Remove HDD Rescue - How To Get Rid Of HDD Rescue In Minutes

Long load times. Slow internet access. Sluggish performance on even the most basic tasks. If your PC has been suffering from these symptoms, then it's highly probable that you've been infected by HDD Rescue, a virus that turns your computer's resources against itself as it goes through all of your files and data in order to steal precious private and financial information. No effort to remove HDD Rescue will be truly effective without first understanding how exactly you acquired it. The internet is your prime suspect, especially if you've recently done any of the risky behavior below:

• Using P2P networks to download music files and video clips. This has become a popular way to spread viruses, with the virus acquisition being masked by a file the accesses the internet to download a codec.
• Indiscriminate use of apps on social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook. These sites are full of fake applications with enticing names hoping to fool you into using them and inadvertently downloading various malware.
• Downloading free software that come from uncertified publishers. Software that promises too much for nothing is usually packaged with all sorts of viruses and spyware.

The ultimate warning sign that a virus is infecting your computer is when you are suddenly besieged by pop-up advertisements that get in your face about how great their free software is at doing something for your computer. This is a sign for you to get out of whatever website is spawning them.

Thankfully, there are a series of steps you can follow to manually get rid of HDD Rescue. It does entail some time and effort to find and delete HDD Rescue related files, processes, and entries, but to not do so will only put your computer at grave risk. Here's a walkthrough on how to uninstall HDD Rescue:

• Find and delete every process related to the virus. These are the binary.exe and.bat files that are responsible for spawning the virus in the first place.
• The trickier part is when you go through your system files, including the hidden ones, to search for all of the.dll and.lnk files the virus uses to coerce your operating system into turning on itself. Delete all of these corrupted items
• Finally, there remains the task of cleaning your system registry. Access it with the run command, typing in 'regedit'. Go to the directories marked HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and HKEY_CURRENT_USER and get rid of any infected entries that the virus made.

As you can imagine, the act of manually removing HDD Rescue or any other virus is tedious, time-consuming, and risky. One false move could cripple your computer or leave the virus still running. For situations like this, a virus removal tool is your best option. These automated programs shield you from adware, malware, and viruses, while getting rid of those that do get through in mere seconds. Discover the type of protection that computer experts and engineers enjoy and avail of a free scan today.

Tired of viruses infecting your computer? Want to surf the web with the peace of mind that your computer is safe and secure? Get your free scan from the top virus protection and remove HDD Rescue.

Jim Marshall is an expert computer technician with fifteen years of experience in the industry. Since his own computer was destroyed by malicious software, he has been studying antispyware, adware, and malware systems for years. His website details the comprehensive results of this research, ranking the best antispyware and antivirus programs available.

http://www.spyware-fix.net

How Anti Virus Software Will Keep Your Computer Happy

For most people, they do not care how the inner workings of their computer works, as long as it gets the job done. They do not want to know about the memory, or how many bits and bytes is in something. They just want to be able to email their mother pictures of her grandchildren. So when it comes to securing the computer from outside threats, they tend to shy away from overly complicated solutions. They want a quick and easy fix or they will ignore the problem until it starts to affect the computer from doing its normal everyday operations. But making sure your computer is secure from black hat hackers does not have to be complicated. With a few software installations, you can have your computer run safe and secure in no time.

The first thing that you should know, is what you are securing your computer from. This is pretty easy. In laymen terms, you are securing your computer from viruses and other malware that will seek to corrupt it. When we say corrupt it, what that means is that it will put some kind of program onto your system that will make your computer do things that you do not want it to do. Things such as read the data that you put into it and then send it to someone else. Or it might have data that the program comes with and turn your computer into a delivery system. The deliveries will be things such as spam or maybe even other viruses. They could also use your computer to attack other computers on the internet in what is called a DDOS attack. So for these reasons, you want to make sure that your computer is protected in the latest anti virus security.

You can download anti virus from several different venues. You can use a name brand such as Norton or Macaffe. Or you can use a free version such as AVG. No matter which one you pick, make sure that you get it from a reputable web site. There are a lot of web sites that will try to get you to download fake anti virus software. Make sure the site that you get it from is legitimate. Download.com is a good resource but there are others. So once you download the software, install it on your computer. After you finish the install, run a scan on your computer. You want to make sure that any malware that was on there before you installed the software is now gone. Now that is taken care of, just let the software run every time you turn on the computer. This will mean that you are pretty well protected.

Once you have the anti virus running on your computer, make sure that it is always updated. If you do not run an update on a regular basis then your protection will be incomplete. The software will not be ale to protect you from new infections. If you do keep it updated, then you will have years of happy computing.

