The Bog Standard Stuff.
The list of pretty standard features you can expect from the top software titles are:

1. Identity Protection.
2. Firewall.
3. Anti-Virus.
4. Anti-Spyware.
5. Anti-Spam.

The Non Standard Stuff.
This short list of the very best features you only get from the top software title (AVG):

1. Link Scanner.
2. Online Shield.
3. Cloud technology testing.
4. Community Protection Network.
5. Social Networking Protection.
6. Smart Scanning.
7. Smart Anti-Rootkit.

The Bog Standard Stuff.

1. Identity Protection.
   This is the outer layer of your software protection, where your personal information is kept safe from attack. It holds safe your passwords, credit card numbers, PIN numbers and bank details and transactions.
2. Firewall.
   This feature will examine any and all communications through every port on your PC or Laptop. It is designed to recognise all attempts to attack and invade your computer system and blocks them instantly to protect all of your personal information.
3. Anti-Virus.
   This is designed to protect your computer from a variety of different attacks. The most common are when a Virus will try and intercept information sent from and to your PC. While other kinds of virus try to steal your personal information – PIN numbers, passwords and account information.
   Methods of attack will come from one of 3 main access points:
    
   1. When you access your email and you get one with an attachment.
   2. When you download from the internet – software, games, music, video and so on.
   3. Being transferred through one of your USB ports. You plug in a USB memory stick (commonly called a ‘dongle’) or a memory card like those used in smart phones and digital cameras, plus the common old MP3 player.
4.  Anti-Spyware.
   As the name implies it is a software program which is inadvertently downloaded onto your PC without your knowledge and sits on your PC ‘spying’ on you. This can also include software which is used by businesses to track and collect demographic information about internet surfers buying habits, which can be very useful for advertisers and sellers. Once collected the information is transmitted to someone else without your knowledge.The term Adware is often used in this context. The spy-ware program might alter your computers settings or allow ‘pop-up’ advertising which isn’t desirable. The major concern for most of us is the invasion of our privacy to gather private financial information, or the entire contents of your email contacts list which is then used for ‘spamming’ purposes.Also of concern is the kind of spy-ware called ‘key logging’ software. This can record information in the form of keystrokes that you make relating to personal and financial information that you don’t want shared. It can send this information to the unknown and unauthorised recipient.

 

5. Anti-Spam.
   This is primarily used to filter your incoming email and take out the unwanted and junk mail as well as the outright malicious attachments to ordinary looking email. It can be set to filter in lots of different ways, many set automatically, while others are set by you the user. These might be referred to as the ‘white list’ and the ‘black list’. You can add your known friends and contacts to the safe ‘white list’ and any unsolicited mail to your blocked and unsafe ‘black list’.You can build up different kinds of lists based on email addresses, subjects, key words and domain names. These filters are very easy to set and forget. These filter systems will sometimes filter out email which you actually want, so it is worth checking through your spam folder ( a place where all junk and spam messages are collected) for the occasional wanted email. It’s better to carefully check the spam folder before deleting those messages. 

The Non Standard Stuff.

1. Link Scanner.
   This technology is currently in patent pending status. This software has two systems of protection. Surf Shield will scan the webpage behind the link before you make the decision to click the link and will prevent you from opening the infected page or site. The Search Shield will work with Google, Yahoo and now Bing. It will scan the results of any search the instant that you get the results and places a colour coded check mark symbol against each result found to be safe before you actually click on the search result. When you hover your cursor over the symbol against the search result it will give details of the IP address, threat level and the date/time that the page was scanned. Correspondingly it will also mark a site which is suspect with a warning colour coded symbol which will indicate an unsafe web site which should be avoided.
    
2.  Online Shield.
   This real time resident protection system has two main features. The first is the Web Protection which will scan downloadable files even before you have made the decision to download them. This is made possible by scanning all communications to each port on your PC. The second feature verifies any file sent via the following instant messaging services protocols – MSN, Yahoo and ICQ.
3. Cloud Technology Testing.Using behavioural detection and multiple scanning engines simultaneously it can detect and identify newly emerging threats. Once identified the threat has been detected a solution can then be developed to deal with the threat in almost real time. 

4. Community Protection Network.
   Community Protection as the name implies, relies on a system similar in concept to a ‘neighbourhood watch’, where all those customers (members of the ‘community’) who agree to participate in the product improvement program can feed real time updates on threat levels and product performance to the software manufacturer. The information is analyzed and then shared with the wider online user community affording the best possible protection to everyone.  

