Jul 25
How can you tell if an online company is legit when you’re thinking of buying something? Well, there are some key things to look out for:
If you get an unsolicited email about a product from a company you don’t know, then DEFINATELY do your homework before you buy. Check out their reputation, or see if the same product is available from an online business you trust.
Since web addresses can change, look on the site for an address and phone number. Know where to complain or contact if you are dissatisfied or have a question. You might also want to review the Privacy Policy to make sure they won’t sell your information to marketers.
Read the refund and return policy (if the website does not have one). Can the item be returned? What if it is opened? Is there a restocking fee? What about damaged merchandise.
If the site displays the BBB Online Reliability logo, click it and read the popup (hold your Ctrl key if you have a pop-up stopper) to make sure the company is currently participating.
Keep a record of your online purchase. Print out the page with the seller’s name, address, and phone number. Print out the page about the item you ordered. Print any email confirmation messages you get and any follow-up messages about problems in shipping.
Jul 25
Basically, anything that is executable (able to run). You’re generally safe with picture files, text files, and the like. However, it still pays to scan first.
Here is a very short list of the most common to watch out for:
exe
zip
scr
vbs
bat
com
pif
asp
doc
xls
Those are the most common; don’t misinterpret this to mean that if you get one of these files it’s automatically a virus. A “.zip” file may be nothing more than a set of compressed files your friend sent you to look at. A “doc” or “xls” file may simply be an MS Office file. It’s just that these type of files could also be viruses.
A couple other virus tricks you need to be aware of. First, MS Office files can contain what are called “Macro Viruses”. Without getting into too much detail, these files can run a “macro” (a macro is a mini-program run from within another program) that can be as destructive as any “regular” virus. So, my advice on MS Office attachments is not to open them unless you are expecting them. If they just show up, verify with the sender first.
The other trick you need to look out for is an extra extension added to an attached file. For example, you may have something like “mypicture.jpg.vbs”. In fact, if you don’t have your computer set to view file extensions, it may just look like “mypicture.jpg” and omit that last “vbs” part.
This may appear to be a jpg picture file, but it’s actually a Visual Basic Script file. If executed, it will happily infect your computer with a virus.
So, be careful out there.
Jul 24
If you have a un-registered file type and want to view it with Explorer’s Right-click
you can add your program to the right-click options by:
- Starting Regedit
- Go to HKEY_CLASS_ROOT / Unknown
- Highlight the Shell Folder below it
- Right click on Shell and create a New Key
- Name it anything you want (For example NOTEPAD)
- Create a New Key under that named command
- Highlight the Command key
- Double click on the Default value in the right hand panel
- In Value Data, enter the path and filename of the program you want to use to open the file type
- For example: C:\WINDOWS\NOTEPAD.EXE %1
- Click on OK
In this example, when you right click on a file in Explorer, NOTEPAD will show up as an option.