Nathaly Dedeyan is co-owner and author at PC Security, a free online computer security resource. Visitors ill benefit from unique quality researched guides and articles and become better informed to avoid any security compromise on their computer.

Fully Remove The Network Control Malware Trojan

Trojans are a type of malware that enter the user's computer under the pretext of being a useful program only to end up making many harmful changes to the computer. Network Control is one such Trojan that gets downloaded and installed on to user systems from malicious websites which the user makes the mistake of visiting. Once installed, it displays a message stating that a remote administrator named Adam1 changed some system files on Windows. Then, proceeds to warn the user falsely that the firewall has been compromised and that any malware could enter the computer. To overcome this problem, Network Control suggests that the user purchase and install such software as Advanced Net Firewall, Shield EC, Personal Network Protect, IP Blockader and Network Defender which are in fact malicious software that will not help the user in any way. Therefore instead of falling for this trick, you should immediately take steps to remove this malware.

As soon as you find an instance of this malware on your computer, you should take steps to initiate removal. In order to delete it, you need to stop its processes, unregister its DLL files, delete its files and folders and remove its registry entries.

File Removal Procedures

The first step you need to take for full removal is to stop the following processes from executing:

• nc.exe
• checker.exe

Next, it is necessary to unregister the following DLL file:

• tmp.dll

The next step in removal is to delete the following files and folders:

• C:\NetworkControl\
• C:\NetworkControl\checker.exe
• C:\NetworkControl\list
• C:\NetworkControl\nc.exe
• C:\NetworkControl\tmp.dll
• C:\NetworkControl\tpm.dll
• C:\WINDOWS\Fonts\segoeui.ttf
• %UserProfile%\Local Settings\Temp\abc
• %UserProfile%\Local Settings\Temp\i.bat

After these steps have been completed, it no longer resides on your hard disk. While in most cases following the manual removal procedures is sufficient, due to the prevalent nature of NC malicious software it is recommended to scan the entire computer using genuine antivirus software such as Spyware Doctor with Antivirus. In this way, not only that other hidden or yet unknown NC malicious components can be discovered but also other infections, if any, may be revealed and dealt with.

Registry Removal Procedures

The deletion of files and folders alone is not sufficient to completely remove NC. You need to remove the following keys and settings from the Windows Registry for complete the removal:

• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings "WarnonBadCertRecving" = "0″
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings "WarnOnPostRedirect" = "0″
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "NetworkControl"

Now your computer is safe from this harmful Trojan. For more useful malware removal tips, visit spywareremovalguides.com.

Properly Protect Your Computer From Viruses

You can't avoid the fact that hackers and virus programmers are constantly working to hone and innovate their art. Now that more and more people are becoming educated about how viruses get onto their computers, they have to find new ways to fool firewalls, security suites and users. Because of this it is your responsibility to be aware of your actions online and to keep yourself from becoming the victim of potentially vicious viruses.

One of the first things to realize is that not all viruses are the same. There are many viruses that do no more harm than be really annoying, whether popping up ads you aren't interested in, sending spam to your email address or many other little things. On the other hand, there are a lot of types of viruses that are more dangerous, both to the safety of your computer and your personal information.

There are some viruses designed to wipe the information off your hard drive. Others can steal your personal information, such as logins, passwords and bank numbers. There are even some that can give a hacker access to your computer so they can use your IP address for themselves. Even more dangerous, some types of malware can remain dormant on your computer for a long time, becoming active later on to do their damage when you aren't thinking about it.

Thankfully, you are not without recourse to protection against malicious coders. You can take any number of simple measures to help protect your computer from malware such as spyware, trojans, spyware and root kits.

The most essential, and therefore the first, step in properly protecting your computer from a virus is to have a good anti-virus program installed prior to connecting to the internet. The internet is constantly being crawled by 'bots.' Some bots are used for indexing websites and other good things. Other bots are on the lookout for unprotected computers. It can take as few as one or two minutes of unprotected internet use for an unprotected computer to contract a harmful computer virus. Many of these malicious programs can be avoided with a properly installed security suite, including anti-virus, firewall and spam protection.

Having a security suite installed is not enough, however. Remember that hackers are constantly writing new programs to infect your computer with, so you need to update your security software regularly. Each program gives you the option to adjust how often it looks for profile updates. You can set it anywhere between once a week to every start-up. Going more than a week without updating is very inadvisable. Luckily these updates are usually quick and can be scheduled automatically. Automatic security updates are the best way to make sure your computer is continually protected against the most current threats.

