Hello and welcome to the first NetPass Blog post for 2010.  We hope you all had a safe and enjoyable holiday.  To ensure you stay safer online in the new year, we’re gearing this post towards one of the biggest security threats online, phishing, and how you can protect yourself and your business.

Often, phishing involves the use of e-mail whose source is disguised as one from an established legitimate enterprise sent to users in an attempt to scam them into providing personal information that may collected and used for identity theft purposes.  In many cases, phishing scams direct users to click links within these e-mails to websites that have also been disguised to appear legitimate where they are prompted to “update” personal information such as usernames, passwords, credit card info, social security numbers, etc.  that the legitimate enterprise already has.  The bogus website then forwards that information to the scammers who use it to steal identities and/or make unauthorized purchases.

While this is a very common occurrence (many of you have received some sort of phishing scam in your e-mail box at some point or another), there may soon be a boom in phishing attempts as a result of the new ICANN (International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) policy approved in October, 2009 that opens the domain registry to include IDN’s (Internationalized Domain Names) whereby domain names may be represented by local language characters or scripts other than Latin such as Chinese or Arabic.

The premise behind this new policy is most certainly a welcome one and we applaud ICANN and all parties involved in the process for their diligence in making it a reality.  After all, making IDN’s available ensures a more global Internet community for all opening new business connections through decreased language barriers.

The concern lies in how these character-labeled domain names translate within browser spot checks, as some of these letters have the same appearance in different languages, while actually being a different character from the computers interpretation.  For example, a URL within an e-mail may say www.legitimatesite.com and when clicked, the URL might translate a character based URL into www.legitimatesite.com even though it’s a dummy site set up to “phish” for the unauthorized collection of personal information for illegal use making it more difficult to discern if you are on a legitimate site or not.

So how do you protect yourself?  There are a few common practices you can adopt that will help protect you from becoming a victim of phishing-based identity theft as follows:

(1)    Always read the privacy and terms of use policies of those companies with whom you do business online.  These policies should include information about how these companies will contact you, what information they will typically request from you (pay particular attention to what they will commonly request by e-mail – most will not send you “change information” e-mails), how your personal information is stored and to whom (if anyone) it may be distributed.

(2)    Even if you feel 100% confident that the e-mail you received is legitimately from the company it says it’s from, never ‘click’ a link within an e-mail.  Instead, we highly recommend you copy and paste the URL from the e-mail directly into your browser.  Even better, simply visit the main website of the company using the known URL and locate the area of interest from there.

(3)    If you receive a suspicious looking e-mail (or even one that looks legitimate) that encourages you to click a link to “change” personal information, you may want to contact the actual company by phone (call numbers that are authentic, not those – if any – that are provided in the e-mail) to validate the request and/or report prospective fraud.

Remember, some phishing based e-mails may look so real that it’s hard for even the legitimate company they claim to be to tell whether or not it’s real so always be on guard.

Now that you’re protecting yourself from potential identity theft, are you protecting your personal computer from spyware and viruses?  While you should always be sure that your anti-virus software is active and virus definitions are up-to-date, the beginning of a new year is an excellent time to double check.  Bear in mind that many antivirus and spyware programs are subscription based, so unless your subscription is current, you may not be protected against new threats.  Don’t have anti-virus software installed on your computer?  You should… period.  There are a number of reliable products available for sale including Norton by Symantec and McAfee.  There are also several reliable no-cost anti-virus options available including:

1. Microsoft’s Security Essentials – this antivirus suite is available for FREE from Microsoft and available for Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 users.  Get more information at http://www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials/.
2. Avast Home Edition – a completely FREE for non-commercial home use.  Home edition does not include anti-spyware capabilities.  For this feature, Avast also makes available a fee-based Professional Edition.  For more information on Avast products, visit http://www.avast.com.
3. ClamWin – a completely FREE antivirus software program for Windows 7, Vista, XP, ME, 2000, 98 and Windows Server 2003 and 2008.  ClamWin is a viable no-cost antivirus solution, but note that ClamWin does NOT offer on-access real-time scanning.  All scans must be manually done on a file by file basis  to detect viruses or spyware when using ClamWin.  To learn more, visit http://www.clamwin.com/.

Note: NetPass does not endorse nor does it vouch for any claims or statements made by the manufacturer and/or distributor of any of the products mentioned herein.  We strongly suggest you do your own research to determine what, if any, of these options may be suitable for you.

Lastly, don’t forget to protect your business, your customers and potential customers by updating the code behind your website and other online products.  Just like anything, keeping your website up-to-date within current industry standards and protocols is paramount to its security and reliability.

Outdated code or code structures that fall outside of current standards and protocol criteria can lead to (1) website vulnerabilities that can lead to site hacking, (2) diminished search engine ranking, and (3) domain blacklisting (often resulting from a site whose code allows others to use the site to mass distribute viruses to web uses).  Smaller implications include sites that just don’t display properly by today’s standards which can hinder how and what visitors see when on your site that can lead to shorter visit times and less “call to action” responses.

