If you’re a Facebook user, and if you access your account through an unsecured Wi-Fi network, your Facebook profile could be vulnerable to session hijacking by a nearby hacker with packet-sniffing tools (like Firesheep). Unsecured wireless connections are convenient (at places like Starbucks, bookstores, or that free wireless network on your college campus) …but they come with serious security risks.

At home, you can (and should) prevent this type of attack on your personal wireless network by using WiFi encryption on your router. We recommend WPA2, which is much more secure than the weak, outdated WEP protocol.

But, when you’re using free public Wi-Fi, you’re probably not using WiFi encryption, so you’re vulnerable. On these networks, you should avoid sending and receiving any personal data (including passwords and email), unless you’re using HTTPS – which stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure. HTTPS provides an encrypted communication between your browser and the network web server.

HTTPS is the protocol that your browser uses automatically when you are doing online banking, or shopping at major Internet retailers like Amazon. It’s also available for Gmail users. And now it’s available on Facebook as well.

Secure Browsing on Faceboook

Randy Abrams, security expert and blogger at ESET has reported on a number of Facebook security issues in the past. Recently he posted a short tutorial to show how to increase your Facebook privacy settings. You should follow his instructions, so you can use HTTPS automatically when you log into Facebook – then you can update your profile securely when you’re on a public WiFi network.

But be aware that Farmville, Mafia Wars, and other Facebook apps may compromise your secure connection, not to mention your privacy.

Visit the “Threat Center & Blog” at  ESET for more information on keeping your data private and your computer secure.  ESET is famous for its highly-rated antivirus products: According to PC World it’s “…the best proactive protection by far.”

If you’re a college student who wants to rent textbooks… perhaps you’re considering renting textbooks for the first time… you can save even more if you place your order before March 31, 2011 and rent from eCampus.com …using new coupon code discounts

Enter code CANCUN to receive $5 off orders over $100 at eCampus.com
Enter code DAYTONA to receive $4 off any order over $80 from eCampus.com
Enter code CABO to receive $3 off orders over $60 from eCampus.com

With eCampus.com you have the choice:

• Rent textbooks
• Buy a new textbook
• Buy used textbooks, and
• Sell your books back when the semester is over.

For full-time students the cost of books can be as much as $1000 per semester, so book rental can save a lot of money…. and you can have more fun on Spring Break with more cash in your pocket.

Textbook rental is a great option for general-ed classes (when you know you will not need to keep the book to use as a reference in future classes). Renting books also is a great choice for new editions of textbooks, when used copies are expensive, hard to find, or non-existent.

For example, a popular algebra textbook — College Algebra (5th Edition) by Robert F. Blitzer is about $112 at  Amazon.com (ISBN: 0321559835):

College Algebra (5th Edition, 0321559835) by Robert Blitzer at Amazon.com

The same textbook can be rented for only $32.19 at eCampus.com:

College Algebra (5th Edition, 0321559835) by Robert Blitzer at eCampus.com

Visit eCampus, use coupon codes for maximum savings, and have a successful semester — and have a great Spring Break!

Symantec has released the newest most comprehensive version of its easy–to–use protection: Norton 360 5.0.

Introducing Norton 360 Version 5.0 — Protection for up to 3 PCs. FREE 24×7 technical support for one year.

If you’re using social media, you will want to take a look. This brand new edition of Norton 360 Version now adds protection for users of Facebook and other social media.

Previous versions of Norton 360 have been powerful yet simple to use. Symantec’s goal is to provide “the newest and best in comprehensive, easy–to–use protection for your computer, your identity and your files”

Students have been using social media for years, but 2010 was a year of global growth for social media: greater participation from every demographic group — and from cyber-criminals  as well. Unfortunately, an antivirus product alone is not capable of providing complete protection on sites like Facebook. Despite the risks, sites like Facebook and Twitter are indispensable to many computer users who want to communicate with friend and family, as well as conduct business online.

Now, Symantec has added social media protection its comprehensive security suite. The new Norton 360 5.0 will be of interest to:

• Users who share a computer with other family members
• People who regularly visit Facebook and other social networking sites
• Anyone who needs to have a reliable, trustworthy computer for work or school
• Individuals who use online banking or bill pay who need protection from the latest scams and malware
• People who want features not found in free antivirus downloads

Get professional grade protection now with a Norton 360 Download

Many users rely on expired antivirus products. This is a serious risk — malware threats are constantly evolving. You can be protected today. If your security software is outdated, uninstall your anti-virus and try a free 30-day Norton 360 download to secure your computer today .