Not only can you schedule automatic profile updates, you can also program your anti-virus to run its scans automatically. This is a good idea to make sure that your system is regularly swept for malware. Most people schedule the automatic scans for a time when they are not using the computer, like late at night. There are a number of reasons running scans when no one is using the computer is a good idea. There are a number of conflicts which can occur with the operation of the anti-virus software and other programs. Security suites can give you false positives with some programs if the are running concomitantly. The scans can also be CPU intensive and cause your computer to run slow if you are running any large programs.

Antivirus software providers do their best to make protecting your computer from viruses easy, but you need to remember the importance of leaving your malware protection updated, armed and run regularly.

Virus removal is simple when you have the right tools, like comprehensive online technical support from support squad. You can have a professional specialist by your side as you troubleshoot and root out those pesky and dangerous viruses.

Do Not Show Your SSID in Your Router For Complete WiFi Security

There are some rules in WiFi networks world that help other Internet users to connect to a particular WiFi network to get Internet connection or to share the data among connected PCs.

One of these rules - the name of the WiFi net called SSID (service set identifier) that helps to identify necessary WiFi network. It is all good when we know who is trying to connect to our network. But we should always remember that crackers know this rule too.

So, if you show your network name or SSID, a hacker can get into your network and try to rob a personal information on any PC connected to your WiFi network, especially if these PCs are not secured in a proper manner.

To remove your visibility for everyone, you need to disable the setting "Wireless SSID Broadcast" in your router Wireless settings.

Follow eight easy steps to disable "Wireless SSID Broadcast" (useful for most routers):

1. Run your WiFi network. (just start up your WiFi router or modem and make sure that everything is OK)

2. Launch IE, Firefox or any other browser and input the following address http ://192.168.1.1

3. Proceed to the showed web address by pressing Enter button

4. Login to your network

5. Press OK button

6. Go to Wireless text tab

7. Find the setting "Wireless SSID Broadcast" and make sure that you have selected "Disable" radio button

8. Save Settings

As soon as you have disabled "Wireless SSID Broadcast", you can be sure that no one will find your WiFi network without your permission. Here you have a control over the users who want use your WiFi and its resources. That is very useful if you care about WiFi Security.

Stephen Ward is writing in the Internet for more than 4 years and would like to suggest you to try out brand new WiFi Security software that can help you to be sure online 24 hours a day.

Avoiding Online Security Risks That Lead to Accounts Being Hacked

I don't know if you've heard about the news about people who had their cards charged against their will by Apple's iTunes Store, but it's been all over the news, at least in the tech world.

A lot of people have been blaming Apple and saying the iTunes App Store was hacked, but it looks like a problem with passwords.

In this article I'll help you understand what happened, and give you a few tips to avoid similar problems.

First off, if you're not familiar with it, the App Store is part of Apple's iTunes Store, and is an online market where you can get free or paid "Apps" for mobile devices such as the iPod Touch, iPhone, and the iPad.

Apps are basically programs (also called applications) just like you would find on your computer, but designed to run on a mobile device like a smartphone.

Apple's App Store lets you browse through thousands of these apps which let you do a wide variety of things from keeping up with news, to reading a book, to working with photos, to playing games, and a lot more.

Again, the same basic idea as an application or program for a computer, just the "pocket sized" edition, so to speak.

The App Store can be found within the iTunes program on your computer, or by using the App Store icon on an iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad. Other companies also provide app stores for their devices.

So what happened with these unauthorized charges everyone is talking about?

Well, basically what happened is, people noticed that 40 out of 50 of the top-ranked apps (ranked in terms of copies sold) in the books category were all from the same person!

This seemed a little suspicious that one person would have managed to pull this off without being up to something. The next piece of the puzzle turned up when people started reporting unwanted charges on their accounts for hundreds or even in some cases over a thousand dollars, all orders for Apple Apps.

It seems that somehow criminals had gained access to at least a few hundred accounts people had on iTunes, they'd been used to place orders for dozens of apps, racking up big bills for each person who had been victimized.

Some people thought the Apple App Store itself had been hacked, but most likely the each account had been broken into individually, probably by one of two means.

The first is known as a "brute force password crack", and it's where a program is used to try one password after another, starting with common ones, until the right one is guessed.

This may sound like a time-consuming process that no one would ever bother with, but remember it's a program that does it automatically, and it starts with the easy to guess common passwords that so many people make the mistake of using.

The other possibility is that the passwords were stolen via a "phishing scam", which is were people are tricked into entering their passwords into a website designed to look legit, but which is not.

Who is to blame?

At this point, the people behind it are unknown, but seem to be based in Asia. It is most likely an organized criminal organization instead of just one person acting alone.

Here's what to do if you have an iTunes Store account

If you're concerned your account may have been compromised, you can find out by opening iTunes on your computer, then clicking the iTunes Store on the left side.

Then click your email address where it appears in the upper right of the window and you'll be asked for your password. It's OK to enter it there.

