Sabtu, 31 Agustus 2013

Beware! Web Bugs Can Compromise Your Privacy

What are web bugs? You may ask. Web bug is a coactive name given to all hidden object on a website that is used by the owners of the web site to secretly track visitors. They are invisible to the visitor so that they can secretly track a web visitor without being noticed. Bugs are created from images, scripts, and iframes among other objects found on the web. Objects used here must have the ability to camouflage into the background of the website or they are mad transparent so that they may not be detected easily. This makes them invisible to the human eye and therefore more effective in playing their role. Track web visitors, bug usually use cookies, IP addresses and header information. They can be used track an individual’s browsing history and thus are very dangerous. 

Web bugs

Why are web bugs are created and how are they harmful? You may wonder. As the world moves towards an advanced e-commerce platform, competition is getting fiercer and therefore to reach more people a lot of information about these people is required. Thus web bugs are created most to gather information about internet users for marketing purposes. Bugs do not cause any harm to a computer system, however, their transparent nature and the difficulty in detecting them, cause privacy concerns as people are not give an option of opting out.
Sometimes information illegally gathered is sold off to third parties who may have ulterior motives. The originators of spam mails also use bugs to monitor the spam mails they send out. This can be annoying at times to receive mails of things you are not interested in.  Lastly anything invisible is always linked with viruses, malware and other security threats associated with the internet. You should therefore have a reason to worry about web bugs.
 Then how can you combat web bugs? The most effective way of repelling web bugs is always disabling third party cookies whenever you are surfing the net.  Only accept cookies you need to work and you could reduce the chances of being a victim of web bugs by up to 70%. Another way to fight the effects of web bugs is by acknowledging the integrity of your browser and by not opening mails in your spam box as they are always sends there for a reason. By regularly clearing your browser history and cache makes it difficult for the few bugs that sip into your system to copy your browser history and this helps keep your privacy. Lastly today you can purchase or find free web bug filters to help maintain your privacy. Such web filters may include Privacy mark, better privacy, and Beef Taco among others.

In conclusion we all agree, including the creators and the users of web bug that they are epitome of online privacy inversion.  They can cause embarrassments and even harm people’s reputation depending on how information gathered is used. We deserve our privacy which web bugs often rob from us.  Keep your privacy, beware of web bugs!

Simple Tips to Secure Your Home PC from malware and viruses

In the world today everything we do is dependent on communication. We have to communicate with our friends, relatives, employees, workmates and anyone else that matter to us. Internet is the engine powering most of these communication networks. Today nearly every home has a personal computer and it’s often connected to the internet for communication purposes. The internet connection is vital as it enables us to reach out to each other; however it comes with its own evils. Computer viruses and spyware are just some of the common evils that come with the internet. To protect your personal computer from these internet born attacks, you need to know how to secure your computer from harmful malware and viruses. 

Malware and viruses

For a start, you have to investigate which operating system your computer is using. The kind of operating systems often suggests the vulnerability of a computer to be attacked by internet threats, for example Linux has no known active virus therefore it is less vulnerable. Again you have to check the status of the operating system as this will put you in a position to be able to make security updates regularly.

Read the ways to Select Best Servicing Center to Repair Your PC

What kind of web browser do you use? That’s an important question to ask yourself when planning for the security of you pc. Most malware snick into your pc through your browser, therefore you should choose a browser as per its security specification. This will help you use a browser that allows less vulnerable to attracting malware to your computer. For instance Google Chrome is a secure browser and therefore will make your computer more secure and difficult for virus to attack and spread the infection.

Always make sure your computer has good antivirus software installed at all the times. Antivirus software is supposed to deal with modern malware such as viruses, Trojans, and worms and therefore to offer maximum protection your antivirus should be in a position to carryout real-time scanning to detect the viruses in time. Once you have a virus always make sure to keep your virus definitions up to date by updating regularly because only then will rest assured that your computer and information on it has sufficient protection. 

Sometimes we bring viruses and other malware to our pcs by the software and other applications we download from the web.  To make sure that we keep harmful attacks at bay when using the internet don’t everything you see on the internet and especially the freebies, and when you have to make a download make sure that you  do it from a trusted source for example softpedia and fileplane for software.

And lastly to be safe from hackers make sure you use a strong password for your user account. Don’t use dates, English words or names of people and places as these are very easy to guess. So pick a password that is strong but one you can always remember, as recommended let your password have a mixture of letter and numbers.