People delete all of the files on a hard drive for a variety of reasons, one of which is to ensure their privacy when donating or recycling their old computers. This has become essential as identity thieves can easily extract data off of hard drives - even hard drives that have been reformatted. Why is it so easy? Because data recovery tools, those same tools that enable us to recover accidentally deleted files, are readily available. These tools go beyond the drive’s index, which is what actually gets deleted, to the actual files - which don’t get deleted until a new file is written to that same space on the drive.

For example, did you know that when you format a hard drive, you’re not erasing the data residing on it? Essentially, formatting simply removes the drive’s master indexes and reference tables and replaces them with new, empty ones. The data remains but is considered to be “free space” by the operating system. In other words, the operating system considers the disk empty and will eventually place new data over the existing data as needed. With data recovery tools, you can go in and recover the underlying data until it has been overwritten. If the average computer user can do this easily enough, imagine how easy it is for identity thieves?

In order to completely delete the files on the hard drive, you need to use a tool designed for the task. Often called disk “shredders” or “erasers,” software programs have been developed that “shred” the contents of your hard drive. This isn’t in the literal sense; rather, the software goes in and overwrites the data with meaningless files several times over. You may see terms such as “secure deletion” and “government grade deletion” used to describe this process. So long as the software overwrites the drive multiple times, the contents are likely unrecoverable. The more times the drive is overwritten, the more secure the deletion.

Several products are on the market specifically for wiping the drive clean such as DataEraser. In addition, secure deletion is often an added feature to other software programs. For example, ParetoLogic’s Privacy Controls is a utility that offers several privacy protection features, one of which is a secure deletion option where you can specify specific files for deletion.

Depending on your needs, you have several options. If you’ll be donating the computer to a friend or relative, a complete reformatting followed by wiping the drive clean is an excellent choice. This way, your data has been removed and the new user will have a fresh operating system that is free of clutter and unwanted programs. The downside is that this involves a bit of work on your part and the computer’s operating system will need to be updated with the latest security patches, updates, and service packs.

Another option is to selectively delete your data files using a secure deletion utility. When selectively deleting, don’t overlook all those “hidden” files such as your temporary files, index.dat files, browser history files, data in folders you may have forgotten about, and so on.

Finally, if you are recycling the computer, you may want to wipe the drive clean, physically dismantle the drive, and then destroy the inner workings of the disc itself. While taking a sledgehammer to the drive seems extreme, it’s an added measure you can take to keep your data private.

Phishing is a practice used by unscrupulous people in an attempt to obtain sensitive, personal data from unsuspecting individuals. The type of information that these thieves try to get includes social security numbers, credit card account numbers, bank account numbers and more. They might even attempt to steal usernames and passwords so that they can gain access to various online accounts. Phishing scams generally steal this information so that they can use it to create new credit accounts or take out loans.

Phishing scams often take on the appearance of emails or pop up windows that are quite similar in appearance to some of the trusted websites that you visit. Any links included within the email will direct the individual to a fake website. The best opportunity you have to protect yourself from phishing scams is to understand the signs and to guard against them.

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Most phishing emails will not include either your first or last name. Usually these emails are sent out in bulk so it is much easier to exclude names.

Another tip off is that many phishing scams ask the individual to verify their account. In order to do this, you will be asked to submit certain sensitive data such as your log in, password, account number, or social security number.

Many phishing emails will also include a “threat” that your account will be closed immediately or you will lose all of your assets if you do not respond within a specified amount of time. These messages are designed to get people to react quickly and without thinking.

Plus, some phishing emails direct you to click the links within them. If you hover over the link instead of clicking it, you should be able to see the true web address. In the case of a phishing scam, you will see a string of numbers or words that do not resemble the true company’s name.

To protect yourself even more fully, purchase and install up-to-date antispyware and antivirus applications. Each of these is designed to recognize and do away with malicious programs. Filetonic offers a number of programs that can scan and protect your computer from the unwanted spyware, adware, and viruses that sometimes come along with phishing scams. Install one of these programs to provide yourself with the protection you need.

If you use Internet Explorer as your browser, make sure that you install the latest version to get the best level of protection against phishing scams. In fact, you can use a particular feature of Internet Explorer,Phishing Filter (found in the Tools menu), to protect yourself against phishing scams. This program is designed with a built in filter to scan web addresses in order to identify potentially harmful ones. These websites will be blocked from your browser. It also includes an online service that provides hourly updates on newly developed phishing websites. Plus, you can report any suspicious websites or emails directly to Microsoft. You can also report phishing scams to the DTC helpline at 1-877-FTC-HELP.