Once you log in, you'll see a list of account-related items, including a "Purchase History" button you can click to look over any orders. You should be able to spot if there are items listed which you never ordered.

On the accounts screen you can also click the button "Edit Account Info" to change your password as a precaution.

If you find fraudulent charges, you can call Apple at: 1-800-275-2273 (to talk to a real person, press 0 at each prompt)

Here are a few tips for being safe with passwords:

1) Avoid using a simple word as your password, especially easy to guess things such as your name, your child or pet's name, your phone number, the word 'password', etc. Basically avoid anything you'd find in the dictionary to start with.

2) Don't use the same password for everything - passwords are like keys, and I don't think you'd hire a locksmith who used the same lock & key for every door and every customer. Don't make the same mistake with your passwords!

3) Longer and more complicated passwords are safer: as I mentioned above, brute force cracking methods will basically run through the dictionary when trying to break in -- the longer the password is, and the more you mix in numbers with letters, UPPER and lower case letters (liKe THis), and even punctuation, the better.

4) Be careful about where you enter in your username and password information, and especially be wary of emails that come out of the blue asking you to "reset your account", "update your information", etc. And make sure that you look at the address bar on the top of your web browser window and read the address to make sure you're on an official site when you sign in.

Hopefully if you follow these computer tips you'll stay safer online and feel a little more comfortable shopping on the web, which overall is very safe to do.

Worth Godwin is a computer coach with over 15 years' experience helping computer users of all levels, and has also worked for many years "in the trenches" as a hardware and software tech, solving real-world computer problems.

Worth has also been studying the human mind, and how people learn, since the early 1990s. He draws upon all of this experience, as well as his English and writing degrees, to teach people in a unique way with computer training that really makes sense.

In 2006, Worth began putting his easy lessons together on computer training CDs, carefully designed to make it easy to learn computer basics at your own pace, for an affordable price, with a system that really works.

Understanding Confidentiality Attacks

A confidentiality attack tries to capture confidential data (such as username, password, credit card numbers and data in emails) so an attacker can use that data for malicious intent. Confidentiality attacks often go undetected because the attacker makes a copy of the data, rather than trying to change the data or take down the system. There are several different types or methods to a confidentiality attack:

Packet Capture: A packet capture utility can capture data that is sent across the network or from a PC's NIC card. The packets can contain username and password, credit card numbers, social security card numbers or anything that is in plain text. An attacker can read this data from a packet capture utility and use it for malicious intent.

Ping sweep and port scan: Some attacks start with a scan of the network to identify devices to target on the network. A ping sweep will ping a range of IP addresses and wait for a reply. A ping reply might indicate that there is a network resource at those IP addresses. Once a collection of IP addresses is identified, a port scan can be ran to see what services are available on the host. Port scans can also help gather more information about the target system such as what operating system it's running.

Dumpster Diving: Many companies throw away confidential data without properly shredding it. An attacker can rummage through a company's trash in hopes of discovering data that could be used to compromise network resources.

Wiretapping: If an attacker gains access to a network wiring closet, they can then physically tap into a telephone line and eavesdrop on the conversation. They could also insert a hub inline with the network cable and receive copies of the data.

Social Engineering: Phone techniques can be used to obtain information from end users. For example someone could pose as a member of the IT department and ask for the end users login information.

Electromagnetic interfaces interception: Data is often transmitted over a wire, often called a network cable. Attackers can copy data traveling over the wire by intercepting the EMI being emitted by the wire. The EMI emissions are sometimes called emanations.

Visit Matt's latest website Event Log Monitoring for listing of Event Log Monitoring Software. Also check out Order Management Software for a list of Order Management Software and inventory software.

3 Common Social Media Network 'Threats' to Avoid

Online social media network sites have experienced an extraordinary growth in popularity over the last few years. The growth in social media use has captured the attention of not only enthusiastic users but also cyber criminals as well. It was inevitable that internet predators would gravitate towards social sites due to the sheer number of users these sites attract. This criminal element commonly targets innocent site participants with various types' of scams looking for money, personal ID information or to even install spyware or malware.

Here are 3 of the most common scams people using social media sites need to be aware of to better protect themselves against these internet predators.

Shortening (Hiding) Links

Shortening links is an acceptable, expected and encouraged practice on most social sites to 'dress up' rather long links being sent in short messages. This is well and good however shortened links also actually 'hide' the ultimate destination to where you are being redirected. By inadvertently landing on a 'forbidden' site you could easily have unwanted malware installed on your computer. Treat these links like you would suspicious email and only open those that come from a source with which you are already familiar.