5. Social Networking Protection.
   This technology is currently in patent pending status. Links that are exchanged from within Facebook and MySpace are automatically being scanned and checked in real time. Users, computers and networks being exposed to either of these social networks are safe. The system doesn’t require individual account setup, everything is completed automatically.
6. Smart Scanning.
   This system will detect whether a user is active on the computer and scan in High Priority mode. The moment that a user moves the mouse of presses any key, the scan priority will change to Low Priority. Scans are made much faster (3 x faster) because trusted files and files that have already been scanned but have not changed will be left out of the scan.
7. Smart Anti-Rootkit.
   This will detect any malicious programs that are buried deep down within the computers systems. User level file processes and systems are analyzed with the computer operating systems kernel and any discrepancies that are found are reported as a possible Rootkit presence. 

The list of new features grows ever longer as new technologies are developed and the cyber criminals get ever smarter. The best that any of us lesser mortals can hope for is to take any and all reasonable measures to keep our personal information safe. That entails you using:

• The best Password Manager available to keep all of your login and passwords safe and secure
• Opening an account with the best Credit Monitoring Service and checking your credit history regularly
• Installing the best Internet Security software available and keeping it bang up to date with the latest information

Fills all your online forms in a Flash  …just a single click! Generates uncrackable passwords with absolutely no effort.
Saves ALL your passwords as encrypted and totally secure ‘passcards’ hidden behind a single password.

Login’s & Passwords on Speed Dial.
Find Websites & Login Automatically.
Complete Online Forms With a Single Click.
Simple, Secure & Accessible Everywhere.
Just Remember a Single Access Password.

Get Your copy of RoboForm here NOW!

Fix Registry Problems That Cause Freezing and Crashing.

Registry Cleaner and Registry Defragging Tools that fix cluttered and corrupted registries that consume PC Memory and slow down all of your applications and cause overall stability problems.

Optimize your Internet connection.

An Internet Optimizer automatically tunes your Internet connection settings to speed up your online life. This tool will speed up your internet connection settings, including Max MTU and RWIN – specifically for the type of internet connection you use. In addition, the internet optimizer will test your connection settings before applying any changes.

Recover accidentally deleted files.

File recovery - AVG PC Tuneup comes fully equipped with a file recovery tool so that you can recover files that have been damaged or accidentally deleted within Windows. This tool will recover accidentally deleted files, or files that have been damaged. File recovery also allows you to preview photos and documents while browsing through the list of files found.

Permanently delete files and wipe disks.
File shredder and Disk Wiper for deleting files or folders, removes references to them but doesn’t remove the actual data stored within the file. This means that files you think you’ve deleted can easily be retrieved. File shredder permanently deletes files so your personal data cannot be restored. It provides four different shredding options, ranging from fast to military-level safety shredding. The disk wiping tool can be used to wipe entire drives and to provide extra security. You can turn off systems restore while wiping a disk clean to ensure no file copies are created during the wiping process.

Protect your privacy.

Lots of information about your activities is recorded on your PC. Track Eraser will help you protect your privacy by removing this personal information from your computer. When you surf the internet, open up documents or run programs, your activity is recorded. Track eraser hides these traces so that no one can see which sites you have visited of which documents you have recently opened.

Improve your disk speed.

Disk and Windows Registry Defragmenter optimizes your file system to get the most out of your hard drive. Enjoy a faster hard disk and a more stable and smooth running computer. The disk defragmenter reorganises files on your disk(s) so that they can be read and written faster. This improves application response time, system boot speeds and overall computer performance. A similar tool will clean up your windows registry by rewriting it to eliminate fragmentation, slack spaces and structural defects.

Monitor your hard drive health and space usage.

With two tools called Disk Doctor and Disk Explorer it will be easy for you to keep your data organized and safe from being lost due to hard disk failure. Disk doctor checks your hard drive for problems related to bad sectors, lost clusters and directory errors. By using disk explorer you can quickly and easily free up additional space on your hard disk by reviewing the top 100 largest files and moving them to alternative media.

Installing AVG’s New PC Tuneup 2011 is like having a technical housekeeper to keep everything running smoothly, like a well oiled machine.