Web sites often employ a number of techniques to gather information about their visitors. In some cases, this information is used to customize your browsing experience; in others, it’s used so that the Web site’s developers can analyze the different types of visitors to their sites. In other cases, information is used for unscrupulous purposes. By collecting IP addresses, a Web site developer can see where visitors are coming from geographically (yes, your IP address reveals a general geographic location) as well as what operating systems, browsers, and other computer tools are being used. Other information gathered can include where you came from and where you went after visiting the Web site.

You’ve probably heard of cookies, right? Web beacons are often used alongside cookies to monitor the Web site’s usage. However, Web beacons are also quite different from cookies. For example, you can set your computer’s browser to flat out refuse cookies if you so desire but you are nearly defenseless against Web beacons. Web beacons are placed on both Web sites and e-mail messages as tiny, nearly imperceptible images. Since they are actually graphical elements of the Web page or e-mail message itself, they aren’t detected by standard means such as anti-spyware applications. After all, they are simply tiny images.

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Before we get into what Web beacons do, let’s look at how they appear on a Web site or within an e-mail message. Can you spot a 1 pixel image of a white dot on this page? Not likely - even if you were actually looking. Web beacons often take the form of just such an image and become virtually invisible.

Like most images on Web pages, the actual image file is hosted on a server. When you land on a page with an image, your computer must connect to the server and retrieve the image file. This happens seamlessly whenever you visit Web sites with images. However, when your computer connects to the server to download the image, it then communicates information to the server, which is readily retrievable by the Web master or spammer. This communication confirms activity. It lets the server know that a web site has been visited or an e-mail opened.

When Web beacons are used on Web pages, third parties can monitor and track the Web site’s activities. If you turn off cookies in your browser, you can prevent the tracking of your personal activity though the Web site will still be able to detect an anonymous visit.

When Web beacons are used in e-mail messages, they effectively tell the spammer that an e-mail message has been opened - which then confirms that the spammer has a good e-mail address that is actively being used by a real person. Why would spammers want this confirmation? By confirming that live eyeballs are checking the messages for a particular e-mail address, spammers know they have a hot target. Web beacons in e-mail messages are undetectable to you, but once the e-mail is opened, the server hosting the image is accessed, and your e-mail address has been confirmed as being a hot one.

Fortunately, many e-mail applications are on to the Web beacon scheme, which is why your e-mail program likely no longer displays included images. If you receive an HTML e-mail and see only red Xs where you would’ve expected images, then your e-mail program has most likely blocked images specifically to prevent the connection to the third party server. If you trust the sender, then you can unblock the images and view them in their full glory. If you have no idea who is sending you unsolicited e-mail, don’t unblock the images. Otherwise, you’ll confirm that you’re a live target.

Microsoft Silverlight is a cool plug-in for your browser that brings a whole new set of Web experiences to your computer such as “deep zoom,” object manipulation, high resolution graphics, and HD video just to name a few.

While Silverlight allows you to view a new breed of Web sites regardless of operating system or browser, it does intrude upon your computer in a few different ways. First, “application storage” is a feature of Silverlight which allows Silverlight Web sites to store data on your hard drive. Some instances of data being stored on your computer are similar to cookies where your custom settings are stored. Other instances are more like when your browser downloads images to your PC to make future page loads faster. For example, Silverlight applications loaded with high resolution features such as maps, games, or images may store content on your computer to provide you with better performance.

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Application storage starts off with low storage space quotas of just 1MG but Silverlight applications can request more quota space, which you must approve. Be careful approving “unlimited” quota space requests as you’re essentially allowing the Web site to store as much content as it wants on your computer’s hard drive.

Because many Silverlight applications take advantage of huge files, your hard drive could fill up quickly with unlimited quotas. In addition, even if you have not granted unlimited quotas, it won’t take long for your hard drive to become cluttered with dozens of smaller Silverlight application files - many of which you will never need.

To take control of Silverlight application storage, go to any Silverlight Web site such as Silverlight’s Showcase and right-click inside the Silverlight control. This brings up a small option that says, “Silverlight Configuration.” Click Silverlight Configuration and a small dialog box will appear. Click the Application Storage tab.

You will see a list of all Web sites that are storing content on your computer, how much is currently stored, and the Web site’s current quota. You can either highlight individual Web sites and delete the content individually or you can click the Delete All button. If you do not want any Web sites to store content on your hard drive, remove the checkmark next to Enable Application Storage.

