E-
Vaders
Summary:
Electronic security concerns with E-Vaders, cookies,
patches & updates and free software or shareware programs.
Purpose:
To help you reduce intrusion from outside sources. To provide guidance on what
precautions you should take before downloading any software to your computer.
Advice:
E-Vaders- P2P networks
Kazaa, iMesh, eDonkey & Warez
do pile on tons of programs on to your system, such as Gator, MySearch, etc.
Even a wise person knows that presenting you with a mile long
user agreement and accepting their terms only confirms they are going to
intrude.
Worst
of all, by allowing carte blanche access, you have no control over them changing
their terms to suit new business needs -like trying to stay afloat at any
cost by selling their user list to the highest bidder- over & over again
nee old Napster.
A classic mistake was emphasized in a recent CNN story (July 20, 2007) that
suggested one E-Vader was better than another. In short, they are facilitating
the sharing
on copyright material and smut, making money from their advertisers, while gaining
unfettered access to your system.
The worst abuse we have seen is certain programs actually open your "My
Documents" folder and program files for the world to share without informing you. Be sure
you to manually turn these "off" in their Option menus.
In short, we all pay for the equipment, software and access. We should demand
that choices & options
(in or out) are made crystal clear. Companies that bury their terms in long user
agreements must have more lawyers than brains. Sorry, but it is not good enough
to just assume things are in our best interest.
Free Programs, Trials & Shareware
Be wary of free programs with limited use or
ones that want to install other programs for the privilege of letting you
use their software. Of particular concern are ones that implement point
to point protocol (P2P) on your system with lots of other nuisance programs.
Others allow for limited use and/or have a time limit, which usually ends
up costing you time and money in the end. Most companies think they are
doing you a big favor by providing a free test- big deal. The software
ends up being splattered all over your system and buried in your registry.
Shareware is shareware because there is no incentive to make improvements,
fix bugs or make a version for new operating systems.
Cookies
Clear your cookies regularly! Why? Once you accept
a cookie(s), knowingly or not, they are saved on your computer. Every time
you request a specific web page associated with the cookie, information
about you cookie is sent back to a remote Web server with your request.
For example, cookies can be used in shopping cart applications or to determine
what your approximate location for local news and weather requests. Cookies
can verify & maintain your user name and password, you have subscribed to or registered for.
Some cookies can track your visits to other sites, the pages viewed and information
you input. Do not be naive to think your information will not be used. Assume
that even with your consent, this data can be sold, stolen or "terms
of use" can
change. You have virtually no control over its continued use.
We suggest clearing out your cookie folder at least once a month. In Internet
Explorer 6, click on Tools> Internet
Options> under Temporary Files, click
on "Delete Cookies". In Internet Explorer 7, click on Tools> General> Under the Delete Browsing History Section, "Delete Cookies" and "Yes". The same process works in Internet Explorer 8. To help
protect all your information, the" Delete All" is a good choice for those that
do on-line banking & purchasing.
Google Chrome collects historical browsing too which you can delete under the Wrench symbol on the right side, where you can click on History and Clear browsing data. You can also tell it not to collect info under Options, Under the Hood- especially by un checking"...sending usage statistics". You may have to input the same types in information again when you
visit those sites but the time is well worth it in
protecting
your identity. See more info on the types of cookies, you can expect to encounter.
And of course, Microsoft (bing, Live, MSN, Hotmail), Yahoo and others are just as bad at hiding their intentions to sell your demographic information to advertisers to charge more for ads appearing in your browser from searches, emails, etc.
For those sites that will not let you proceed for valid reasons, it is your choice
not to patronize them. Internet Explorer provides the worst explanation and assistance
on how to work their own cookie features. Don't worry, it is not just you. For
example, the Passport features in Hotmail. Live & MSN,
at best- confuse people since the error messages do not provide specifics in
the Help function. There is a need to provide more than a cryptic explanations
that
rarely work anyway. Again, you have the choice on which services to use. Windows
Defender does not clear all cookies or temporary files as tested with Window Washer.
Patches and Updates
We allow trusted sources, like operating systems and protection
software,
to
scan
our systems for patches and updates. Make sure you are receiving this service from the software vendor or their
authorized "mirrored" sites. If you are not licensed to use the software, do not update, since the
product keys are traced. This opens a new, major hole in your security strategy-
if you are not
a
licensed
client. Please note we only refer sites marked with:
All
order links have "Secure Socket Layer (SSL)" protection"