20 million new malware variants were created in 2010 — including more than one-third of all active malware infections, according to eWeek’s IT Security & Network Security News

Features In Norton 360 version 5

Here a few of the new features, as well as some which have made Norton 360 so poular in the past:

Norton Safe Web Social Media Scanner – The average visit to Facebook lasts about 30 minutes. Now you can use Norton 360 5.0 to check your Facebook Wall and News Feed for bad links and other threats from your Norton Control Center

PC Tuneup – You don’t need to be a computer geek to speed up your computer. PC Tuneup will free up RAM so applications start up and run faster, plus delete unnecessary files to boost your hard drive’s performance

Norton Safe Web – warns you of unsafe or fake websites right in your search results and automatically blocks them

Automated Backup –Are your photos, videos, music, financial documents are more valuable than the computer itself? Norton Automated Backup will protect your critical files, securely and automatically.

Online Recovery And Restore – If disaster strikes, you’ll easily recover your files …because you backed them up you backed up using Norton 360, with 2 GB of online storage. Your password lets you use any computer to view, edit and share files your files – anytime, anywhere.

Proactive Performance Alerts – Detect problems before they ruin your computers performance. Norton 360 5.0 will tell you if an application is slowing down your PC so you can take action to improve performance

Parental Controls Management – Check your kids’ online activity with your Norton Control Center; help protect them from danger online.

Norton 360 5.0 is designed to provide expert-level protection that anyone can use, to protect your computer — and your family, your files and your identity as well.

When faced with a computer that seems to lack the power to run the latest software… or when a PC just seems slower that used to be…  many people decide that it’s time to simply buy a new computer.

RAM Upgrade: Cheap Fix For A Faster Computer

Sometimes an under-performing PC or laptop can give us the excuse we want to upgrade to a new machine; on the other hand, it might be possible to spend less money and make your older computer feel as good as new.

When your computer seems to be slow, there are several things that you should try:

• Ensure that your computer is free of any viruses, spyware or malware.
• Check to see whether your computer is burdened by unnecessary background processes (which often show up as little icons in the system tray, down in the lower-right corner of your screen)
• Perform normal preventive maintenance, such as freeing up as much hard drive space is possible, and defragmenting your hard drive
• Investigate the possibility of upgrading your computer’s RAM to provide additional memory and better performance

Keep your computer longer by adding RAM

If your computer is fundamentally healthy, but you would like to extend its useful life by another year or more, you should definitely investigate whether it’s possible to add additional RAM your system.

RAM (which stands for random access memory) refers to the hardware component that provides memory for your computer. Your computer’s memory is where it stores the program code for your operating system (for example, Windows Vista) plus the code for the currently-running applications, and the data used by those applications.

Upgrading your computer’s RAM can provide one of the best, most cost-effective, methods for improving your system performance. When your computer does not have enough physical RAM, it begins to use the hard drive to create “virtual memory” to supplement physical memory (i.e. RAM).

Modern computers depend upon the virtual memory to enable us to run multiple applications at the same time: the programs we have open but are not using (also called backup applications) get swapped out to virtual memory, while our current tasks are placed into high-performance RAM memory.

When the programs that were using require more RAM than we have available, the computer begins to overuse virtual memory – this results in a huge performance hit to our computer.

Fortunately, RAM upgrades are not too expensive, and don’t necessarily require professional installation.

If you’re considering a RAM upgrade, you’ll want to do the following:on the

• Determine the amount of RAM you have
• Determine the type of RAM you have
• Determine the speed and maximum amount of RAM your computer can handle
• Determine the amount of RAM you require
• Determine the amount of RAM you will buy

RAM Upgrade… How-To Do It Yourself

Microsoft has a good, step-by-step tutorial called “RAM: Add more memory to your computer” which can guide you through this process.

Another good place to start (if possible) is by checking with the company that manufactured your computer. Dell, Gateway, Hewitt Packard and other major computer manufacturers usually provide detailed information on their support websites. In many cases, you can visit the website, enter your computer’s serial number (usually found somewhere on your computer), and you’ll find out the amount of RAM installed in your computer when it was sold, and the type and amount of RAM it is capable of supporting.

With that information, you can begin price shopping, buy the memory you need, and install it yourself. You can find many helpful video tutorials that will show you how.

