It is very important for Information Technology (IT) professionals to train all the time in their field to stay skilful. Usually constant refreshing with up-to-date materials is even more important than training. Due to never-stopping evolution of the computer world such trainings cannot be over-stated or over-emphasized.
You should use Google search for online computer training. This can provide a good and viable starting point for accredited online computer training schools. This way of actions seems like a reasonable one; however there are those who have failed to diligently research this area. And even more – these persons have been duped, or even completely scammed out of their education dollars by less than reputable ‘learning’ institutions.
Likely, nowadays there are checks and balances in place for reducing the possibilities of fraud. Sometimes, financial institutions and government lenders demand proof of accreditation before releasing funds to any learning institution. And even more strictly requirements are applied to online ‘learning’ institution.
Some of these online computer training schools implicate to teach in two weeks that program which normally takes a month to accomplish. According to such intentions they promise to provide you with twenty-four hour support through 800 numbers an email. So at such approach they provide computer training mentorship with a trained IT professional.
So no matter what you a looking for an upgrade or a new certificate it`s pretty simple task to complete such a program via online computer training. These online programs are organized in such manner that they give an opportunity for self-paced instruction to a student. Such instructions require a minimal time for completion as opposed to a maximum. In other words, if student must obtain 14 hours training in a requisite skill, he will not be able to do it faster than after 14 hours of training, so that the integrity of the certification is maintained.
Tracking the student`s progress is another important aspect of such training. It means that the student has an opportunity to stop at any point he wants and start again from this point later on because the student’s progress is saved along with other necessary data. So the bottom line of all this is that no matter what you intend to do improving the previously learned skill or getting a new one the online computer training is a competitive and comparably simple process.
When talking about computer security let’s start from a very important statement – there is no 100% guarantee about your computer or network being safe. Internet and all technologies in it are developing with super sonic speed and new hacking stuff (as well as security stuff) is appearing on an almost daily basis.
That is why there are no silver bullets to this problem. But if you do the security job properly, you are sure to swipe off a huge portion of ill-minded people from your computer and it gives pretty nice chances to not having any problems with security issues at all.
When the info is transferred over a network it has a high security risk compared to information transmitted in a business network. Usually any normal business has sysadmins or system administrators who take some extreme measures against security risks. When you do the same over the Internet, surely there is no some kind of powerful admin who does it.
The typical network attacks which endanger the security of the computer includes viruses, worms, spoofing, Trojan horses, and denial of service attacks (DoS attacks).
Every computer which is not properly protected is vulnerable to a computer virus. The virus is designed and created to harm a computer, alter the way the computer operates without the user’s consent. Once the virus is inside – it can do anything it wishes to do or – better say like this – anything which is this virus told to do by its creator.
A computer worm is a program copies itself all the time and looks to be like a computer virus, but it is not. A computer worm has no necessity to be attached to some executable process. It copies itself and to other networks and eats up a lot of bandwidth.
A Trojan Horse is a program that secretly hides inside the computer and like a legitimate program, white and fluffy. Then – when a specific action triggers the Trojan horse and it starts its job.
What are the traits of my computer being affected by a virus, worm, or Trojan horse?
Most probably soon you will see:
Strange screenshots with messages or pictures pop up.
Your files get corrupted
You are losing available memory without any reason for it
Some music or sounds plays randomly
Programs are files don’t work properly
You see unknown files or programs that appear on a random basis
System properties fluctuate or in other words – change
There are 3 typical ways how computer viruses, worms, and Trojan horses deliver their stuff to your computer.
- When you run an infected program.
The solution is simple. In case you are downloading something, make sure you scan the files before executing, especially executable files.
- When you bot a computer with an infected drive.
For this reason it’s important not to leave media files in your computer when you shut it down.
- When you connect an unprotected computer to a network.
There was a test when guy got his unprotected PC connected to a net, and in some minutes he already had nice stuff inside.
And the ultimate tip. You will really get rid of the gigantic part of the computer security problems if you have a nice antivirus checker + firewall.
Beyond any doubt computers are indispensable from the rest of the life in 21st century. There are everywhere – home, job, when you go somewhere, when you buy and relax. For that very reason the issues of protecting computer data and private informational from data loss, misuse, and abuse is vital.
This post is going to explain some of the notions from the computer security and protection in simple words. When you know this stuff, it will be a lot easier to understand what is going on and how to handle it.
Computer security risk is any action that could cause the lost of private or commonly shared info, software, solutions, accesses, data, processing incompatibilities, or cause damage to computer hardware.