At the very least, have your site regularly scanned for vulnerabilities.  NetPass offers this service for FREE to anyone – regardless of whether or not you’re a client, so contact us at support@netpass.com to schedule yours today.

NetPass also offers a variety of SEO (site optimization) services geared towards ensuring websites are compliant and optimized for search engine recognition as part of a comprehensive set of available SEM service packages.  To learn more, contact our Online Marketing division at sem@netpass.com or call toll-free 888.296.7277 ext. 8926.

Protecting yourself, your computer and your online product(s) is a giant step towards ensuring you have the safest 2010 possible.  Want to learn more about anything in this post of more about NetPass and its products and services?  E-Mail sales@netpass.com or call toll-free 888.2986.7277.  Happy New Year to you all!

While we don’t normally post information about specific social networking sites and products, in general they can be valuable and are used periodically in online marketing campaigns we build for our clients so we felt compelled to post on a recent buzz topic that’s been circulating regarding Facebook and information indexing with Google.

Yesterday, one of our clients received a wall post that read:

“If you don’t know, as of today, Facebook will automatically index ALL YOUR INFO on Google, which allows ANYONE AND EVERYONE to view it. To change this option, go to Settings –> Privacy Settings –> Privacy –> Search –> then UN-CLICK the box that says ‘Allow indexing’. Facebook kept this one quiet. Copy and pass it …on for all your friends ASAP”.

Today, privacy and the protection of personal information are paramount issues being addressed by anyone involved in the collection and distribution of information, particularly online.  With this, and with all the publicity surrounding Facebook’s recent privacy policy changes, it’s no surprise we received inquiries from several clients on the subject.

Here’s what we know.  First, Facebook recently posted the following message in response to the alert being circulated:

“Worried about privacy? Your information is safe.

There have been misleading rumors recently about Facebook indexing all your information on Google. This is not true. Facebook created public search listings in 2007 to enable people to search for your name and see a link to your Facebook profile.”

As you see, the original “rumor” is actually partially true by Facebook’s own admission.  Facebook has allowed indexing of partial information including information labeled in your settings as available to “Everyone.”  To the best of our knowledge, this continues. You can, however, resolve this by changing your privacy settings as outlined in the “rumor” statement to prevent further indexing (or indexing in general if you’re thinking about setting up a Facebook account for the first time).  If your information has already been indexed, it will be there for a while and there’s not much you can do about it.  We do recommend, however, that change your settings to best protect yourself as much or as little as you deem necessary.

As always, we recommend anyone signing up for a any Internet service whether it be banking, gaming, social networking or anything else requiring any personal information read the terms of service/use and privacy policy thoroughly before providing any personal information to any source.  If you would like to learn more about privacy guidelines, etc., we recommend you start by visiting the Federal Trade Commission website’s privacy information area online at: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/menus/consumer/data/privacy.shtm.

What is a web browser?  Many web surfers simply know them by names like Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox and maybe even Google Chrome that allows them to view web pages and other online accessible products on their computer, mobile device, etc.  Effectively, that’s it.  A browser is nothing more than a piece of software that serves as an intermediary between one computer and another (yours and the system your accessing to view the desired online product) that translates code and displays information, etc. into an easy to understand format.

In truth, the number of web browsers available is mind boggling considering its intended purpose.  Why?  More than likely this is due to the fact that most computer users nowadays use their browser more than any other application.  It’s used for communications, research, marketing, training, education, photo and file sharing, social networking, and much more.  Some are actually using browsers to access programs like word processing, spreadsheets, database, games, etc. using “cloud” technology (reserved for another blog series… stay tuned!).

It is for this reason we begin our Standards and Compliance series discussing browsers and website coding & development protocols.  At some point you’ve probably looked at a website or other online product on one browser, for example Internet Explorer, then looked at the same site or product on another computer using another browser such as Firefox and noticed variations in the way that site or product displays.  In the beginning, there were no development standards which resulted in sites that looked fine in one browser but displayed and, often times, function much differently in other browsers.

As browsers evolved, so did the advent of baseline standards, but each browser developer would create “short cut” tags that web developers could use to achieve certain display results such as blinking characters, text scrolling, etc.  Because these “short cut” tags were often produced by a single browser developer, they typically only worked on that browser.

While browsers still don’t play nice with one another, the creation of standardizations in web development such as WC3 is forcing the issue a bit and “encouraging” browser developers to comply with code standards in a more uniform fashion.  Fact is though these browsers will also be competing with one another so the ultimate responsibility for ensuring a web site displays consistently from one browser to another lies in the hands of the agency developing and coding the website.

Since many browsers have yet to fall in line with WC3 compliance, it is important for anyone looking to have a website built to consider a firm that can offer and guarantee WC3 compliance within the coding structures of the entire online product.  Already have a website?  Get it checked for compliance as soon as you can.  Our team is highly educated on WC3 compliance and, in addition, has developed other development methodologies and standards designed to best ensure cross-browser friendliness for all NetPass produced products. For a FREE no-obligation WC3 compliance evaluation, call us at 888.296.7277 or e-mail compliance@netpass.com.

Join us soon for our next Development Standards & Compliance series post where we’ll discuss how compliance impacts search engine optimization and online marketing campaign initiatives.

