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Archive for April, 2009

Do You Know How to Use a Proxy?

by Harry Constantine

It is well-known that the web has proved itself as a cost and time efficient tool in the modern world. However, there are various web sites where your privacy is not secured. In that case, proxy comes in use. But the question is do you know how to use proxy?

For this question, you need to know what proxies are. Proxies are computer servers that help in surfing the online sites with complete security and good level of privacy. When a website is accessed with a proxy server, private information like your location, browser type, IP address and operating system is eliminated and proxy server acts as the accessing computer. It helps in hiding your computer identity thus maintaining complete privacy and security.

Well, the process of using a web proxy is easy and simple. You do not need to install or download any kind of software. All you need to do is to type the URL of any website and then all connections from the desired URL is redirected via the proxy, thus showing that all the traffic is coming from the proxy.

The proxies help you in accessing any of the online websites without exposing any secret or personal info. You can easily download games, songs, sharing videos, chatting etc without revealing any personal information.

After you learn how to use proxy then you can safely visit any of the online sites. This helps in hiding your personal information as filtering or blocking firewall traces only the proxy server instead of your personal computer.

So now, you must be well aware of how to use proxy correctly because this would help you a lot as you have enough confidence that your personal information will not get into the wrong hands.

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USB Encryption Is The Best Weapon Against Data Theft

by Steve Jordan

Encrypting files has become a necessity these days, particularly for those who carry USB flash drives around like a wallet or set of car keys. These increasingly smaller devices are easy to lose; left carelessly on a desk or dropped from a briefcase and before you notice, they’re gone, picked up by a thief looking for useful data. The potential for losing important data is enormous, as flash drives are capable of storing a wide variety of information, from documents and photos, to personal financial records and highly sensitive client data.

If you dont believe how vulnerable these devices are, think again. Even the British Ministry of Defense has lost well over 100 of them in the last four years. Average users are careless, dropping them countless of times, leaving them on the desk, in unlocked cars – basically leaving their personal information open for exploitation. These factors make the idea of encryption critical.

Encryption Is Still Not Widely Used

As discouraging as the number of people who have their flash drives lost or stolen is, worse yet is that the vast majority of them are not using encryption software to protect their data.

Just think, if someone finds your USB device, they can learn a lot more about you than you would like. By plugging the device into their PC, they could access your email messages, IM contacts, passwords you have stored on the internet, bank account details and more. Certainly, there are a few good Samaritans that may kindly turn the device back over to you, but many more will keep it for their own personal gain – a potentially catastrophic situation. Depending on what you have stored on there, a lost USB drive could easily lead to identity theft – and that is only the beginning of your problems.

Your Data Is At Risk – USB Encryption Is One Answer

While thumb drives are an easy target for thieves, encrypting your files can stop them cold. There are many software programs that can be found online that secure your files in a virtual vault. Most tools also protect your laptop, desktop PC and other portable media like memory cards, too. And being able to sleep at night with the knowledge that your files are secure won’t break your budget either – many tools can be found for less than $50. A word of caution about free or open-source tools you may see: while many offer the same features as their commercial cousins, often you give up support and documentation when the price is zero.

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Data Thieves Have Found a New Place to Strike: The Airport

by Steve Jordan

The Ponemon Institute released a study last June that estimates over 600,000 laptops go missing in U.S. airports every year. In the largest airports, the authors believe 10,000 laptop computers are lost or stolen each week! Medium sized airports account for another 2,000 cases. The study, titled “Airport Insecurity: Case of the Lost Laptops”, goes on to conclude that only about a third of the computers are every returned to their owners. Incredibly, the final tally for lost or stolen laptops adds up to a whopping 630,000, each and every year.

Needless to say, laptop security has increased in awareness over the last few months.

Laptop Theft Is Not A Priority For Airport Security Personnel

A few seconds of separation between yourself and your laptop at the security checkpoint is all it takes for a thief to swipe your precious machine. Given the confusion and chaos of busy airports, its easy to see why they now rank at the top of the list with parked cars and hotels as the favorites target of laptop thieves.

The loss of sensitive customer data, contracts or trade secrets is major problem for businesses, and these appalling laptop theft numbers serve to underscore the risk.

While most casual travelers don’t tend to have much sensitive information on their laptops, many business travelers are transporting an average of $525,000 worth of critical data, according to estimates from iBahn, a provider of secure broadband services to conferences and hotels. More and more security firms, as well as iBahn, are now recommending the use of encryption software to secure sensitive data on laptops.

Laptop Encryption Is The Answer

While you should always keep your personal property in close range, airport computer thieves are lightning fast, with hands quicker than the eye. A swift criminal might be able to get away with your laptop, but they don’t have to get the confidential data it contains. By installing encryption software on your computer, those files will be inaccessible to unauthorized users.