'Fun' Questionnaires

How many times have you come across short quizzes sent to you that will tell you things about yourself, friends, or even love life? All you need to do is to 'register' by leaving your contact information including your cell phone number in order to receive your answers and even a prize. Well many times the 'prize' is really a 'surprise' when you have a billing for a subscription you had unknowingly signed up for on your phone. The best approach with these questionnaires is to simply ignore them!

Personal ID Theft

Information 'trawling' or phishing has been around for a while online. Most of us are use to seeing it come through in suspicious emails that require sensitive information in order to complete a transaction. Well those damn cyber criminals have now taken their methods and adapted them to online social media sites. Ever seen a message that says 'someone is looking for you' and then instructs you to click on a link to see who it may be? When the link takes you to one of the login pages of a popular social network you are then required to sign in, DO NOT! By doing so you may be giving a stranger complete access to your account and no telling what they will do with that!

Online social media network sites have grown in popularity and as a result have also become the targets for cyber criminals as well. With the tremendous increase in social media use the online criminal element has spotted an opportunity to target large masses fairly easily. They tend to favor the use of scams which work quite efficiently for them when dealing with large masses of people. 3 of the most commonly used scams to which people using social media sites are exposed are mentioned above. The danger such schemes like these pose to the innocent is magnified when people are unaware of their existence until it is too late. In this case however to be fore-warned is to be fore-armed! It is therefore hoped that this 'heads-up' will help neutralize any efforts and all intentions of this rather creepy online element.

TJ Philpott is an author and Internet entrepreneur based out of North Carolina. To learn more about safely using social media network sites and to also receive a free instructional manual that teaches valuable niche research techniques simply visit: http://blogbrawn.com/

Remove Data Protection - Easiest Data Protection Removal Out There

If you're taking the time to read this, it's probably because you are having some second thoughts about data protection. The truth is you are right to be a bit concerned, because it isn't a real antivirus program, it is actually malware. If you have already loaded it on to your computer, you are in a bit of trouble. It is actually quite difficult to remove this virus. With legitimate software, removal would be easy, but since it is a virus, you won't be able to just uninstall it. It digs in too deep for that.

The malicious code burrows deep into your system and infects important system files. It seeks out credit card information, email addresses and other personal information you might have on your computer that can be sold. All this activity slows down your pc and congests your internet bandwidth. Because it digs in so deep, data protection removal can be a labor intensive task.

The ideal situation is to never be infected, it you aren't infected by it, you won't have to delete data protection. The difficult thing about that is that so many routine activities on the internet can lead to an attack. Browsing infected websites could result in your browser getting hijacked, using Adobe software without data protection protection could also get you in trouble, as Adobe utilities seem to have an inherent vulnerability, p2p software is also quite dangerous, as it exposes you to several unprotected users.

When you are first infected, you'll be hit by an endless stream of pop-ups that alert you to a supposed data protection infection, they will tell you that you need to install a certain utility to correct the problem. The utility is the real malware, and when you install it, your real problems will begin.

If you're pretty handy with a computer, you might try to get rid of data protection by deleting it from your pc one file at time. There will be some.Exe,.Bat,.Dll, and.Lnk files associated with it, they should be removed, be careful not to delete something that you aren't sure is related to the data protection. You also need to remove any entries associated to the data protection in the registry, particularly in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE AND HKEY_CURRENT_USER folder.

A much more user friendly, less time consuming and yes, more effective way to remove data protection is to use a virus removal tool. It can do in minutes what a man would take hours to do. It is faster and more thorough. It will also keep you protected from other problems of the same nature after.

Tired of viruses infecting your computer? Want to surf the web with the peace of mind that your computer is safe and secure? Get your free scan from the top Data Protection removal.

Jim Marshall is an expert computer technician with fifteen years of experience in the industry. Since his own computer was destroyed by malicious software, he has been studying antispyware, adware, and malware systems for years. His website details the comprehensive results of this research, ranking the best antispyware and antivirus programs available.

http://www.spyware-fix.net

Internet Security and Its Enemies

The internet may be the savviest innovation that has ever been created in that it has surely provided comfort and ease in the lives of many. Yet as great of an innovation as this may be, this might actually be a good source for crimes especially for unsuspecting people who just merely want to enjoy the benefits of internet use. That is why it is important to have internet security. Whenever you open the internet, you have to secure it. With the internet security, it protects your computer with its files being accessed by unauthorized people, especially those who have bad intentions such as stealing identities. One of the fundamental ways for you to protect your computer is by using very good passwords that would make it hard for an intruder to identify, backing up your files and using permissions before anyone can access it.

