Spring is in the air, and spam is in the in-box! Many people are telling us that they have found a sharp increase in their received spam mail in the last month or so. While we can’t give a definitive answer as to why this is happening, we do know that many of the traditional spam controls applications cannot keep up with it or detect it accurately. Given that so much of our correspondence is through email, it can be maddening to wade through all of the unwanted spam and phishing attempts, only to find that some legitimate items are being deposited in your junk folder.
Spam creators are perfecting their craft, developing sophisticated messages to evade the spam filters that most everyone uses. ParetoLogic’s Spam Controls software meets and surpasses that challenge by employing state of the art technology that accurately detects spam and dangerous phishing attempts regardless of the disguises in which it is delivered.
Protect yourself and your family from email intrusion and threats with ParetoLogic Spam Controls now!
Click here to learn more about PartoLogic Spam Controls or select this link to find out about ParetoLogic’s other products.
Tip of the Month
Although we are all proud of our kids and want to show them off at every opportunity, I strongly advise against posting pictures of your children on your social networking pages like Facebook or Myspace. We don’t realize the clues we give away all the time that indicate our location, activities, and relationships and providing pictures of your children along with such clues is a risk you don’t want to take. In addition, computer users should be aware that photos that they upload to such a site can be swiped by third parties and used in ways that are not desirable to original owners. Protect your information and your photos at all costs and do realize that every time you post online, you are offering up information about yourself.
Q. How often should I be performing a check for spyware on my computer?
Signed: "Confused"
A. Dear "Confused"
That answer depends on the frequency with which you use your computer, the activities that you engage in while doing so, and your own comfort levels with the information harboured on your machine. Anyone who engages in P2P (peer to peer) file sharing, or downloads content from websites regularly, would do well to clean their machine after every use. Similarly, if you do online financial transactions (banking, credit card purchases, stock purchases) or enter in data that is confidential in nature (social insurance/security numbers, passport numbers) we suggest that you clean your machine before entering in such information and complete your transactions before wandering onto other websites. For regular use that does not include the entering of sensitive information, you might choose to scan your computer once or twice a week, at which time you could also do a virus scan and delete your temporary files. Finally, the appearance of pop-up ads, slow or lagging performance, a changed homepage, and loss of control of the computer’s processes are all indicators that you should check for spyware immediately.
2030 – The year the robots took over
A leading U.S. inventor and scientific futurologist has predicted that machines will intellectually surpass humans by the year 2030.
Dr. Ray Kurzweil has stated that there will be 32 times more technical advancement in the next 50 years than there was in all of the 20th century. Kurzweil’s predictions were made while addressing the American Associations for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Boston. Highly touted in his field, Kurzweil had been chosen as one of the 18 new-age thinkers to predict the most important technological challenges facing humanity.
He said his predictions were based on the fact that computer chips had been doubling in processing power ever two years for the past half century. And that computers had traditionally been comprised of 2D chips made from silicon but in recent times scientists have developed 3D chips with far-superior performance, that are made with materials that are more efficient and smaller than metal-based computer chips.
“The paradigm shift rate is now doubling every decade, so the next half century will see 32 times more technical progress than the last half century. Computation, communication, biological technologies - for example, DNA sequencing - brain scanning, knowledge of the human brain, and human knowledge in general are all accelerating at an ever-faster pace, generally doubling price-performance, capacity and bandwidth every year,” said Kurzweil.
Kurzweil believes that once artificial intelligence reaches the sophistication and subtlety of human intelligence, it will inevitably sprint past it because of the acceleration rate of information-based technologies, and the ability of machines to make knowledge easily transferable.
"We are understanding disease and ageing processes as information processes, and are gaining the tools to reprogramme them. RNA interference, for example, allows us to turn selected genes off, and new forms of gene therapy are enabling us to effectively add new genes. Within two decades, we will be in a position to stop and reverse the progression of disease and ageing resulting in dramatic gains in health and longevity," he added.
Internet providing dual life for young Chinese citizens
In a country where political freedom, information and entertainment are often oppressed, young Chinese people are finding an alternate, more democratic society online.
The country has exploded with Internet users, reaching 210 million at the end of 2007, up over 50 per cent from 2006. A number that is increasing by 200,000 users per week, and rendering China the country with the second most Internet users in the world, soon to surpass the U.S. for number one, according to Morgan Stanley, an investment bank.
The Internet provides a place for media resources and self-expression in a country where news is censored and television is controlled by the state. Although the Internet is also controlled by the Chinese government to censor political issues, they have a tough time controlling the flow of pirated foreign media.
