Category Archives: Site Security
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.
How to thwart the Barbarian Spyware!
Today,on most internet user’s computers, we have the ability to employ software, along with our intelligence, to prevent viruses and spyware. To put this article into proper perspective, we’ll use Medieval defense tactics.
This is accomplished by 3 methods. First, a firewall… ‘The Castle Moat’ so to speak. A firewall can’t see inside your computer beforehand though, so if any viruses or spyware were present before the firewall was installed then its of no use. Of course, its extremely good at preventing new attacks.
Second, a anti-virus program…. ‘The Castle Drawbridge! They will not provide much help with spyware, but good virus protection is as desirable as one of Avaris’s dreams! One drawback can be the updates, of course.If you’ve just updated Wednesday night and a virus hits the next day, then you may not be protected till next Wednesday night, and by then it may be too late. If you’re smart, you will have signed up for email alerts with the provider, or even better, you’ll have a anti-virus program that has a real time update feature. I get the tingles when I see that little pop-up saying a update is available and click here. Its downloaded ,installed, and updated in about 20 seconds! A new virus or Trojan or God forbid, a new keylogger can hit the internet and spread in a matter of days, and I’m sure this must make the definition writers lives a living hell. I have great admiration for them as they could have been wealthy doctors, but they have chosen to help us… the end users. (moment of silence here)
Last, we have anti-spyware programs,’The Flaming oil’! (my favorite). Their update features are like the anti-virus programs, so you have to be as vigilant with this method of defense too as you would be with the others. I’ve heard there are people out there that don’t even know when their updates run, or even if its configured to do so! I refuse to believe this sordid rumor!
So you’ve got your defenses set up, you’re looking good. But the best defense is a good offense, attack! That’s what some organizations do. They prowl the net looking for websites that harbor drive-by downloads, URL Re-Directing and such. When they find them, they shut them down, or report them so effective protection can be manufactured. These people have my sincere thanks for what they do. With identity theft on the rise and Websense reporting that the average computer has 28 items of Spyware on it, we need all the help we can get. Oh sure, you’re saying not my computer ! Well, lets discuss those little boxes that you click “I Agree” to when you download something. Do you read the entire statement? This is one way spyware has become so rampant, because so many downloads have extra software included in them. These can be harmful to your computers well being. KeyLoggers, popups, adware, malware… Need I go on? So my idea is that we need these shining knights from the castle to journey forth on a quest. They will be little robots or spiders like the search engines use. They will be given absolute power over harmful programs they find. They will be like Gort in the movie “The Day the Earth Stood Still”. Dell recently reported that 12% of their calls were for spyware damage, Microsoft says half of their reports of system crashes are caused by spyware. These calls cost these companies millions of dollars in revenue, which they then pass the costs of onto us, the consumers. Who knows, if viruses and spyware ever get controlled, the average computer may only cost a dollar!
How to thwart the Barbarian Spyware!
Today,on most internet user’s computers, we have the ability to employ software, along with our intelligence, to prevent viruses and spyware. To put this article into proper perspective, we’ll use Medieval defense tactics.
This is accomplished by 3 methods. First, a firewall… ‘The Castle Moat’ so to speak. A firewall can’t see inside your computer beforehand though, so if any viruses or spyware were present before the firewall was installed then its of no use. Of course, its extremely good at preventing new attacks.
Second, a anti-virus program…. ‘The Castle Drawbridge! They will not provide much help with spyware, but good virus protection is as desirable as one of Avaris’s dreams! One drawback can be the updates, of course.If you’ve just updated Wednesday night and a virus hits the next day, then you may not be protected till next Wednesday night, and by then it may be too late. If you’re smart, you will have signed up for email alerts with the provider, or even better, you’ll have a anti-virus program that has a real time update feature. I get the tingles when I see that little pop-up saying a update is available and click here. Its downloaded ,installed, and updated in about 20 seconds! A new virus or Trojan or God forbid, a new keylogger can hit the internet and spread in a matter of days, and I’m sure this must make the definition writers lives a living hell. I have great admiration for them as they could have been wealthy doctors, but they have chosen to help us… the end users. (moment of silence here)
Last, we have anti-spyware programs,’The Flaming oil’! (my favorite). Their update features are like the anti-virus programs, so you have to be as vigilant with this method of defense too as you would be with the others. I’ve heard there are people out there that don’t even know when their updates run, or even if its configured to do so! I refuse to believe this sordid rumor!
So you’ve got your defenses set up, you’re looking good. But the best defense is a good offense, attack! That’s what some organizations do. They prowl the net looking for websites that harbor drive-by downloads, URL Re-Directing and such. When they find them, they shut them down, or report them so effective protection can be manufactured. These people have my sincere thanks for what they do. With identity theft on the rise and Websense reporting that the average computer has 28 items of Spyware on it, we need all the help we can get. Oh sure, you’re saying not my computer ! Well, lets discuss those little boxes that you click “I Agree” to when you download something. Do you read the entire statement? This is one way spyware has become so rampant, because so many downloads have extra software included in them. These can be harmful to your computers well being. KeyLoggers, popups, adware, malware… Need I go on? So my idea is that we need these shining knights from the castle to journey forth on a quest. They will be little robots or spiders like the search engines use. They will be given absolute power over harmful programs they find. They will be like Gort in the movie “The Day the Earth Stood Still”. Dell recently reported that 12% of their calls were for spyware damage, Microsoft says half of their reports of system crashes are caused by spyware. These calls cost these companies millions of dollars in revenue, which they then pass the costs of onto us, the consumers. Who knows, if viruses and spyware ever get controlled, the average computer may only cost a dollar!