Whether your computer is three years old or just three days old, it faces similar security issues. Viruses and computer worms are always lurking, ready to attack your system whenever you go online; spyware hides in emails or attempts to infiltrate your system through online advertisements.
Malicious trojans follow your every step in the online world, ready to join forces with phishing scammers to steal your personal information and compromise your system.
Thus, our compilation aims to help you stay safe in the “online life” — a life that is increasingly becoming an essential part of our existence.
1. Advertisements Masquerading as OS Security Warnings
Pop-up ads are always annoying, but if an online advertisement disguises itself as a security warning from your operating system, your frustration can double if you’re not careful.
The designers of these ads exploit users’ anxiety and lack of knowledge to trick them into visiting their websites or downloading unwanted software.
Typically, these ads are designed to look like a Windows warning dialog box, but fundamentally, they are still advertisements. However, many of these ads do display the label “Advertisement” in the corner of the screen, while others do not, aiming to mislead users into thinking they have a real issue and need to click “Yes” for assistance.
Sadly, whether you click “Yes,” “No,” or anywhere else on this “fake dialog box,” you will be redirected to the advertiser’s homepage and “welcomed” by unwanted software, including viruses, worms, or trojans.
So how can you tell if a window is a genuine operating system window or merely an advertisement? First, stay calm when you see such a warning dialog box appear and observe the title bar of that dialog, as well as the status bar at the top and bottom of the window—these are key indicators that tell you whether it’s a fake Internet Explorer ad or a legitimate Windows warning dialog.
If you still have doubts, right-click on that dialog box and select the “Properties” tab; everything will be revealed. A genuine IE warning dialog typically starts with “res:”, while an advertisement will have a real web address.
The important takeaway here is that you should not react too quickly or carelessly when faced with these types of advertisements. Sometimes, third-party applications may issue similar warnings, but the genuine is still genuine, and the fake is still fake.
2. Windows Tools Will Reveal All
Using the Windows Task Manager to check the processes running in the background of your operating system is a good solution. However, sometimes this tool may not reveal everything that is running, especially those processes labeled “svchost.” These processes are grouped by Windows into what are called “services”—there are many different services operating at once. How can you know what they are?
To identify them, you need additional tools that can break down the details of sub-processes. You can refer to the Sysinternals tool recommended by Pcmag.com. You can learn more about this tool here.
Moreover, there are many other tools available that can help you uncover everything running in the background of your operating system. We hope to provide another article to help you learn about these tools.
3. Registering a Personal Domain Name
ICANN—the organization that manages international domain names—requires you to provide WHOIS data about your domain, meaning information about the domain owner, contact address, email address, etc. Such information is highly valuable for spammers and phishers. To avoid this, you need to conceal such information. How can you do this?
The common solution is to provide false information, especially regarding your email address, but this is extremely risky. Many people have lost their domains due to providing false information because the domain registrar could not contact the domain owner. However, some domain registrars offer a solution by providing a private domain registration service.
Network Solutions Private Domain Registration
GoDaddy DomainsByProxy
By using the registration services of such providers, when someone checks the WHOIS information, rather than seeing your real information, they will only see information from the service provider.
(To be continued)