The rarely seen ‘Jackal Fraud’.
This entails stealing or cloning the identity of someone who is deceased. Their birth certificate, passport and /or driving license can be used by the perpetrator to assume this new identity for the purposes of financial fraud. The name given to this kind of fraud comes from the well known book by Frederick Forsythe as well as the subject of two films – ‘The Day of the Jackal’. The main character of the story is given the nick-name ‘The Jackal’ and he assumed the identity of a number of people to hide his own identity from the security forces.

Assumed Identity or Identity Cloning.
This one is very rare thankfully. It entails the criminal assuming the complete identity of an individual and using it as their own on a day by day basis, almost like acting out a part.

Medical Identity Fraud.
In some countries of the world it is necessary to have medical insurance to receive medical treatment which can be very valuable to criminals. The identity of a medically insured victim is assumed and treatment is then given but not unfortunately to the policy holder.

Criminal Adoption Fraud.
When a criminal is apprehended at the scene of a crime, they give the personal details of someone else, adopting their identity to avoid the charges that would result. The victim then gets blamed for a crime they didn’t commit. When the police contact the assumed address it comes as an unwelcome surprise to the poor victim.

Business Identity or Cloning Fraud.
Criminals copy or clone a successful business and have a readymade business where they can profit from other peoples hard work. This happens all too frequently online, where an affiliate marketers makes a sale of someone else’s product using an affiliate ID or affiliate link. This is simply replaced by the criminal with their own ID or affiliate link. This enables the crook to steal the affiliate commission away from the true affiliate. This can be overcome by using ‘link cloaking’ software which hides the originators unique ID or affiliate link.

Impersonating an Individual’s Identity.
Perhaps the most common of all the scams is where the criminal impersonates the identity of an individual for the purposes of stealing money from the victim’s bank account or running up large credit card debts.

Bank and Credit Card Fraud.
Worldwide the scale of bank and credit card fraud is simply staggering and accounts for about 75% of all fraud cases. It is without doubt something which could be reduced significantly by the average person being a little savvier about what could happen to them and taking simple steps to combat this increasing problem. The UK’s Fraud Prevention Service (CIFAS) say that between 70,000 and 80,000 reported identity theft cases. They take action to protect 65,000 individual cases of this particular crime. The cost estimates for the UK alone run to £1 Billion + each year.

Wasting Your Time.
The average time spent on recovering from identity theft ranges from 4 to 48 hours, but for the most difficult of cases it can take as long as 200 hours of a victims time. A conservative estimate of cases numbers that the police actually investigate is a startlingly low 1%.

Security Self Help is Vital.
If you are to avoid this insidious form of crime it’s absolutely vital that you become more aware of the dangers you face. Take a look at the areas of risk that you face almost daily on the high street or while surfing the online world:

• Shopping on the high street seems to be a safe enough pastimes, but you never really know who you can trust. There are untrustworthy staff in places like cafes, shops, restaurants who can easily copy your personal details right off your payment card. So always keep your eye on your card when you pay for things, NEVER let it out of your site and that will stop the card clone thieves.
• Shopping online is another hazardous pastime for the unwary shopper. Only deal with trusted and well known businesses that display security certificates like ‘VeriSign Trusted’ and those use secure payment gateways.
• Make sure that you use top quality Internet Security software on the PC or Laptop that you use to shop online. Don’t rely on the free programs, they simply aren’t up to the job. We recommend using AVG Internet Security software which has many security features. Another benefit is that it is very light on your PC performance. Some software like Norton can really slow down your browsing performance, so always go for software that has a small footprint for best performance. Always keep it updated with the very latest security updates. To find out what you could be using check out AVG Internet Security here: AVG Internet Security 2011
• If you are an active online shopper, regularly use your PC for gaming or generally surfing then you really should be investing in a Good Password Manager. You will stop a whole host of potential problems from the online security element, as well as the very real benefits of being able to manage multiple site passwords and logins with a single click. Form filling becomes a matter of a single button press once you have entered your personal details into the totally secure software. To find out more check out RoboForm Password Manager look here: Get Your copy of RoboForm here NOW!
• Run full scans of your PC on a regular basis to find those tricky little security breaches that might get in via your email or downloads, despite your best efforts and the very best security software. Software like AVG Internet Security can be set up to run scans automatically, simply set and forget.
• Keep a close eye on your own personal credit history, that’s the information that is held all over the place about us. Just think, every time you answer personal questions about any of your financial dealings it adds to the security risk that we all face. We simply can’t avoid the risk completely, but you sure can keep a close eye on your credit history by having an account with one of the credit agencies that hold ALL this personal and financial information. It’s a place that gets accessed every time we try to borrow money, take out a loan, apply for a store cards or credit cards, or to apply for hire purchase when buying a new sofa for example. The UK’s number one credit agency is Experian – the Credit Expert. If you want to check them out and give their service a FREE 30 day trial, then  visit them here: Go to the Credit Experts site now…

AVG Internet Security 2011 have been Voted #1 for Threat Detection again!