Many businesses now are even more aware of updating and securing their computers as they are aware that many identity thefts are attempting to access their computers via the internet with the knowledge that by having access on those business files and using it in one way or another, they can make huge profits of it. These thieves will always try to find a way how to outwit the company's internet security because of that. That is why companies are more watchful and that whenever there is a need to enhance the system, the first and foremost concern is how to further secure the sensitive data stored.

Unfortunately, some programs are considered to be very helpful in protecting the computer such as Malware, virus, Trojan, Worms, Bots and Spyware. So, internet security authorities should be experts in four major areas concerning these six:

• Malware: it is the common name used to identify a software program that has a malicious intent to either spy, breach or destroy the computer's contents. It is not just limited to infiltrating computers but cell phones, PDA's and other technical devices as well.

• Viruses: they infiltrate the computer maliciously and give the computer user a very hard time. The virus can delete, hide, or make the data stored in the computer inaccessible. It can also make other applications not run anymore.

• Trojan: it is a program that pretends to be helpful when in reality it just seeks to destroy files, steal or change something in the system which could cause major problems to the user.

• Worms: they replicate themselves and swarm through the internet system and could destroy a whole community of computer users, even to the extent of destroying a country's economy.

• Bots: takes over the system and may communicate the computers' contents to others.

All six may be used simultaneously by an internet criminal and continue to develop sophistically. That is why there is now the use of the Antivirus programs, which protect your computers from such malicious attacks. Anti-virus software can freely be downloaded online, but still one should be cautious in downloading software even if it is antivirus ones that may represent themselves to be effective but aren't.

Tina L. Douglas is a skilled writer from California. With numerous experiences in the field of writing for several financial institutions, she is greatly qualified across a variety of economic issues. Her notable pieces of writing involve internet security software.

How to Tell If Your Site Has Been Hacked

How do you know if your site has been hacked? Sometimes you will know because the site has dropped precipitously in the search engine rankings for no apparent reason. Or many of your pages are no longer being indexed by the search engines. Or visitors send you emails complaining that their anti-virus software warns them away from your site. These are not good things to have happen, because by then the damage has been done.

A better approach to to proactively scan your site for hacked pages. What you are looking for are unauthorized links to external sites, because most hackers use those links to boost the search engine rankings of their own sites. That makes most hacked pages easy to find with a few simple search engine queries.

The key is to combine the "site:" command with one or more commonly used hacker ranking terms like "viagra" or "cialis". The "site:" command restricts search engine results to pages from the given domain. For example, the query:

site:about.com

restricts the search to the "about.com" domain. All you need to do is add one or two hacker-targeted keywords to the query, as in:

site:whitehouse.gov viagra

That query will return all indexed pages on the "whitehouse.gov" domain that include the word "viagra". (As I write this, there are in fact two pages on the official White House site that have been hacked in this manner. Oops!)

While "viagra" is the most obvious term to search for, there are other possibilities. Any erectile dysfunction drug is a candidate: "levitra", "cialis", etc. Generic version of the brand names are also popular: "sildenafil", "vardenafil", etc. Really, any kind of high-demand pharmaceutical product is a good candidate, though you can also look for money-making schemes (think "forex" or "online gambling") and other things that a spam catcher would normally isolate in your incoming email.

Of course, you will not actually see these links on the pages in question. Hackers do their best to hide the links from human visitors. But they do not hide them from search engines, because the point is to get the search engines to find those links and count them as "votes" to getting their own "money sites" to rank highly for sought-after, highly commercial and extremely competitive terms. That is why a simple search query exposes hacked pages.

What do you do once you have found a hacked page on one of your sites? It depends on how the links were added to your pages and how your pages are generated. You will find lots of help online on how to get rid of link spam from a website and how to "harden" your site against future attacks.

Just remember to run this check on each of your sites every few days. It is a very quick and simple way to detect potential link spam before it becomes a real problem.

Be sure to check out Eric Giguere's privacy policy plugin, useful for anyone running WordPress. Eric is a co-founder of Synclastic Media and has written extensively about all aspects of Internet marketing, website and blog development, and software programming.

Safeguard Yourself From Fraud When Buying Online

Most people are comfortable enough to shop online, but be wary, there are identity theft and fraud at any corner you turn. Here are five easy tips for your online payment and shopping that can keep your online shopping experience a happy one.

Five Tips For Online Payment

1. Make sure you choose the best available account with your credit card company. A good credit card company that allows you to shop online will usually have encryption software to protect against identity theft, as well as auto log out once you've been inactive for a period of time online, usually about 10 minutes.

If you have any questions regarding payment and security, always talk to the company's representative directly, better to be safe than sorry.

2. If you have a standing instruction or recurring billing with a company's program, you'll most likely receive and invoice or email every month notifying you about the payment. Safeguard yourself by not signing in from the email link, and instead take the effort to go to the said company website and sign in from there.