In addition to allowing Web sites to store content on your hard drive, Silverlight also transmits computer-specific information from your computer to Microsoft and the Web sites that you visit such as IP address, hardware ID, browser, operating system, and other non-personally identifiable information. This is similar to the same information that your browser freely shares with Web sites. When in the Silverlight Configuration dialog box, take some time to read the privacy policy so that you are aware of exactly what is being collected.  

What are Web tracks and should I be concerned about them?

Whenever I use the Internet, my usage leaves traces of my visits on my hard drive even after I exit the browser. My computer automatically records and stores this data. Web tracks include all of the following: browser cache, browser history, cookies, address bar history, and autocomplete history.

Although this might seem innocents at first, and I might think that I don’t need to worry about it, I should be concerned. After all, anyone who gains access to my computer can look up all of the web pages that I have visited. They can easily discover every image or video that I have viewed using my computer along with all of the Web pages that I have ever visited.

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Just thinking about all of the important data that I have ever used when visiting specific websites is upsetting. Imagine all of the different usernames and passwords that someone else might be able to access from these web tracks. Examples if some of the data that is stored include the URLs that I have typed into my browser bars, the specific identifiers from every individual web page that I have visited, a record of the keywords that I have typed into search bars in my browsers and on web pages, and the information derived from the individual web pages. All of this data is stored on the computer.

Plus, do you know what is stored in the autocomplete history file? Personal information such as email addresses, account numbers, passwords, street addresses, phone numbers, and more are kept in this file. Coworkers, friends, and family members who borrow my computer for just a few minutes to check their email account or browse some website can easily retrieve this information. Plus, if they can do it, so can any spyware application that invades my computer. How much do I really want people to know about me?

At first I wondered why computers would be set up to retain all of this data. While some of this information might not include sensitive data, quite a bit of it does do so. However, the primary reason behind Web tracks is to enable quicker loading of Web pages whenever someone is surfing the Net.

In this rat race world where we have so little time to accomplish all of our goals and dreams, time is an important commodity. Of course, people are inclined to cut corners and save time where they can. But is it worth the risk of exposing some of all of our most sensitive personal data? Of course not! That’s why I whole heartedly recommend that computer users purchase a web track cleaning tool such as Paretologic’s Privacy Controls.

Paretologic’s Privacy Control doesn’t just delete all evidence of your web tracks, it shreds them so no one can ever find them. This application can permanently erase data from the following programs: Outlook, Kazaa, MSN Messenger, Microsoft Office, and Internet Explorer as well as many more.

The first time that I came across the acronym EULA, I wondered what it stood for simply because I was unfamiliar with it. Today, this acronym is becoming more widely spread and familiar to most Internet users. EULA refers to End User License Agreement. It’s the statement that we need to agree to in order to download software or use specific websites. If we don’t agree to the terms within the EULA, we will not be able to access the website or its software. Once most people realize this, they quickly click off the “yes” box whether they have read the EULA or not.

Even if you are tempted to pass up reading the End User License Agreement, you should still read it. I agree that it is all too easy to assume that it does not contain any worthwhile information. I would also have to agree that it often seems as though each End User License Agreement is the same as any other. After all, these paragraphs that seem to say something without actually saying anything all look the same and sound the same.

Nonetheless, we need to pay attention to every EULA that is attached to every website we visit. We shouldn’t blithely click off the box in front of the “yes,” agreeing to whatever terms are included in an End User License Agreement without actually reading what it says. I admit that it is tempting, especially when the EULA is a particularly long one. It is so much easier to simply click and make the box disappear. However, the EULA is a legal agreement. Once we click on the “yes,” we have agreed to whatever the EULA states within it- good or bad.

With all of the spyware that’s floating around in cyberspace today, reading the EULA becomes even more important. Some websites aren’t quite on the up and up and they include the right to perform various questionable actions within their EULAs. In particular, specific phrasing is included in some of these End User License Agreements that grants permission for the software vendor to install spyware as well as other types of detrimental installations. Some even prohibit you from using tools to remove the associated malicious program! Spyware is an undesirable presence that can disrupt your computer’s functioning, modify your operating system, and soak up memory resources.

This is why it is so important to read to the end of the EULA because that is where you are going to find the information that these websites don’t actually want you to see. Their EULAs start out innocently enough with basic comments, masking the End User License Agreement into one that is completely harmless.