Usually this happens through an intentional breach in computer security which is known as a computer crime. By the way, though computer crime and cypercrime sound similar, they are not the same, because cybercrime is known as illegal acts based on the Internet.
The people who cause cybercrimes, and they are quite often refereed to as:
- hackers
- crackers
- cyberterrorists
- cyberextortionists
- unethical employees
- script kiddies
- corporate spies.
A hacker is defined someone who got the access to a computer or computer network unlawfully. It does not mean that the hacker will necessarily do something bad for you or your network. But most often more and more hackers do that for money and plan some damage that can be leaking some important info, etc.
A cracker someone who accessed a computer or computer network for evil reasons. It’s basically an evil hacker. Their purpose is to crack something, or in other words to destroy or stealing information.
A cyberterrorist is someone who uses a computer network or the Internet to destroy computers for some kind of political reasons. Basically this is nothing but a terrorist attack, the only difference is that it is done in the virtual medium. However the consequences of this virtual impact can be serious in real life.
A cyperextortionist is the one who sends a company or a person a very threatening email. This email explains that some confidential information will be released, security leak used or attack launched in case they do not receive some reward.
An unethical employee is kind of a wolf in a sheep’s cloth, an employee that illegally accesses their company’s network for the reasons like stealing and selling top secret information or revenge.
A script kiddie is very close to the cracker, the only difference being that we are talking about teenagers who lack technical skills (because there are teenagers who have them). Usually they use prewritten hacking and cracking programs and are nothing but a waste of time, in case your computer or network is protected.
A corporate spy usually possesses serious computer and network skills. These are top level people who are hired to break into a specific computer or computer network to steal or delete data and information of big companies. Though it is said that shady companies hire these type people, but you understand who stands behind the shady companies – big companies with big money.
Ok, enough terminology. Let’s get down to tips about protecting your computer security. Read more in part 2 of Computer Security Issues, Terminology and Ethics.
A plug-in called Intelligent Explorer attach to my browser is a nightmare. Spyware or adware items are continually infecting computers. From the InfosecWriters web site, "According to a 2004 survey by America Online and the National Cyber Security Alliance, 91% of users questioned were familiar with the term spyware. Only 53% believed their computers were infected, but a scan found that 80% of their PCs had some type of spyware installed on them. The average number of spyware components per computer was 93 with one computer having well over a thousand."
What is Spyware?
“The term ‘spyware’ is defined as any program that gets into your computer without permission. Spyware is generally not designed to damage your computer. The damage it does is more a by-product of its main mission.
At present, most spyware targets only the Windows operating system (Internet Explorer).”To be fair, spyware can be harmless. While such things infringe on your privacy, they don’t really harm anything.
What do you do about it?
No spyware program seems to do everything. Here is a list of few of the top Spyware tools to look:
1) Try Ad-Aware 6.0 Professional from LavaSoft (there is also a free version with less functionality)
2) Spybot Search & Destroy from PepiMK Software
3) Spyware Guard from Javacool Software is a free program
4) McAfee Anti-Spyware
You do need to take spyware seriously.
And, when all else fails?
The only solution you may have is backing up your data and reinstall of the operating system if your computer has been infected with a large number of spyware programs.
Online computer training courses are offered by both reputable institutions. Sometimes it is not-so-reputable as it may seem. This article is to provide some guidelines as to what to look for when you are looking for online computer training.
Lack of time to obtain classroom instruction has created a niche for education professionals: online computer training courses. These courses are numerous. Starting with the information provided below may prove helpful:
Reputation: One of the first signs of impropriety to look for when evaluating an online computer training course is reputation.
Accredited or Not: If particular online computer training course is not accredited, depending on your needs, this may prove to be a wasted effort on your part. Accreditation should be looked at with scrutiny. A good source for determining accreditation is through a Google search for accredited online colleges.
Physical Location: A company that doesn’t have a physical location on a map could be another sign of impropriety. Without a physical location to visit and or lodge a complaint can prove to be difficult in the event of legal problems. Some online computer training courses offer interaction through electronic mail (Email), this should not be taken as a negative.
Contact Information: Often dummy corporations and other illegal activities are coordinated through 800 numbers. That’s not to say that this by itself should be a deciding factor: some operate call centers through a network of 800 numbers to lessen expenses.
Catalog: Is the company offering the online computer course, offering only one course or do they possess a catalog of courses available? Providing a singular course is a very bad sign. Just as a traditional college doesn’t concentrate on one discipline of study, neither should a reputable institution proposing online computer training courses. The suggestions made in this article are not all inclusive and must not be taken singularly, rather in whole or in combination.
