Is the internet insecure because of You?

Written by Steve Cash


Copyright 2005 Private Mail Services

Long gone arerepparttar days that we could feel secure and know for certain that we had privacy. Withrepparttar 142977 digital age upon us we can no longer be so sure that our privacy is secure. Recently Google has admitted their organisation holds user data indefinitely. This causes concerns as now we know Google has information on us that we do not want anyone to know about.

We can simply blame this all onrepparttar 142978 big corporate companies; they seem to be a very good escape goat however, this is notrepparttar 142979 case; your privacy is totally up to you. Certificates ensure that allrepparttar 142980 data that is transferred between you andrepparttar 142981 internet is secure and encrypted. Recently in New Zealand there was a short certificate outage on a banks website. During this outage only one out of 300 users took this security warning seriously.

This is a rather large concern, as many users onrepparttar 142982 internet haverepparttar 142983 same belief that their data is safe and secure. Byrepparttar 142984 end of 2005 it is estimated identity fraud will cause up to 5 trillion dollars world wide. We,repparttar 142985 users ofrepparttar 142986 internet must keep ourselves safe, secure and pay attention to those security warnings. I have compiled some good tools and tricks that will help keep you much more anonymous and secure.

1) Get rid ofrepparttar 142987 internet explorer: First and foremost Microsoft Internet Explorer isrepparttar 142988 highest risk to your internet experience. Not only isrepparttar 142989 most popular internet browser, but is alsorepparttar 142990 most popular for attacks from Viruses and Spyware. Internet explorer is also too integrated withrepparttar 142991 windows operating system. Have you ever wondered how a dialler or online casino got onto your desktop?

I personally recommend Opera; they have a nice clean browser. The usability is easy and best of all, it uses tabbed browsing.

2) Protect your Connection. Make sure you have an active firewall operating; Firewalls stop intruders from entering your connection and causing havoc. Hackers can easily gain access to an unprotected network and steal private information.

Withrepparttar 142992 release of SP2 for Windows XP, Microsoft have incorporated a free personal Firewall. If you have broadband your router should have an inbuilt Firewall, and make sure this is enabled, Zonealarm also offer a free Firewall. You must always do what you can to protect yourself.

3) Don’t share those files: One ofrepparttar 142993 most common security flaws besides running Windows XP, is having File sharing enabled. To disable File Sharing please dorepparttar 142994 following:

Click Start Menu, select settings. Click on Network Connections. Right-click onrepparttar 142995 Local Area Connection icon and onrepparttar 142996 menu that appears, choose Properties. Inrepparttar 142997 General tab under “This connection usesrepparttar 142998 following items”, highlight “File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks”. (If File and Printer Sharing is not listed, then file sharing has not been setup). You may skiprepparttar 142999 rest of these instructions. Click Uninstall. When you are asked if you are sure you want to Uninstall File and Printer Sharing Click Yes. You may now closerepparttar 143000 Local Area Connection Properties window. You must restart for your computer forrepparttar 143001 effects to work.

Finding Hope In Trying Times

Written by Dr. Rita Louise


Growing up, as a child ofrepparttar 60’s, peace, love and harmony wererepparttar 142872 words being chanted byrepparttar 142873 hippies, flower children and all who questioned authority and were againstrepparttar 142874 Vietnam War. I remember thinking how I couldn’t wait to grow up. I knew in my young mind it was only a matter of time before these youthful rebels would age and mature and eventually be able to take their place inrepparttar 142875 world of politics and public opinion. With it, they would be able to change allrepparttar 142876 things they saw wrong withrepparttar 142877 “establishment” from a place of power and influence and not fromrepparttar 142878 streets.

I recall my excitement, thinking what a wonderful world it will be, knowing that these brave crusaders were blazing a trail before me, their radical new views and opinions becoming a reality. And at that young age, I recognized I would berepparttar 142879 first generation to reaprepparttar 142880 benefits of their efforts. I felt blessed to be born in such a historic time.

Wow, was I wrong.

Often I ask myself, where have allrepparttar 142881 flower children gone? Where arerepparttar 142882 young men and women who fought for life, liberty andrepparttar 142883 pursuit of happiness? Where arerepparttar 142884 people who burned flags, bras and draft cards; who marched on college campuses and on Washington DC so their voices could be heard? I find it hard to believerepparttar 142885 thoughts and values they fought so valiantly for have disappeared and are only a fond memory of a golden age gone by.

Overrepparttar 142886 past few months, this point has become painfully obvious. As I work with clients and talk with friends I hearrepparttar 142887 sound of hopelessness in their voices. They watch as gas and food prices soar. They gaze in disbelief as senseless violence escalates. They stand by helplessly as their jobs are moved overseas and their personal freedoms are taken away one-by-one. Inrepparttar 142888 end, they are left feeling impotent because they are unable to controlrepparttar 142889 path their lives are taking and feel powerless to change it.

It’s interesting, because on an individual basis, all we want is to be happy, healthy and live our lives in integrity. We want to know that we will have a job to go to on Monday. We want to be able to feed our children, breathrepparttar 142890 air around us, drinkrepparttar 142891 water and step outside our homes. Instead we have become increasingly alienated byrepparttar 142892 harsh reality of our world, a reality which creates conflicts between how things are and how we would like them to be. Thus we end up feeling dissatisfied and give up all hope of a better, simpler life.

Hopelessness is a hard emotion to experience; one we have embraced at some point in our lives. It seems to happen just before we hit rock bottom, when we can’t seerepparttar 142893 light atrepparttar 142894 end ofrepparttar 142895 tunnel or when life seems futile and we just want to give up. It is a natural part ofrepparttar 142896 human condition.

Overrepparttar 142897 last six months,repparttar 142898 feeling of hopelessness has become overwhelming for many of us. Every time we turn around there’s a crisis. Someone we love dies, we loose our job or our child falls ill. Afterrepparttar 142899 situation we are facing is handled, it isn’t long before another challenge steps into our lives and once morerepparttar 142900 drama begins anew. With this unrelenting pressure, we are left feeling tired and disillusioned - transformingrepparttar 142901 most optimistic person into a pessimist.

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