About 70 per cent of China’s Internet users are young, under the age of 30. A lot of these users are looking for entertainment that they wouldn’t get elsewhere in their everyday lives. Even though China's censors do an excellent job of restricting access to content that might cause political problems, they are strangely unable to stem the influx of pirated foreign media.
Richard Ji, an analyst at Morgan Stanley, says that in China the Internet fills the entertainment void for young Chinese people, providing social interaction and amusement for people under 30 who aren’t able to fulfil their needs elsewhere.
As well as seeking free media, experts say that the Internet is now more commonly being used as a way to express freedom of speech for Chinese youth.
Facebook’s Royal Identity Theft
If you’re thinking about creating a fake profile on Facebook you may want to think again. Especially if you live in Morocco and are planning on impersonating Royalty.
Fouad Mourtada probably didn’t have torture, abuse and three years in prison in mind when he created a fake profile of Moroccan prince Moulay Rachid on Facebook last month, but that’s exactly what happened.
Just a few weeks after Mourtada created the parody profile, a Moroccan court has sentenced him to three years in prison for "villainous practices" and royal identity theft. The draconian sentence was preceded by an alleged kidnapping of Mourtada that led to extensive beatings and torture while he awaited his trial.
Prince Rachid is the brother of Morocco's king Mohamed VI, and apparently doesn’t take kindly to having spoof profiles created in his name. Fake profiles are rampant in North America with imposters littering the web with fake Facebook profiles of anyone from George W. Bush to Jesus Christ, and are not taken seriously by many.
But not the case in Morocco where now Mourtada’s friends and family have created a petition begging for mercy for Mourtada after he was allegedly “persecuted, beaten up, slapped, spat on and insulted” since he was arrested
Feb. 5
Facebook support groups have been popping up as well in an effort to shed light
on what people are calling the unfair treatment of Mourtada. Help Fouad Mourtada - Aidez Fouad Mourtada, has only been a group on Facebook for a couple of weeks and already has over 3,000 members.
Amina Mourtada, Fouad’s sister is begging for her brother’s immediate release saying that “Morocco should not want to go down in history as the first country to torture and imprison someone for having created a profile on Facebook.”
Does it all sound Greek to you?
Don’t worry! Each month we will explain a word or phrase connected to the Internet. As well as giving you a better understanding of the Internet, you will also be able to impress your friends with your newfound knowledge.
DLL:
All DLLs (Dynamic Linked or Loaded Library) are not created equal. As the name implies, these files are dynamically loaded and are associated with an executable program or even other DLL files at run-time. Although many DLLs are actually necessary and beneficial, others, known as malware DLLs, can cause damage to your system and threaten your security and privacy.
"I'm amazed. Our family desktop suddenly became overwhelmingly
infected with spy ware that could of only been designed by Satan himself. With out touching the keyboard (the keyboard was hijacked anyway) with in minutes the screen would become pasted with fake errors and at least a hundred explorer pages. I think my Norton 360 ended up under its bed with a blanket over its head. Anyway, I saw a good review in PC mag, for XoftSpySE. I some how got it downloaded and with one scan our computer was completely repaired. I'm now kicking myself for not buy the license for two machines. Most of these programs don't work. I hope you all get rich."
Thank you
Chris King.
"That fixed my computer and I want to thank you very much for your quick replies and ways to repair my CD drives . I will recommend you to any one
I know for your professional people that work there"
Thank you
Ed Marleau.
Click here for more information on ParetoLogic XoftSpySE or any of ParetoLogic's other great products, please click on the links.
Here is your opportunity to get to know a member of Team Pareto!
Each month we feature a different member of the ParetoLogic team. As well as telling about their role in helping make your PC safer, we provide a little insight into the away from work lives of our team members.
This month the ParetoLogic newsletter gives you a glimpse into the life and work of Amanda Cooper.
Amanda Cooper is the Director of Communications at ParetoLogic, overseeing our public relations and marketing communications.
How she plays
Current favourite song: No One Like You, Scorpions
Current favourite book: The Secret Life of Bees,
Sue Monk Kidd
Current favourite movie: Cold Comfort Farm
Where he plays
Favourite website: bluefly.com
To keep his PC and information safe, Amanda uses ParetoLogic XoftSpySE and ParetoLogic Privacy Controls, and ParetoLogic Data Recovery. Please check out Amanda's Internet Security Tip of the Month » in the sidebar to the left.
