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Conquering Computers |
Convenient Software Training To You |
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Conquering Computers |
Convenient Software Training To You |
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We all know that email is a fast, convenient way of keeping in touch with people all over the world. It does come with some risks but there are ways to protect your computer. The first, of course, is to have an anti-virus program installed and working properly.
You also need to be aware of the possibility of infected attachments and email scams such as ‘phishing’.
Attachments An attachment is a file (text or a photo) that is sent along with an email. It is important that you know who the sender is before you open the attachment. Many viruses come through email attachments and once opened, they infect your computer. If you’re not sure of the sender, delete the email without opening the attachment.
Many people forward emails with attachments. While you may know the person who sent you the email, you may not know who forwarded it to them. Sometimes the email has been forwarded through half-dozen people or more. It is your decision whether to open an email that has been forwarded again and again.
Spam Almost all e-mails that ask you to add your name and forward it on to others are similar to that mass letter years ago that asked people to send business cards to the little kid in Florida who wanted to break the Guinness Book of Records for the most cards. It was a way to get names and "cookie" tracking info for telemarketers and spammers to validate active e-mail accounts for their own purposes.
Any time you see an e-mail that says forward this on to "10" of your friends, sign this petition, or you'll get good luck, or what ever, it has either an e-mail tracker program attached that tracks the cookies and e-mails of those folks you forward to, or the host sender is getting a copy. Each time it gets forwarded, a list of "active" e-mail addresses is generated to be used in future spam e-mails or provided to telemarketers.
If you have been sending out the above kinds of email, now you know why you get so much spam!
I'm getting more unwanted e-mail than ever, even though I "opt out". Why? Maybe you're getting more spam because you're opting out. 'Unsubscribe" ( or opt-out) links are required by law, in theory to prevent you from getting more unsolicited e-mail from the sender. In reality, clicking the opt-out tab tells spammers that your e-mail address is live and ripe to receive more messages, from that sender or others who may buy your contact info. What's more, clicking on unsubscribe or opt-out may unleash viruses to infect your computer. So just delete those unwanted messages without opening them.
What can you do to help protect yourself? Be suspicious-Messages threatening to terminate or suspend your account without your quick response should be treated as suspicious. Also, be wary of clicking on links in e-mail messages. Always type in the URL of the Web page you want-Phishing scam e-mails include a link that takes you to a fake Web site. Scroll over the URL-If you move your mouse over the URL and numbers or a different URL appear it's probably fraudulent.
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