Also watch out for emails from your credit card company, if they have asked you to verify certain account, make sure you call your credit card company to confirm the validation, this way you can keep yourself at arm's length from any bogus emails.

3. When you do sign in with a username and password to a company website, make sure you're always clearing your cache and history on your own computer. Finish what you've set out to do as quickly as possible, this is especially important if you're using a dial up modem.

Alongside with our advancing technology, it has made it possible for online identity theft to monitor your online activity. Therefore always take precaution and make it quick when doing online transaction, so to speak, to safeguard your own interest and money!

4. Whenever a transaction is successful, you'll always receive an email with the date stated, whether immediately or a couple of days later. Be sure that you've receive it and do call your credit card company if you do not! Also, check your online account to make sure the said payment was sent our or posted.

5. This is one of the most important tips you can use when shopping online, always change your password monthly, because this way frauds will have a hard time to keep up. Sometimes your credit provider will offer you a security check, which you'll have to answer every time you attempt to log on. Check with your credit companies to see if they offer such services.

The worst part about online payment is frauds and theft, therefore any precaution and safety steps you take to protect yourself can make a tremendous difference in buying online. It is worth it to have some of the best security software, and changing passwords works.

Only thing worst than not getting secured is not doing anything about it! Always take the extra preventive measure against theft and keep your hard earned money doing things you like instead!

The author is also currently working on his website on wireless surround sound speakers, as well as why he have chosen definitive technology speakers over the rest in the marketplace.

I Want to Change My IP Address - Using IP Hiding Tools to Protect Your Identity Online

Shopping online is one of the many conveniences created by the internet. Instead of spending hours outside just to buy a few things, the internet has allowed everyone to shop for the products they want and have them delivered. It's a win-win solution for the business owner and buyer as the owner is no longer limited in some areas while the buyer get's what he or she wants without wasting time traveling.

But the convenience of online shopping has also caused a few problems. While it's easy to shop online, the information entered can be stolen and used without any permission. Attacks are made on innocent online shoppers. Their credit card information is stolen and eventually sold for others to use. The real credit card owner will just be surprised with the unknown charges made on his or her credit card. Before they become aware of the situation, they are already victims of identity theft.

These attacks are possible because of the exposed IP address. Everyone is provided with this unique number by their ISP (Internet Service Provide) and this data is shared to every website visited. This is used for business reasons - websites want to know the location of their visitors. Unfortunately, some abuse this free information by using it as a bridge to monitor the user's activity. Without any warning, the credit card data is stolen.

The exposed IP address can be easily hidden through simple tools. Users can consider proxy server websites so that they can surf anonymously and even shop online. There are hundreds of proxy server websites to choose from and although they are a bit slow, they can easily hide your IP address from websites and hackers. The second option is to use an application that automatically hides the user information in any browser. Although IP hiding applications are not free, it is faster and can be used in more websites.

For a reliable tool to change your IP address, surf anonymously and protect your identity online from hackers, CLICK HERE!

For reliable and affordable tools to surf anonymously and protect yourself from identity theft, visit http://anonymousinternetbrowsing.com

Guide to Internet Security

In the earlier days of the internet, user security wasn't as tight. There were fewer threats to users and those that existed tended to target businesses instead of individuals. Now, however, threats seem to be looming around each and every corner. As computer and internet use has proliferated in the past decade, so has the variety of viruses, malware, spyware, and other security threats. Understanding your computer's security risk, and actively working to protect it, has become a key element in responsible computing.

The Threats

Malware typically presents itself in several forms.

- Viruses - These are small programs that attach to other code and infect it. Viruses can change certain computer settings, corrupt files, or even crash your computer entirely.

- Spyware - This type of software is typically installed on your computer without your knowledge. Its intent is to gather personal information about you. Sometimes spyware may include a key-logger, which transcribes every key you type and compromises passwords, bank account numbers, credit card numbers, and anything else you might type out on your computer.

- Phishing scams - Scams are typically e-mails or websites, made to look legit, that ask you for your personal information or credit card information. The goal of these scams is obvious--to gain access to your personal information.

- Spam - Another threat that comes via e-mail, spam can contain spyware hidden in messages that will install itself on your computer.

How to Protect Yourself

Your first line of defense against malware is a firewall. Firewalls monitor all in and out computer traffic and prevent unauthorized communications. While computers typically come with firewalls installed, they are sometimes not as effective as commercial firewalls.

Another crucial defense is to install anti-virus software on your computer. While some anti-virus software is free, this is one area that you don't want to skimp on. If you install a free anti-virus program and your computer is attacked by something that slipped through the cracks, you will end up paying to fix or replace your computer anyway. It is always better to avoid the headache and ensure that your computer is receiving the best security from the get-go. Anti-key-logging and anti-spyware software are also excellent tools to use in conjunction with an anti-virus.