AVG Internet Security 2011 has raised the bar again with some totally unique features designed for the Ultimate On-line Safety for you and me.

Community Protection Network – has been developed to deal with the threats that are unique to Social Networks so you can feel safe while using Facebook & MySpace.

Protected Cloud Technology – developed to make the best use of the 110 Million users of AVG’s Security Software. Gathering all of the constantly changing information about new and evolving threats and uses it to constantly develop the highest level of protection possible for AVG’s huge family of users.

Multiple Layer Protection – designed to achieve the highest levels of protection for all of your on-line activities – chatting on Skype, surfing, email, buying and gaming – whatever it is you have peace of mind because AVG have you covered.

AVG – Available as a FREE 30 Day Trial Software – and can be upgraded for Ultimate Cutting Edge Protection once you see how easy it is to install and use. You will certainly see that it has a very light ‘footprint’ using very little of your PC’s processor and memory resources to operate at peak efficiency.

AVG Offer a Choice of Home & Business Versions/License Options offering plenty of scope to choose the best product to meet your exact needs. I personally have found this to be a real bonus where I can pick how many PC and however many years cover that I want. For me it’s cost effective to buy for two years at a time. Upon renewal AVG offer good cost incentives for me to renew, which I consider good customer service and a ‘no-brainer’. To be fair I’ve found that not all of the Internet Security offerings out there will look after their customers this way. You also get free access to any and all revisions for term of your license which is brilliant! Don’t forget to check out all the awards and accolades that AVG get every year for the quality and usability of its Internet Security software.

For the Full Story with all of the Fantastic Benefits and High Specification go here:

Want to Know What the Big Risk is with Your Smart Phone?

They Aren’t Protected.

What is likely to happen exactly if you were to lose your Smart Phone or worse still have your Smart Phone stolen? The thief will gain access to lots of extremely sensitive information. ALL of the stuff you don’t want in someone else’s hands

With Identity Theft and Data Theft growing at an alarming rate every year – it’s time to Think Smart and Act Smart, password protect your Smart Phone with the market leading Password Manager available RoboForm 7. Prevent that easy access to all of your sensitive financially information… and do it soon or you’ll be sorry.

Smart Phones can now do so much more – handling your Facebook page, send and receive your email, allow you tweet your message out Twitter, surf the internet… the list goes on and on!

It’s been a long time coming, but it’s finally here – RoboForm 7 was designed with you and your Smart Phone in mind. Some of our more popular new features are summarized below.

RoboForm 7 is Totally Different and Now it’s Even Better than before – Here’s How.

It works with iPhone/iPod Touch, Google’s Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, Palm and Symbian.

A Fresh New Look and Feel for RoboForm 7.

We’ve updated our look. Not only is RoboForm 7 easier on the eyes, we’ve reorganized and streamlined our menu files, updated our icons, and improved our process flow. All the design enhancements were done to make RoboForm easier and more enjoyable to use. See more details below.

RoboForm is Everywhere.

We’ve expanded into new browsers like Google Chrome, Safari for Windows. We’ve made RoboForm available on most mobile devices such as iPhone/iPod Touch, Google’s Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, Palm and Symbian. And of course you can still use RoboForm2Go on all USB flash drives.

Improved Password Capture.

We’ve made it easier for you to view, capture and store your passwords as you login to websites. Our new “Information Bar” will suggest a Login name based on the site name, but you can easily customize the name and storage location. If for some reason you don’t want RoboForm to save passwords for a particular site, just choose “Don’t Save/Never for the Site” and RoboForm will no longer offer to save your login information.

Keep Your Passwords In Sync.

With the introduction of RoboForm Everywhere, you can now keep your Logins, Identities, Bookmarks and other information seamlessly in sync between all of your computers and devices.

New Multiple Login Feature.

