Category Archives: Site Security
Just What The Heck Is Spyware, Anyway? (Page 1 of 2)
What Is Spyware? It goes by different names. Spyware, adware and malware are some of the more popular monikers. It really doesn’t matter what you call it, though. The bottom line is that you don’t want it on your computer. First of all, let me state for the record that I think the internet is a wonderful thing. I think a majority of people would agree that the World Wide Web has made life for all of us a little more convenient. Whether it’s reserving a hotel room, buying music online, checking the local weather or any number of thousands of useful sites (did I mention email?) we all have gotten a little bit spoiled with having all this information right at our fingertips. That being said though, sometimes we seem to get a little complacent and let our guard down. We forget that the internet has a seedy side full of ways for unscrupulous people to con honest (if not a little niaeve) people out of their money (or worse!). In this article, I’ll cover a few of the pitfalls that many people tend to have trouble with.
Adware: This type of malware is designed to do one thing and one thing only. Get you to buy something. Once this type of software has infected your computer, you will start getting a lot of pop-up ads. Sometimes these ads are the pop-under type. Pop-under’s get by any pop-up blockers by generating an ad without stealing the focus from the web page that your viewing. You usually won’t even know it’s there until you close your browser and see the ad (or ads) displayed on your desktop. Generally, this type of malware is little more than an annoyance, but sometimes multiple instances can cause major slowdowns in your PC or even cause system crashes. Adware is usually bundled with some other “free” software such as free desktop wallpaper, icons or screensavers. It may or may not be disclosed in the end-user license agreement (EULA) of the free software, but even when it is, most people never read those agreements anyway. If you want to protect your computer from this type of malware, you should ALWAYS be suspicious of free software.
Spyware: Spyware does exactly what it’s name implies. It spies on you. Well, actually it spies on your web surfing and purchasing habits. The information that is collected is usually then sold to unscrupulous vendors who target you with spam email. Again, this type of marketing is usually just an annoyance, but anytime your privacy is compromised (especially by some sleazy dirtbag who will do anything to make a buck) there is cause for concern.
Trojan Horses: Sometimes simply known as “Trojans”, these, in my humble opinion, are the worst offenders. If you know the story of the Trojan War, then the name given to these vicious baddies will make perfect sense to you. Here’s the way it works: You are happily surfing along the internet, minding your own business, when all of the sudden a banner pops up and cheerfully anounces that you have won a FREE IPHONE (or a free laptop computer, or a free vacation, etc.). All you have to do to claim this generous prize, it seems, is to “CLICK HERE!”. Trust me on this one, do not ever, EVER, “CLICK HERE!”. BIG MISTAKE! What you’re doing with that click, is allowing malware to be downloaded to your computer that will make your life miserable and, as an added bonus, you’ll never get your free prize.
Checking On Websites Of Your Link Exchange
When you run a business, you are sure to use the help of link exchanges to improve the clientele of your business. There are many link exchange sites that provide you with links for you to approach for advertising about your business.
However you have to be careful of the different websites you reach through these links as some websites can cause problems to the efficient running of your computer. Sometimes, you may end up in a site where its owner encrypts the source of the website for protection from its content getting stolen or to cover up malicious code that harms his or her computer.
You can find out if the site that you visit is an encrypted site with tools like urlaudit, in addition to finding out if the site is a risk to people using your traffic exchange. Then there is a possibility of urls leading to a 404 error page.
This page proves to be very irritating to the surfer as it leads to a blank page, and is a waste of time for the surfer. This is why if you have a site exchange service, that you never direct surfers to pages with a 404 error page.
If you do direct them to the page, they lose interest in using your site exchange service and lose site traffic, which proves to be disadvantages to you. You can prevent all this by using tools like urlaudit which scans the links of your site exchange service to ensure that visitors dont lead to wrong or missing pages in your urls.
Sometimes, you may find some sites with urls having a 404 error with urlaudit. You then have to contact the site owner to inform them of the sites so that the right steps can be taken to fix the problem. The site owner usually resolves the error wherein the missing page is replaced or updated, as required.
If you are providing a site exchange to people, you have to remember that there are many people who are not interested in links to sites having sounds and video as these sites take a long time to load.
So you can use tools like urlaudit to ensure that the links that you provide them dont have any audio or video matter on the site, and then decide whether or not to include the links in the site exchange list you provide to your client. You could contact the site owner to request for the removal of this audio and video content, if your client wants the link to the site to be included in the link exchange.
There are also many sites that have adult content; you have to decide whether you want your link exchange to include these sites, depending on the needs of the client. You can find out which sites on the link exchange have adult content with the help of urlaudit and include or exclude them from the link exchange site, as per the requirements of your customer.
So all this shows that with tools like urlaudit, you can cater your link exchange service to meet the needs and requirements of your customer.
Checking On Websites Of Your Link Exchange
When you run a business, you are sure to use the help of link exchanges to improve the clientele of your business. There are many link exchange sites that provide you with links for you to approach for advertising about your business.
However you have to be careful of the different websites you reach through these links as some websites can cause problems to the efficient running of your computer. Sometimes, you may end up in a site where its owner encrypts the source of the website for protection from its content getting stolen or to cover up malicious code that harms his or her computer.
You can find out if the site that you visit is an encrypted site with tools like urlaudit, in addition to finding out if the site is a risk to people using your traffic exchange. Then there is a possibility of urls leading to a 404 error page.
This page proves to be very irritating to the surfer as it leads to a blank page, and is a waste of time for the surfer. This is why if you have a site exchange service, that you never direct surfers to pages with a 404 error page.
If you do direct them to the page, they lose interest in using your site exchange service and lose site traffic, which proves to be disadvantages to you. You can prevent all this by using tools like urlaudit which scans the links of your site exchange service to ensure that visitors dont lead to wrong or missing pages in your urls.
Sometimes, you may find some sites with urls having a 404 error with urlaudit. You then have to contact the site owner to inform them of the sites so that the right steps can be taken to fix the problem. The site owner usually resolves the error wherein the missing page is replaced or updated, as required.
If you are providing a site exchange to people, you have to remember that there are many people who are not interested in links to sites having sounds and video as these sites take a long time to load.
So you can use tools like urlaudit to ensure that the links that you provide them dont have any audio or video matter on the site, and then decide whether or not to include the links in the site exchange list you provide to your client. You could contact the site owner to request for the removal of this audio and video content, if your client wants the link to the site to be included in the link exchange.
There are also many sites that have adult content; you have to decide whether you want your link exchange to include these sites, depending on the needs of the client. You can find out which sites on the link exchange have adult content with the help of urlaudit and include or exclude them from the link exchange site, as per the requirements of your customer.
So all this shows that with tools like urlaudit, you can cater your link exchange service to meet the needs and requirements of your customer.