Spam blockers are useful for preventing spam, malicious or not, from entering your inbox. The only down side to spam blockers is that they can sometimes mistake normal e-mails for spam and filter them accordingly. If you are using a spam blocker, it is helpful to check in the box on occasion to be sure that everything is sorted correctly.

Also, on shared computers, always make sure your data is password protected. People often underestimate the security threat posed by others that have direct access to your computer. If you have information that you would not want to make readily available to other users, be sure to password-protect it with a strong password.

Useful Tips

• Ensure that every computer you own that accesses the internet has a virus protection program installed and running.
• Don't open attachments from unknown sources.
• Make your passwords complicated and difficult for others to figure out. Strong passwords make use of numbers, letters, and symbols.
• Avoid sending too much personal information, particularly credit card numbers and bank account numbers, over the internet. If you use a credit card to pay for something online, be sure that the payment system is trustworthy and secure.

Imaging Network Technology is a computer support service that specializes in computer security, 24/7 tech support, and network infrastructure. Visit Imaging Network Technology.

Website Security - Should You Really Protect Your Website With Expensive Software?

You hear it all the time "it will not happen to me" or "they can not get past my software". People online are becoming more and more lazy and with laziness comes a price. Imagine your sole income was your dating website for example, what would happen if it got hacked and your site was nothing?

That is right you would lose your income and if you have not got some other source of income...probably your house. I think having the right security is a must for any serious website, do you think websites like Facebook and Google spend $10 on the black market for security...I do not think so.

They invest in thousands of dollars worth of security programs and this is for a good reason. Not only do people trust a website that has top notch stability, they will be more comfortable visiting it over and over again. It is a win win situation really, your website is safe and so are your potential customers. Trust is always a key element in this type of business.

Having a safe site always shows your customers that you care about your business and in turn this means you care about your clients. This is great for your reputation and a lot better than all these sites that are just out to scam people. Like in the fashion world, the online world is all about first impressions and image. If you can get this right, people will pay attention and so will their wallet. Have a great day.

Cloak a Link - Stop Losing Your Hard Earned Money!

Cloak a link -- Are you familiar with this term? Have you been taught how to cloak a link? If not, there is a very good chance that some devious marketers may be stealing your hard earned revenue. This article will explain to you how to protect your affiliate identification and why it is important. It is significant to note that the cloak a link I am referring to is different from the black hat search engine optimization technique that some webmasters use called "cloaking". The black hat method is a technique used to deceive the search engines while increasing the page rank. If caught this technique will result in the de-listing of your page and a possible charge by google to register your site again. I strongly recommend against using any kind of black hat techniques.

The primary reason to cloak a link is to protect your earnings. Each person selling a product or service is given website address. At the end of the URL there is a unique identification code which lets the company know which affiliate has made a sale. There are some extremely unethical marketers that will steal your commissions by replacing your affiliate identification.

Another reason to cloak a link is for presentation. These URLS are often very long and are not aesthetically pleasing. When you advertise it is important to project a professional image. Some linker tools provide shorter, cleaner looking links. You can also cloak a link and track sales. This is one area of marketing that separates the players from the novices. By tracking where sales are coming from more effort can be channeled into the successful parts of the campaign saving time and increasing profits.

The next question becomes how to cloak a link? You can do this with several kinds of programs. First, do a search for cloak a link or a similar phrase. There will be a wide range of information to choose from. Be careful with the free programs as there is usually a catch somewhere or the performance is not up to the same standards as the paid service. This has been my experience in general over the last couple years. The paid programs should be better but be careful to do your due diligence. How long have they been around? What kind of reputation do they have? Are the services commiserate with the price being charged?

There are also a few services where you can cloak a link and they will teach you how to market your business using various techniques. These programs have a monthly fee but are usually well worth it because of the value provided.

Whatever method you choose, it will be well worth your time and effort to learn how to properly cloak a link so that you will get 100% credit for all the sales you make. I wish you all the best for success with your business.

Devan Persaud is an affiliate marketer who learned the fundamentals of marketing online at Wealthy Affiliate University. He feels extremely fortunate to have found this supportive community of affiliate marketers so early in his career, many of which are web success stories.

Click cloak a link to check out the cloaking tool Devan loves to use. Just navigate to the tools tab, click and scroll down to the bottom where it says My Linker.

It is his wish to introduce this learning facility to as many people as possible so that they can start learning what they really need to know to be successful on-line. It certainly is not a secret but then again new marketers are rarely ever taught it. Learn more at http://www.DevanPersaud.com