This New York law (like the federal FOIA, and similar laws in other states) enables individuals to request a wide variety of information from governmental agencies: information that might include details on the use of tax dollars… or information about policies, decisions, and programs which affect members of the public. This type of law is commonly used by journalists, authors, and nonprofits to conduct research.

In this case, Chegg.com had requested detailed information about course grade distribution, with specific information about faculty, course section, and semester — but without information that could identify individual students. This request was perfectly compatible with the New York state law; therefore, Prof. Phillips’s employer (the State University of New York at New Paltz) was obliged to provide the data requested.

CourseRank.com to Publish Grades, Ratings, Reviews

The request by Chegg.com was evidently made to over 500 colleges and universities on behalf of CourseRank.com, a free course scheduling tool purchased by Chegg in 2010. The grade data will be used to create content for CourseRank.

Professor Phillips — who is also a journalist, former public radio reporter, and the author of the book Public Radio: Behind the Voices — wrote about her reaction in The New York Times. As she put it, “The thought of it made me squeamish. I had always considered grades a private matter. I didn’t dwell on the question of whether I was an easy grader or a hard one — I simply tried to be fair.”

Yet she also noted the irony of the situation. From her perspective, “The Freedom of Information Act, long cherished by investigative reporters, had become a tool for a textbook-rental company to draw traffic to one of its Web sites. And there I was, a professor of journalism, being muckraked.”

Garbage-In, Garbage-Out?

In the end, it was more than than her personal discomfort that led Phillips to conclude that the practice of putting grade data online, though legal, was ill advised. She provided a number of reasons, including the fact that data without context can be misleading… generating impressive-looking but meaningless statistics.

One question that she did not address was whether she thinks students are likely to actually use the information in selecting classes.

Students entering college today are continually exposed to vast quantities of information: Information ostensibly intended to facilitate decision-making… but information which is often imperfect, inaccurate, biased, or otherwise of limited value.

CourseRank.com publishes college grade distribution data

Whether it is trying to make sense of conflicting 1- vs.5-star ratings on Apple’s iTunes App Store, or contradictory reviews the latest film, students are accustomed to receiving (and weighing) information from a variety of sources before making their own choice.

Many experienced students know first-hand what it’s like to enroll in a class taught by a professor highly-favored on RateMyProfessors.com, and then have a terrible experience… or conversely, take a class from a professor with a terrible reputation, but have a very good learning experience.

Ultimately, aggregate grade-trend info may help make the website more interesting, but in most cases is likely to do little to help students choose specific classes. The traditional method of seeking advice from other students (and faculty members) at their own college or university will gain students more detailed and meaningful data on which to base their class-choice decisions.

Sources:

Lisa A Phillips. The New York Times. 2011. “A Professor Disagrees With Putting Grades Online”. <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/education/edlife/09notebook-t.html.>
New York State Department of State. 2008. Your Right To Know: New York State Open Government Laws.<http://www.dos.state.ny.us/coog/right_to_know.html>

Industrial-Strength Security in a value-priced suite, plus a Free Bonus

Whether it’s Trojans, viruses, or spyware …new types of malware make headlines every day.

Kaspersky Internet Security 2011 PLUS Free Bonus: Click Here.

If you are like most students, your computer is an essential part of your daily life, and you can’t afford to let a virus infection slow you down.

Kaspersky: A Global Leader In Computer Security

Founded in 1997, Kaspersky has become a world leader in the development of advanced information security technologies. For years, Kaspersky has received top scores in independent lab tests.

Kaspersky is preferred by business users around the world, because they understand the dangers associated with computer malware, and they demand reliable and effective protection.

But it’s not just computers at the office that need real protection.

The Files On Your Computer Deserve To Be Protected Too

The files on your computer or laptop may be more valuable than your computer itself!

• Your digital music collection (which alone could be worth hundreds of dollars)
• Irreplaceable photographic images or video
• Personal financial records
• Academic work representing countless hours you’ve invested in your education.

You can take advantage of the same technology that resides inside many of the world’s most respected computer security solutions, including BlueCoat, Juniper, Borderware, F-Secure, Sensory Networks, Sonic Wall, ClearSwift, and Tumbleweed.

Includes Features Not Available In Free Antivirus Products

Because they need their computers every day—and because they are heavy Internet users—students need more protection than many at-home users.

Kaspersky has recently become more popular than ever with students and other non-business computer users. Last year, Kaspersky’s overall sales more than tripled. Today, Kaspersky protects more than 200 million users worldwide.

