Genealogy Chat

Thanks for that, Bob from Redditch - nicely explained. Janet

Just a small addition on diallers ( having being stung by one some time ago) Consider asking your phone company if they can block premium rate numbers or if your thinking about broadband do it now and pull out the phone line! Bob

I'll second all of that Badger Bill

Couldn't have said it better myself! LOLOLOL! Thanks Bob! Judy

There have been quite a few threads lately about cookies and spyware etc. and it occurred to me that there may be some people who are a bit mystified by the whole thing. COOKIES Cookies are small files that many of the websites you visit place on your machine. Different sites use them for different purposes. But essentially all of them act as identification devices. Some cookies are a convenience because they remember registration details. This means that you don't have to sign in every time you return to that favourite site. Some financial sites use cookies as an additional security check and to record what users are doing. Some sites demand that people accept cookies before they can use their services. Other cookies are used to direct people to a particular subsection of a site that users previously expressed a preference for. Most controversial are the cookies that advertisers use to record which adverts users see. This helps them monitor the effectiveness of ad campaigns and work out who is seeing them. If you browse the web a lot you will collect loads of them. The main effect you will notice after deleting them is that you may have to enter name and password to access some sites that previously let you straight in. GC is one of those. Cookies do no direct harm to your computer (they don’t carry viruses etc.) but many people (like me) object to having them installed without so much as a by-your-leave and delete them on a regular basis. SPYWARE, ADWARE AND POPUPS SpyWare, AdWare and Popups are related but not the same. Popups are the result of SpyWare or AdWare.. SpyWare Spyware is any software that works deviously behind a user's back to collect and transmit data about your habits. It may download itself onto your computer, gathering information on you and transmit it across the Internet, downloading files or running programs on your computer, messing with your system settings, or even trying to silently pass itself on to others. Like a spy in real life, SpyWare may disguise itself and its intentions. It will try not to be noticed. It may persist in the background even after you tell it to go away. It might even try to hide from you if it knows you're looking for it! Spyware may do one, more or all of the following: • collect information from your computer without your knowledge and/or consent. • transmit a unique code to identify you (for tracking purposes) without your knowledge and/or consent. • collect/transmit information about your computer use or other habits without your knowledge and/or consent. • install itself on your computer without your knowledge and/or consent. • keep reinstalling itself, no matter how many times you remove it. • perform other unwholesome duties without your knowledge and/or consent. Fortunately now that these activities have been identified as 'wrong', the programs that do this have been identified and anti-spyware programs written that will remove them Adware AdWare or 'Advertising-supported software', if done properly, is a unique and viable business model in which software developers can make money without requiring the end-user to pay for the software. However, the key words in the last sentence are 'if done properly', which is often not the case. While it may come as no surprise that adware uses your Net connection to download ads, you would have good reason to be concerned about the large amounts of data flowing in the other direction. Several adware applications have been known to secretly snoop around areas of your computer they don't belong, including your browser history. Popups Popups are adverts that popup in you web browser long after you have left the website that originated them. They come in different forms: a window that appears suddenly which can easily be closed, a window that appears that spawns another window when it is closed, windows that appear as you start your browser or when you shut it down. Spyware and adware get on to your computer when you download some software, maybe a game or a useful utility. You will only find it if you use a program like AD-AWARE which can do a comprehensive search of your files and nuke the little devils. DIAL-UPS These are really nasty little programs which will either try to get your computer to “dial-up” a premium rate site (nearly always porn), reset your “home” page to something you don’t want or at worst cause your computer to keep crashing whenever you try to get on the net. The best defence against these is to keep your virus software up to date and your firewall on at all times. Of course if you are on broadband they don't work anyway To sum up: Don’t worry too much about cookies but clear them out every so often according to how much surfing you do Get an anti-spyware program like AD-AWARE, keep it up-to-date and use it often. Make sure that you have all the latest updates from your virus software provider and keep it on. If you use windows you should do an update at least once a week. I hope you find this useful Bob

Are you mystified?