handed isn't always going to cut it. Ask questions of me if you need, I understand that not everyone will get everything. I'll do my best for you though.