This month, our guest writer, Paul, explains a topic that makes many of us cringe in fear. In fact, after reading about all of the possible dangers, I’m almost afraid to use my computer anymore. But I wouldn’t stop driving because I might have an accident or have my car stolen. Instead, I take precautions to stay safe. Maybe next month Paul could help us with ways to do that online.

What the Heck’s A Virus, Anyway?

Have you been somewhat confused about the various computer security terms being used nowadays on blogs and on the media? Well, join the club! Unless you’re in the computer business or a computer security person, you probably have a lot of company…few people understand the terms. So, in this article I’d like to give you some definitions of basic computer security terms…hopefully in plain, non-techie language. Here goes:

Malware – short for malicious software, is software designed to infiltrate a computer system without the owner’s informed consent. The expression is a general term used by computer professionals to mean a variety of forms of hostile, intrusive, or annoying software or program code. The term “computer virus” is sometimes used as a catch-all phrase to include all types of malware, including true viruses.

Virus – is a computer program that can copy itself and infect a computer, usually with some undesirable event. A virus can spread from one computer to another when its host is taken to another computer; for instance because an infected computer sent it as an email over the Internet, or the owner carried it on a removable medium such as a floppy disk, CD, DVD, or USB drive.

Spyware – is a type of malware that is installed on computers and collects little bits of information at a time about users, without their knowledge. The presence of spyware is typically hidden from the user, and can be difficult to detect. Typically, spyware is secretly installed on the user’s personal computer. Spyware programs can collect various types of personal information, such as Internet surfing habits and sites that have been visited, but can also interfere with user control of the computer in other ways, such as installing additional software and sending you to malicious websites. Spyware is known to change computer settings, resulting in slow connection speeds, different home pages, and/or loss of Internet or functionality of other programs.

Phishing - is the criminally fraudulent process of attempting to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. Communications purporting to be from popular social web sites, auction sites, online payment processors or IT administrators are commonly used to lure the unsuspecting public. Phishing is typically carried out by e-mail or instant messaging, and it often directs users to enter details at a fake website whose look and feel are almost identical to the legitimate one.

A Trojan horse, or Trojan – is malware that appears to perform a desirable function for the user prior to run or install but instead facilitates unauthorized access of the user’s computer system. “It is a harmful piece of software that looks legitimate. Users are typically tricked into loading and running it on their systems”, as Cisco describes. The term is derived from the Trojan Horse story in Greek mythology. Trojan horses may allow a hacker remote access to a target computer system. Once a Trojan horse has been installed on a target (your) computer system, a hacker may have access to the computer remotely and perform various operations.

I hope these terms help you in understanding the security issues that are part of using the Internet at this time. Try them out on your family and friends…they’ll be impressed with your knowledge. If you’d like more of this type of information in my future articles; let Carol know through your comments.  – © Paul Lubic, Jr.

Paul E. Lubic, Jr. is our monthly guest writer and is a seasoned IT professional who has held positions such as Computer Programmer, IT Security Manager and Chief Information Officer.   Paul’s HomeComputing Blog discusses the various aspects of home computing.

Technorati Tags: virus definitions, kinds of computer viruses, safe computing

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My oldest daughter loves to take photos and recently caught the blogging bug. The result is a beautiful blog at BlogPhotos. A recent article she wrote is about capturing your family history. I thought you’d like to read it, so am printing it here for you.

Do you know your family history? Will your Grandkids know yours?

There are many ways to preserve the past for future generations, for me and my family it will be mostly a story told thru photos. I use my photos to make scrapbooks that tell our family’s story. Photos help you remember more details when you are trying to write a family history and add more interest. My Grandkids will be able to look thru our albums and see where we lived, where we vacationed, things we did, etc.

As well as creating family albums of me and my children, I have created a family history album with as much information as I could find about our family heritage. Creating a family book is sometimes hard to do if you have broken family trees to deal with, I just used as much information as I could with the people that I could and didn’t worry about the rest. I didn’t want to get too overwhelmed so I just went back to when our families immigrated (on my side to Canada, and on my husband’s to the US)

I was able to find some information about my family on some of the genealogy sites, there are some free ones like familysearch and there are ones like one great family and ancestry.com that charge a fee but they offer more on their site. On ancestry.com I have found copies of actual documents about my family such as my great-grandfather’s military enlistment papers. Searching your family history is a time consuming project but can also be a lot of fun. The internet has made research so much easier and there are so many sites that are all about creating your family tree. There are also many books available, such as this one

Writing your own story will make it easier on your future generations when they want to know about their great-great grandparents.

Enjoy your family, the living most of all, but be proud of where you come from, brokenness and all. And remember that a picture is worth a thousand words but a family history is best if you can create it with a mix of photos, stories and documents.

Bridget

Bridget has some beautiful photos and slideshows on her site, so be sure and check it out. And if you’re in the Nashville area, she sells the framed photographs as well.

Technorati Tags: family history, photo albums, geneology

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Facebook is one of our family’s favorite sites, allowing us to stay connected no matter how far away we live. My children upload photos of the grandkids and update us on their lives. One quick post and our entire large family all know what’s going on. It’s a great way to keep in touch and keeps us feeling closely knit.

The one thing we don’t like about Facebook is the fact that people who aren’t members of our family might also see those pictures and read those anecdotes.  And it’s been fairly confusing to adjust the privacy settings properly. Well, I managed to find a video that takes you step by step through the process. If you prefer to read, there are detailed directions found by clicking this link for the Social Media Examiner website.

Technorati Tags: Facebook privacy settings, Facebook safety

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Today’s tip comes from Granny Blogger (Eleanor McCallum) who blogs at grannyblogger.com. I hate to admit it, but I have never used a scanner and don’t have the foggiest idea of what to do. I know a number of you find the scanner a useful tool, so I am re-printing her entire article here. Give me some good reasons to start scanning and I may give it a try myself.

“If you have Windows Vista on your computer and want to scan a picture, with Vista it is not as easy as with other operating systems.  I guess that’s why Microsoft went to Windows 7.

Anyway, to scan a picture you bring up your “Windows Photo Gallery” program.  Then click on “File” and in the dropdown the second thing you see will be “import from camera or scanner”.  Click on that and then on your scanner name.

A screen will come up where you can preview the picture you want to scan.  Scan it Import it and Save it just the way you want it.

That’s it.  Not so complicated after all.

To your scanning success;

Eleanor McCallum”

Technorati Tags: scanning in Vista, scan a picture, Granny Blogger

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One of the most important items in a wedding are the photos. Whether using a professional photographer or taking lots of digital pics to remember the big day, preparation is essential. My daughter Bridget considers herself an amateur, but has a real talent for photography. She’s been asked to be wedding photographer for a family friend and shares tips and plans on her website at blogphotos.us.  There are a lot of practical ideas covering every aspect of the event, even what to wear.

Using a digital camera allows the artist in each of us to be expressed. With the help of sites such as Bridget’s, your photos will be treasured family memories. Weddings and other special times or a visit to the neighbourhood park – there are photo opportunities waiting around every corner.

Technorati Tags: wedding photography, digital camera, taking photos

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