Daily new computer viruses are created to bother us. There are 10 viruses cited as being the most prevalent in terms. Fresh viruses are created daily. The best thing you can do is to keep your anti-virus software updated also stay aware of the current computer virus threats.
Virus: Trojan.Lodear
A Trojan horse that attempts to download remote files. It will inject a .dll file into the EXPLORER.EXE process causing system instability.
Virus: W32/Netsky-P
A mass-mailing worm which spreads by emailing itself to addresses produced from files on the local drives.
Virus: W32.Beagle.CO@mm
A mass-mailing worm that lowers security settings. It can delete security-related registry sub keys and may block access to security-related websites.
Virus: Backdoor.Zagaban
A Trojan horse that allows the compromised computer to be used as a covert proxy and which may degrade network performance.
Virus: W32/Mytob-GH
A mass-mailing worm and IRC backdoor Trojan for the Windows platform. Messages sent by this worm will have the subject chosen randomly from a list including titles such as: Notice of account limitation, Email Account Suspension, Security measures, Members Support, Important Notification.
Virus: W32/Zafi-B
A peer-to-peer (P2P) and email worm that will copy itself to the Windows system folder, as a randomly named EXE file. This worm will test for the presence of an internet connection by attempting to connect to www.google.com or www.microsoft.com. Worm with an attached Hungarian political text message box which translates to “We demand that the government accommodates the homeless, tightens up the penal code and VOTES FOR THE DEATH PENALTY to cut down the increasing crime.
Virus: W32/Mytob-EX
A mass-mailing worm and IRC backdoor Trojan similar in nature to W32-Mytob-GH. W32/Mytob-EX runs continuously in the background, providing a backdoor server which allows a remote intruder to gain access and control over the computer via IRC channels. This virus spreads by sending itself to email attachments harvested from your email addresses.
Virus: W32/Mytob-AS, Mytob-BE, Mytob-C, and Mytob-ER
This family of worm variations possesses similar characteristics in terms of what they can do. They are mass-mailing worms with backdoor functionality that can be controlled through the Internet Relay Chat (IRC) network. Additionally, they can spread through email and through various operating system vulnerabilities such as the LSASS (MS04-011).
Virus: Zafi-D
A mass mailing worm and a peer-to-peer worm which copies itself to the Windows system folder with the filename Norton Update.exe. It can create a number of files in the Windows system folder with filenames consisting of 8 random characters and a DLL extension. W32/Zafi-D copies itself to folders with names containing share, upload, or music as ICQ 2005a new!.exe or winamp 5.7 new!.exe. W32/Zafi-D will also display a fake error message box with the caption "CRC: 04F6Bh" and the text "Error in packed file!".
Virus: W32/Netsky-D
A mass-mailing worm with IRC backdoor functionality which can also infect computers vulnerable to the LSASS (MS04-011) exploit.
People who have computers installed in their houses can enjoy all delights offered on the Internet, those who have not mastered it yet stare at it like a stuck pig. This is why most home users of personal computers can benefit from home computer training. So what are some of the basic things a home computer user should get trained on?
Home computer training should always include how to do back-ups. It’s an open secret that if something is important, you should have two copies of it. It’s nice to have a hard copy (print-out) of a document or file, as well as back-up of the actual computer file. Just imagine what happens when the spreadsheet you’ve been using to balance your accounts suddenly got corrupted. If you don’t have an electronic copy of this file, you will be stuck with re-entering all of the information manually. With home computer training you can acquire necessary skills to know how to best back up your files and what utilities will meet your needs.
Another area that should be covered through home computer training is that of file system maintenance. In this connection, let’s consider two options which often get overlooked until the operation of the system slows down significantly. One of them is disk cleanup and the other one is file fragmentation. Home computer training will help computer user learn how to recognize when a hard drive is becoming cluttered, and what should be done about it.
Often, third party software creates temporary files while you are using it, and then conveniently neglects to delete these files when you are done. In addition, recycle bin can be clogged with trash as well. This combination together with clusters of temporary internet files and cookies will get computer slowed down pretty quickly. Home computer training will also help you understand what causes a file to get fragmented into dozens of pieces on your hard drive. It may not destroy the file, but it surely does slow down the computer’s access time to it, which increases your wait time while using particular software or opening that particular project.
A final area that is often overlooked by the new computer user is that of the Internet security and setting up of the firewall. With the help of home computer training it is easy to learn how to set up the firewall, and to optimize the Internet browser to ensure a pleasant and wonderful experience while browsing Internet.
All of these areas are important when operating a computer in this modern Internet age. A good home computer training class will not only address main problems you may face, but also help become an experienced user of the personal computer.
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