Do you find yourself logging into the same 3-5 websites each morning? We’ve created a Mega Passcard feature making it even easier for you. Now you can login to several websites with just one click. Simply combine a few of your Logins into one Mega Login and login to all those sites simultaneously.

Online and Offline Options.

For the traditionalists we still offer single RoboForm Pro licenses per computer. For those of you who are looking for more flexibility we added a RoboForm Everywhere license that allows you to put RoboForm on as many computers and devices as you like, then link them to a RoboForm Online account to keep all your passwords and other RoboForm data in sync.

Improved Bookmark Management.

RoboForm is more than just a password manager. In addition to making it easier for you to login to your favourite websites, we made it easier to visit your favourite websites with our improved Bookmark features. You can import your existing bookmarks from all your browsers, drag-and-drop them to organize them, and best of all you can keep them in sync between all your computers and mobile devices.

Better Organized Menus.

We’ve made our more popular features easier to find and moved our less popular features to sub menus making RoboForm even more user friendly than before.

Better Language Support.

RoboForm is available in 30 languages. We now fully support Unicode which improves overall language support, including the ability to do multi-lingual RoboForm searches.

Your Most Popular Logins.

In addition to Recently Used, we now display your Most Popular Logins.

New Site Icons.

Your Logins have never looked better. We added site icons next to the list of Logins making it easier for you to identify and login to your favourite sites.

It All Works Faster.

We’ve completely reworked the RoboForm 7 architecture making RoboForm 7 even faster and more flexible, so that we can implement future changes more quickly. You may not be able to see it…but it’s in there!

PC Backup and Recovery of Systems, Applications and Files… the Backup Solution for Everyone

Have you ever accidentally deleted a file, had a virus corrupt your files, or had a disk fail? These are just a few examples of how people lose pictures, music, personal and financial data every day. Don’t let this happen to you. Protect your PC with Acronis True Image Home 2011, featuring local and available online backup

The whole idea of having full and unrestricted access to your own credit history and seeing what a lender see’s is a smart move for the average Joe or Jo-Anne.

Who says you can’t have something for nothing?

Credit Expert from Experian is the UK’s Number 1 online credit monitoring and identity fraud protection service and you now have the offer of a Totally FREE Credit Report with your 30 day trial account? 

Nothing to worry about…

You might be wondering, even worrying that if you check your own  credit history you might somehow  jeopardise the score? No need to worry because it won’t have any effect on it.

Why check your report at all?

Well you can quickly see what your credit history says and look for any inaccuracies in the records. If there are any problems then you can take the appropriate action –fast! You can also check for any unauthorised activity which might lead to Identity Fraud or even Identity Theft.  You can see a full record of who has accessed and checked your credit history.

Can I get Advice or Alerts?

The answers YES! You can get Identity Fraud alerts through either your email or SMS text messages. You can find out when your Credit Report has changed. You can get advice on your Credit Report and how to improve your own Credit Rating.

Just like the Football or Cricket… Know the Score!

The higher the score, the more favourable the interest rates are likely to be for you.  That will probably have a positive effect on any new credit applications – saving you money!

Go on – sign up for your FREE 30 day trial and you will be able to access records that look like this example which leaves nothing about your finances to chance:

1. Account information – The term “credit” covers every account that gives you something of value money, goods or services that you can use today, on the understanding that you will repay the lender at a later date. That’s why you’ll find items such as utility and mobile phone accounts here, as well as credit cards, loans and mortgages                        
2. Personal Information – Every account in your name will affect your credit rating, even if a criminal is impersonating you to borrow money. If you find any accounts you don’t recognise, you could already be a victim of identity fraud.    
3. Account Type – From catalogue shopping to a loan for furniture, you probably have many different types of credit account. Do you know how many credit cards you have sign up to?         
4. Balance Information – This entry shows the current balance of each account, the amount you have spent and not yet repaid. You’ll also find the date the account was opened.        
5. Defaulted Payment – Look out for an 8 when checking the account status, it means that a lender has terminated the account because you haven’t made payments and have failed to come up with a way of putting things right. A defaulted account stays on your record for six years and will lower your credit rating. 
6. Status History – Are you making your repayments on time and in full? Your status history shows whether you do. 

Work Smarter and not Harder!

