| Looking at Microsoft's Windows Vista coupon program
As someone who recently purchased a new PC, the last thought that crossed my mind was waiting for Windows Vista. I needed a simple and cheap work machine that was stable. WindowsXP Home was just fine with me, so I purchased the new PC about a month ago and it's been working just fine since. Of course I loaded on spyware catchers and virus protection as well as email spam blocking software. If a PC is protected very well, these issues are generally not a problem -- and at least for me, they have not been.But after reading that Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) may be giving heavy discounts to purchasers of new PCs this holiday season, or even coupons for free upgrades, I was intrigued. Perhaps I could receive a copy of Windows Vista for next to nothing or even for free? But then the sensible me woke up and said, "don't mess with something that works" -- and my new WindowsXP system works, and works fine.
ASK THE EXPERT: Spam is a formidable enemy
QUESTION: What can be done to stop (unsolicited e-mails about) stock tips and discount drugs .... that have no remove instructions. Or those that, when I reply to them, I find that their e-mail address is not recognized? -- David Griffith ANSWER: My answer isn't going to cheer you up. Spammers are getting more skillful. Even my commercial anti-spam software is doing a poor job stopping some of these e-mails, especially the stock tips you mention. Most spam-blocking programs either use the Internet address of the mailer or a set of rules that help the program identify spam. The stock tip e-mails change addresses for almost every mailing. So you may get one from john@thisaddress.com and the next will come from jake@thataddress.com. Many of them use an electronic image of text -- basically a photograph of the text message -- rather than text itself.
Spam-busting alliance announced
Spam faces a new foe with the formation of an international group to exchange tactics and legal information. The StopSpamAlliance.org website launched on Tuesday, the result of a plan hatched at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) meeting in Tunis, Tunisia, in November 2005. The alliance brings together several organisations to better co-ordinate efforts to stop spammers, who frequently frustrate law enforcement efforts by running operations across borders. Despite better filtering and blocking, spam continues to clog the Internet, sucking up bandwidth and spreading malicious programs. Those participating in the alliance are the Telecommunications and Information Working Group of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC); the European Union's Contact Network of Spam Authorities; the International Telecommunication Union; the London Action Plan; the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the Seoul/Melbourne Memorandum of Understanding group.
Control Your World
Wrapping a firewall around your network used to be all you had to do to establish a decent level of security. Not any more. In most cases, controlling your internal traffic is just as important as controlling the external traffic. To do that as best you can, most of you use a combination of the myriad hardware and software available to provide anti-virus, bandwidth management, content filtering, firewall services, intrusion detection, spam blocking, spyware and other management and security services. Total Traffic Control version 6.0 (TTC) is the latest incarnation of Lightspeed Systems' traffic management package. This incredibly granular tool covers all those functions mentioned above. It also has an extensive reporting capability with server and Web-based management utilities that let you set up for remote administration.
Web Hosting Firm, Canadianwebhosting, Offers Barracuda's Spam ...
Vancouver, B.C. - (Website Hosting Directory) - November 1, 2006 - One of Canada's leading web hosting companies, Canadianwebhosting.com, has begun to utilize Spam Firewall from Barracuda Networks, reporting that, as a result, up to 95% of the more than 1,000,000 messages processed by Canadianwebhosting.com each day is being blocked as spam. Implementation of Barracuda Network's Spam Firewall was completed, in order to scan all inbound and outbound emails, after installation began in late September. All customers on the shared hosting plans will be automatically added to the email spam firewall free of charge. Canadian Web Hosting is now processing more than 1,00,000 emails each day, blocking up to 95% of the messages as spam per day. The Barracuda Spam Firewall provides comprehensive protection against the most current email-borne threats, including: Anti-spam Anti-virus Anti-spoofing Anti-phishing Anti-spyware (Attachments) Denial of Service Alex Zarud, Senior Systems Administrator for Canadianwebhosting.com remarked, ''Our customers are very happy with this service.
Virus and spam attack levels "unprecedented"
Secure message service providers have detected unprecedented levels of virus traffic and image spam, as malware writers and spammers start to gear up for the end-of-year holiday season. Secure Computing Corp said it had picked up a 200% increase in the level of image spam it has monitored over the past few months. Image spam is being used by hackers to bypass spam screening software that tests messages for spam based on keywords. It is much harder to detect with conventional spam-filtering and blocking technologies and typically consumes much more bandwidth and storage than text-based attacks. .
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