The Biggest Little Secret in Web Development… Have You Heard?

Recently, we concluded our series “7 Days to Windows 7” which featured seven daily posts about what consumers and businesses could expect with the launch of Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system.  This successful series met with great enthusiasm from our clients and the public in general and we continue to compile your experiences for a forthcoming NetPass blog topic entitled “Windows 7: The First Thirty Days” scheduled for post on or about December 5, 2009.

As we review your ongoing submissions, another common theme has come to light.  It seems that while the majority of you still use Internet Explorer (and Safari for Mac users) as your primary browser application for surfing the web, quite a few have begun exploring other browser options such as Firefox and Chrome (by Google).

What many don’t know is websites and web applications can look and function differently from one browser to another which may impact a visitors experience and often times can determine how long they stay and whether or not they respond to your site’s call to
action(s).

For many years, our firm has developed websites and web applications to look and act consistently across the primary (and many secondary) browser spectrum. This is extremely important, now more than ever, to ANYONE with a website and/or web application(s).  With this, we are pleased to announce that in the coming days, our firm will begin an extended blog series that deals specifically with development standards and compliance giving our readers an inside look at the what, why and how strict development protocols and site code optimization impact page views, time on site, return visits, search engine marketing, and more.

So stay tuned right here at http://blog.netpass.com for further notice on this exciting new series.  And don’t forget to visit http://www.netpass.com ongoing for news related to this and other important NetPass web design, development, programming, e-commerce, multimedia, hosting and SEO/SEM service and product options.

As many of you know, we’ve spent the last seven days reviewing some of the additions and enhancements you can expect when upgrading to the new Windows 7 OS through our blog series “7 Days to Windows 7.”  We’ve received a tremendous response to this series and we wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your questions and comments.

While we made every effort to address the key additions and modifications we felt were essential to anyone looking to upgrade, there are most certainly some new and enhanced features you’ve found (or will find) as you explore the new Windows 7 environment. And, we want the rest of our audience to know too.

Now that Windows 7 is available, we’re asking you to submit your impressions, opinions and tips/tricks you’ve discovered while using the new OS by submitting comments right here at http://blog.netpass.com.  We will be accepting submissions through November 20th.  You may also submit directly via e-mail to w7comment@netpass.com.  We will review all submissions and some of you will be selected as featured contributors to a special “Windows 7: The First Thirty Days” post that we’ll publish on December 5, 2009.

The original series will continue to be available at our blog.  By popular demand, we will also be posting a printer-friendly downloadable version of the entire series on our website soon so visit the news section at www.netpass.com often for details.

We hope you enjoyed this series as much as we enjoyed bringing to you.  We look forward to your reviews and comments.

Welcome to the 7^th and final day of our exclusive “7 Days to Windows 7” blog series.  Today, the much anticipated new OS was released and is available for consumer purchase.  Over the past 6 days we’ve been talking mostly about what you can expect to discover in the new system.  Today, those of you upgrading will have a first-hand look at Windows 7 in action.  For some, this is an exciting time.  For others, there can be anxiety transitioning from one Windows version to another.  That’s why we wanted to use the last post of the series to feature answers to some of the questions we’ve received throughout the series from you, our readers to help make the transition a little easier.  So here goes…

If you’ve been following our “7 Days to Windows 7” blog series over the past 5 days, you’ve learned a little (or maybe a lot) about some of the enhancements and additions the Windows 7 brings to the table.  So far, we’ve spent time discussing changes in how the environment looks and interacts, improvements in program and driver compatibility, advancements in file conflict handling, security protocol enhancements, and detailing the more intuitive system recovery processes in the new OS.

Today we’ll open it up a bit and talk about seven of the lesser known tips and tricks designed to further enhance user experience that you may not normally notice in Windows 7, but will be happy you discovered once you begin using the new system.

If you have ever experienced a computer crash and attempted to restore your system in Windows XP or earlier using the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE), you already know it can be a real chore. Using earlier versions of WinRE requires software and a solid working knowledge of the command line (DOS prompt) typically designed for more tech savvy individuals. Most have no idea how to use these versions of the WinRE so attaining system recovery often results in expensive repair bills or, even worse, throwing the computer away.

Superuser: n. A special user account for system administration allowing root access to all aspects of the system.  Ever heard the term “superuser?”  Chances are good if you have not used or been exposed to a UNIX operating system environment, you have not.  Thing is, most Windows users up to version XP were/are typically configured out of the box as members of the ‘Administrators’ group meaning users are typically superuser’s which can expose user systems to major security vulnerabilities.

Almost any Windows user has, at least at some point in time, experienced a “file in use” error when trying to edit or remove a document that is currently opened in another application. This common gripe among Windows users over generations of the OS occurs even if the document is not in ‘exclusive mode.’ Can’t recall this? Let me refresh your memory. Ever tried to delete a document from the desktop while that document was opened in an instance of MS Word, the MS Office word processing application? You’ll get a “file in use” or “access denied” notification which really is an error that is telling you that the document cannot be removed because it’s opened somewhere, in some application.