Credit Expert can also save you a whole load of time (something we are all particularly short of) and trouble if you are unlucky enough to fall victim to Identity Fraud or Identity Theft.  CIFAS – The UK’s Fraud Prevention Service completed a recent report that found on average, it probably takes 15 months to actually discover that a client has been the victim of ID theft, followed by another 300 hours of aggravation and hassle to clear the problem – that’s over 37 days working full 8 hour days, just to get back to somewhere approaching normal again.

Stupid is as Stupid Does…

Now I’m sure you aren’t stupid or you wouldn’t be here reading this…am I right? Please believe me when I tell you it will be much simpler for you to take the right action before anything happens, and that means getting signed up to Credit Expert for your FREE 30 day trial, and see how easy it is to keep your identity safe and your life intact.

Take my word for it, the hassle just isn’t worth it – my son Josh has a short video just below, where he quickly describes his experience of ID Theft and Fraud which started in January 2009, and how this particlular bank refuses to accept his innocence even after almost two years of continuous hassle after they unlawfully passed his details over to the debt collectors. We have had visits to our home and lots of phone calls from five different debt collection agencies, many of them quite unpleasant people, all assuming that he is guilty. He has tried to get the banks fraud department to relook at the problem but they steadfastly refuse to talk to him.

What is being called ‘current address fraud’ (a type of identity fraud) has engendered greater levels of sophistication from the potential fraudsters. Current address fraud has reached an unpresidented 55% of the 2009 total for identity fraud, compared to a figure of 31% in 2008…that’s an incredible 78% increase in just 12 months. In fact 85% of all identity fraud is currently being completed using the mail order method.

Click here to go to the Credit Experts site now and…

Phishing is a malicious security threat that endangers online computer users around the world. Phishing costs the United States almost a billion dollars annually and almost half that again for the UK. From the novice computer users to the most tech savvy, phishing is tricky and requires a well-trained eye to understand and spot, without getting ‘caught’.

Phishing occurs when a person uses illegal computer tricks to obtain sensitive information which could include your personal and financial details. This information may also include account names, passwords, your home address, email address(s), pin numbers, social security numbers, credit card number and all of your general contact information.  Basically all of the stuff you want to keep secure and private.

Phishing is related to Fishing:

The origin of “phishing” does actually share links with fishing with rod and line. Attackers use a variety of methods randomly distributed to many people with a common connection. The phishing attacks are following the rules of fishing because they are casting into a large pool of people and only a few will take the bait. The bait they use is just like a fake lure it has a deceptive purpose masked as a real and genuine opportunity. The essence of phishing is something or someone pretended to be something or someone they are not.

How Phishing Works

The ways phishing occurs:

For example; I’ve have received lots of emails from Barclays Bank and LloydsTSB …at the time I was banking with LloydsTSB. The emails were very, very good. Looked just like a ‘real’ LloydsTSB email …fortunately I was savvy enough to realise that they were not real by the questions they were asking …but I can imagine that a slightly less aware person could easily have been fooled. I just forwarded copies of the emails to the relevant bank’s fraud section.

Email:

People will send out mass emails to a large pool of people. The emails promise an opportunity that is not real. The email may have the banner of Yahoo services, but will instead be from a person who went through detailed lengths to pull off the scam. These fake emails will also appear to be from places such as a high street bank, PayPal or eBay. Some of these look very plausible. When the scam works, valuable financial information is given to the scammer.

Fake or spoofed website:

The website will look like the site you’re used to signing into such as Facebook, but will really be a mirror site. The mirror sites require you to login several times, gaining your account information. Phishing is prevalent among social networking websites and financial services. The scam is popular with sites like eBay and Amazon where financial gains can be made.

Phishing is difficult to spot because scammers go to extra lengths to pretend to be someone they are not. The fake site’s text will often be borrowed from the actual sites.

Ways to detect phishing: 

Site links will give away the site more often than not. Though many phishing attempts rely on misspelled addresses, a person with a keen eye for spelling can find the deceptive site by comparing the address to an actual site. Still, certain malware can cover up the address bar, masking that a browser is going to a fraudulent site.

Search the actual place you want to go in a major search engine such as Bing or Google. Then link to the site from there. Links in emails should not be trusted. The address in the email could appear accurate, but direct to a hidden address.

My #1 FREE Top Tip for improving your online security

Simply enable all security settings in your browser, which will allow you to see more of the threats before being caught out.