Some benefits of encryption software include:

* On-the-fly 256-bit military standard encryption

* Robust file and folder protection

* Road warrior friendly – security for laptops, USB flash drives and other portable media

You don’t need to spend big to get big protection for your sensitive data. Encryption software can be readily found online and generally costs from $20 to $40, with most companies offering a free trial. While open-source tools are available-many with excellent features-they do tend to be a little complicated for the typical user, and support is usually lacking. In most cases, you’re better off paying a few dollars for a commercial product.

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Carbonite Online Backup – The 411 For March

by Rollin Butler

Carbonite Online Backup consumers will have the ability to get to their online file backup from wherever they can gain access to a computer connected to the Internet using the new remote file access facility. This software instrument gives an additional point of expediency by permitting you to access your files in safety and securely recover single files from the Carbonite environment via the Web. This capacity is scheduled to be available for use as of March 16th, 2009. This article talks about the price increase, new features and the Carbonite for Mac offering.

The Carbonite Online Backup solution over the previous 12 months has advanced its value proposal, by adding additional up-to-the-minute features including a searchable restore drive. Therefore, they will be raising the price of their backup solution and services beside the introduction of the remote file access facility. (Can prices remain the same perpetually? I wish they could! But it looks like they can’t.)

A synopsis of the new pricing schedule is offered below:

- 1 year: $54.95

- 2 year: $99.95

- 3 year: $129.95

Even with the new higher prices, the solution provides an affordable service. Looking at the numbers, the service only went up $5 per year.

Carbonite for Mac is the backup solution for Mac users. Once again, the service provides unlimited backup space for the same prices above. Carbonite for Mac like Carbonite for Windows – you just set it and forget it. The Carbonite application runs quietly and unobtrusively in the background, automatically backing up your important emails, documents, photos and other files.

Carbonite for Mac officially launched on March 16th, 2009. That wraps ups the new features for March 2009. Following is some answers to frequently asked question about the carbonite online backup.

Carbonite online backup uses a mixture of encryption techniques, similar to those used by financial institutions such as banks, to protect your data. Files are encrypted twice before they depart from your computer and stay encrypted on their servers, making it virtually unattainable for anyone to access your files without your secret password. Users are also given the choice to administer their own encryption key.

Carbonite backs up everything in your Documents and Settings folder (called Users in Windows Vista), including documents, photos, email and data files from applications, such as TurboTax, Quickbooks, etc. Once a subscription to Carbonites service is secured, music is also added to the list. The default backup does not include programs, system files, temporary files, videos, or individual files greater than 4GB. You can, however, manually add any of these to your Carbonite Online Backup.

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Is The Free Xbox 360 Rumor True?

by Pam Miller

Yes, you can get a Xbox 360 delivered right to your door, in its original packaging, brand spanking new at no cost to you. I can understand why you are wondering if it is possible because there are a lot of scam sites out there that promise a free Xbox 360, but only deliver spam to your inbox. Let me show you HOW this is possible, and how YOU can get your own Xbox 360 for free!

You have companies out there right now paying BIG bucks on advertising to get new customers. There isnt a company out there that isnt. These are what are called leads. This is trully the life blood of all business, which is why leads are worth so much. You and I are the leads these companies are looking for.

That is where the freebie sites help out you and I. You see, the freebie sites pretty much setup and arrange for you and I to get paid by these companies. They do this because the companies pay them for leads, and the freebie sites take that money and buy you and I free stuff for trying out these companies. Broken down, it looks like this:

YOU sign up at a freebie site. You complete an offer (like trying out netflix for 2 weeks). Then you get a certain amount of friends to do the same, and then YOU get your FREE Xbox 360. It really is just that simple.

And dont worry about not getting compensated for doing your part. These freebie sites are legit and have given lots of people free stuff, like an xbox 360. And if you dont believe me, then look at some of the proof pics some of the freebie sites post. The proof is in the pudding as they say.

The cool thing about freebie sites is that they usually have other cool stuff for free too. You can get a free plasma tv for instance. Other freebie sites have free laptops. Anything that is cool and electronic, you can usually find a freebie offer for. Keep that in mind for christmas!

Dont you think you can get free stuff now? Dont doubt it because you can. The trick is really knowing where and when to find the free offers. That is why I created my site, so you can have it all in one place. Oh yeah, and that is free as well.

So if getting free stuff sounds like something you might be interested in, then check out my website. It is filled with a bunch of information on the ins and outs of getting a free xbox 360. If you are looking for a free xbox 360 or free xbox 360 elite, then dont pass up this chance to get your hands on one!

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