Now, with the new version of Kaspersky Internet Security 2011, they have added new features that users will appreciate even more:

• Transparent real-time protection against viruses, spyware, trojans, worms, rootkits, bots
• Small hourly updates so your computer’s performance is never disrupted
• An intelligent two-way firewall that defeats malicious software and hostile websites
• Added protection against potentially malicious websites
• NEW! Special online-banking mode secures financial transactions
• Free technical support (phone, live chat, email, knowledge base)
• Parental security controls
• Optimized for Netbooks

Kaspersky has included features to provide protection against ever-increasing and sophisticated threats found on the Internet.

Unlike some firewalls, which only protect your computer from threats on the outside,  Kaspersky’s firewall also provides protection in the opposite direction by controlling what’s inside your PC as well. In the event of malware infection, it can prevent a rogue process from sending out your personal information. It’s an extra, crucial layer of defense to protect your personal information from hackers and identity thieves.

32-bit Windows users can take advantage of Kaspersky’s new Safe Desktop. It’s an extra layer of sandbox protection for suspicious or unknown applications, files, and websites. Safe Desktop is completely walled-off from your data and PC settings, so you can check out anything suspicious with confidence that no changes will be made to your system.

The features listed here only begin to summarize the full range of protection Kaspersky provides. Visit their website for detailed product information, and be sure to check out the savings you can get when you purchase your antivirus directly from Kaspersky.

Kaspersky Internet Security 2011 – Internet Security on every level in a single value-priced suite! Click Here

Prefer to Try It Before You Buy It?

Kaspersky Free 30-Day Trials – download a free trial and get full protection from all types of malware including viruses, spyware, spam, Trojans, worms, bots, and more.
Learn More and Download your Free Kaspersky Trial Today!

We’ve located Three Great Deals for Office 2010, available only to college and university students:

1.    JourneyEd: Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 for $79.95 (digital download)
2.    JourneyEd: Office Professional Academic 2010 for $99.95 (physical media)
3.    Microsoft.com: Office Professional Academic 2010 for $79.95 (digital download)

If you’re a college student interested in purchasing Microsoft office 2010, you might be bewildered by the different options available to you.

The Many Versions Of Office 2010

With Microsoft’s latest release of their flagship application suite—Office 2010—Microsoft has tried to simplify their office product line; currently they list several editions of Office on their website.

In this article, we’ll tell you which versions of Office students should avoid …and which version of Office to buy— if you want the best value for your money.

Versions of Office 2010 College Students Should Avoid

Office 2010 Home and Student
Includes 4 programs: Word 2010, Excel 2010, PowerPoint 2010, OneNote 2010
Suggested Price $149.99

.

Office 2010 Home and Business
Includes 5 programs: Word 2010, Excel 2010, PowerPoint 2010, OneNote 2010, Outlook 2010
Suggested Price: $279.99

.

Office 2010 Professional
Includes 7 programs: Word 2010, Excel 2010, PowerPoint 2010, OneNote 2010, Outlook 2010, Access 2010, Publisher 2010
Suggested Price: $499.99

.

There’s nothing wrong with the editions of Office 2010 listed above, except the price. All three of these versions of office are available to the general public, and can be purchased at retail locations or online. For example, here’s a recent snapshot of the most popular Office 2010 products Amazon.com:

The Office 2010 Store at Amazon

As you can see, the prices on Amazon have been discounted… But we can do better!

College Students Get Special Discounts

College students are able to buy through special academic channels, and get all seven components of Office 2010 Professional, for a much lower price than the minimal “Home and Student” version sold in stores.

More Choices. Lower Prices.

Here are three offers, with prices prices ranging from $79.95 – $99.95. Any of these should meet the needs of most students; all of them include Word 2010, Excel 2010, PowerPoint 2010, OneNote 2010, Outlook 2010, Access 2010, Publisher 2010.

Students attending colleges and universities which participate in a special licensing program with Microsoft can purchase Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 for $79.95 – this offer is available through select academic retailers, such as JourneyEd. Visit JourneyEd to see if your school qualifies.

Students attending college or university in the United States can qualify to purchase Microsoft Office Professional Academic 2010 for $79.95 (purchasing online from Microsoft and obtaining their software through immediate digital download). View this offer to see if you qualify

Students who wish to have their software on physical media, rather than rely on digital download, may be interested in purchasing Office Professional Academic 2010 for $99.95 from JourneyEd. JourneyEd special pricing: Office Professional Academic 2010 for $99.95

Buying from either Microsoft or JourneyEd will ensure that you are obtaining legitimate, licensed versions of Microsoft Office 2010. Both of these sellers are affiliate sponsors of this site. JourneyEd is one of the oldest and most trusted academic retailers on the Internet.