My Strongest Advice to YOU

• We recommend that you install and use the BRAND NEW Acronis Internet Security Suite 2010 package.
• Don’t rely on the FREE or Trial versions of these Top Level security software programmes. Pay the very reasonable premium for the Pro version and gain total peace of mind.
  *A good example of this was a friend of mine was using the free version of AVG internet security. He visited a site to buy and download some software and his PC caught a virus which took a lot of hard work to eradicate.
• Set and use the spam filters present that hide phishing emails in junk mail since most phishing emails are mass emails, a form of spam.

Be aware of phishing

Being aware of phishing is essential to stopping one of the internet’s most threatening and fastest growing crime waves. The harder it becomes for perpetrators of credit card fraud, because of the new ‘chip and pin’ security system being employed, the greater the threat of phishing contributing to the extremely high incidences of identity theft, identity fraud, bank fraud, wire fraud and account theft.

Take care, be vigilant and don’t get ‘caught’ by the ‘phishing men’ who are out to steal your money and possible your identity!

You can get Strip Shredders which don’t securely shred confidential information. Always choose either the Cross Cut or Confetti shredder. Both do a very good job of making it virtually impossible for a would be thief to re-assemble your documents

We have put together a selection of the Best that Amazon have to offer. Some will shred document along with staples or paperclips, while the slightly better one’s will shred DVD’s and CD’s too, which contain sensitive information

Swordfish 1000XC Cross-Cut Shredder

Product Features

• Shreds up to 10 sheets of 80gsm paper at once
• Slot for shredding credit cards
• Slide-out waste bin
• Infra-red Start/Stop
• Reverse function for clearing jam
• 20 litre slide-out waste bin for approximately 150 sheets
• Complete with 4 castors
• L 350 x W 262 x H 533mm
• Speed m/min 2

Fellowes P-48C Cross Cut Shredder with Patented Safety Lock (Black)

Product Features

• Provides higher security shredding for occasional use in the home
• Cross-Cuts 8 sheets at a time into 3.9x50mm pieces, 18 litre waste basket
• Shreds staples and credit cards, Safety lock prevents accidental activation
• 225mm throat width, Sheet capacity gauge helps prevent paper jams
• Auto-start & reverse, 2-year full warranty, 3-year cutter warranty

Aurora AS1018CD 10 Sheet Cross Cut Paper Shredder

Technical Details

• 10 Sheet Paper shredder for securely destroying your documents
• Capable of shredding staples, paper clips, credit cards and CD’s/DVD’s
• Cross cuts documents into 4 x37mm pieces – Security Level Din3
• Maximum Shred speed of 3 m/sec and a spacious 20 litre waste bin
• Safety cut outs and over heat protection as standard

Aurora AS610C 6 Sheet Cross-Cut Shredder with Waste Bin

Technical Details

• 6 Sheet Paper shredder for securely destroying your documents
• Capable of shredding staples, paper clips and credit cards
• Cross cuts documents into 4 x 47mm pieces – Security Level Din3
• Maximum Shred speed of 3 m/sec and a spacious 14 litre waste bin
• Safety cut outs and over heat protection as standard

Rexel Style Confetti Cut Shredder, 5 Sheets, 7.5L Bin

Technical Details

• Unique product styling for a smart modern home office, with styling cues taken from the iPod
• Confetti cut (4 x 35 mm) with maximum 5 sheet capacity and ability to shred credit cards
• 7.5 litre bin capacity – bin pulls out for easy emptying
• Auto start / stop and reverse function
• Compact size for use under the desk plus smart black and white coloured finish

ACCO Rexel Style Plus Confetti-Cut Shredder

Technical Details

• Unique product styling for a smart modern home office
• Reduces A4 sheets to confetti cut (4 x 23mm)
• Maximum 7 sheet capacity, Shreds Credit Cards
• 12 litre bin capacity, Pull out bin for easy emptying
• Auto start/stop and reverse function

Texet Cross-Cut Shredder with 12 Litre Waste Bin

Technical Details

• 12 litre waste bin
• 5 sheet shred capacity
• 1.6m/min shred speed
• 220mm throat width
• Auto/fwd/rev switch

Fellowes DS-1 Cross Cut Shredder

Technical Details

• Shreds up to x11 A4 sheets at a time into 3.9×35 mm confetti-like pieces (Higher security – level 3)
• SafeSense Technology shuts off shredder when hands are too close to the machine throat
• 18 litre bin holds up to 200 sheets
• Shreds paper, staples and credit cards
• 1-year full warranty/ 5-year cutter warranty