Sources:
Microsoft.com: “Microsoft Software License Terms for Microsoft Office 2010”
Microsoft.com: “Which suite is right for you?
Microsoft.com: “Office 2010 Frequently Asked Questions”

Microsoft Office 2010 is the leading suite of productivity applications, and the favored choice among students and businesses.

Fact: According to Forrester Research, 80% of enterprise customers use Microsoft Office, and only 8 percent use alternatives (like StarOffice, Google Apps, etc.) Source: PCWorld.com

Student Save up to 85% with Academic Discounts

Many students know that Microsoft Office skills can help them in their job search after graduation. And buying software before graduation saves money. So, students often ask, “Where is the best place to get the lowest academic price on Microsoft Office 2010?”

According to Microsoft, the suggested retail price for Office Professional Academic is $99 —  an amazing price for such a powerful software suite. But a lower price is available. For those who just want the link, here it is…

Students Only – Microsoft Office Professional Academic 2010 for $79.95 Buy Now!

$79.95 is  best price we have seen is for Professional Grade Office …a price available to any student with an email address from a US college or university. This is a legitimate deal from Microsoft itself (hosted on microsoft.com servers).

Now, if want more facts before you buy, we’ll give you some information about the what you get, the purchase process and your options.

What Office applications are included?

There are a number of versions of Microsoft Office 2010 on the market. Typically, the preferred version is Microsoft Office Professional, which includes:

• Word 2010
• Excel® 2010
• PowerPoint® 2010
• Access® 2010
• OneNote® 2010
• Outlook® 2010
• Publisher 2010

The full retail version of this product has a suggested retail price of $499. However, the academic version contains all the same programs, and has a suggested retail price of $99.

However, the best deal available, just for college students, is only $79.95 (for qualifying students who choose instant delivery by digital download).

Will your computer support Office 2010?

Before you buy, you’ll want to make sure that you have a computer capable of supporting the latest version of Microsoft Office. According to Microsoft, Office 2010 requires one of the following operating systems:

• Windows XP (must have SP3) (32-bit)
• Windows 7
• Windows Vista with Service Pack (SP) 1
• Windows Server 2003 R2 with MSXML 6.0 (32-bit Office only)
• Windows Server 2008

If your computer is relatively new, and you have one of the operating systems listed above, you should have no problem. If your not sure, be sure to check Microsoft’s website for the official Microsoft Office 2010 system requirements

Which students are eligible for the special price?

This offer is available only to college students who attend an educational institution geographically located in the United States.

The easiest way to qualify for the offer is to use a student e-mail account ending in EDU – although students without an official college e-mail account may be eligible if they attend a pre-qualified institution. In addition, students must be actively enrolled in at least 0.5 course credit and be able to provide proof of enrollment upon request. For complete details, please see the official terms and conditions.

When will you get your new Office 2010 software?

How about today! After purchase, the software is available immediately through digital download. You should have a fast Internet connection for the download… DSL or Cable Modem internet are fine, but downloading through a modem connection is not a good idea. You can also obtain the software on optical media for an additional $13.00 — as protection against future hard drive failure.

To activate your new software you will need your personal product key, which you will receive by email at the EDU email address used to verify your eligibility. Be sure to make backups of both the product key and the downloaded setup file, in case you ever need to re-install your software.

Worth a look…

Students who don’t qualify for the offer described above should check out our sponsor JourneyEd, the leading vendor of academic discount software on the Internet, offering Microsoft Office Pro 2007 as low as 79.98.

FYI: JourneyEd’s lowest price may only be available to students who participate in a special licensing program with Microsoft: Student Select and Student Select Plus. Students from schools that don’t participate in that program can buy Office Professional Academic 2010 for a slightly higher price. Benefits of shopping with JourneyEd include a wide selection of software and discounts, the ability to qualify without an official school email address, and customer support by telephone or Internet.

Sources and Notes

PCWorld: “Forrester: Microsoft Office in No Danger From Competitors”
Microsoft: Microsoft Office 2010 system requirements
Wikipedia: Microsoft Office 2010

The special student discount described in this article is made available as an official Microsoft promotion through Digital River. All prices are in US dollars. The terms and conditions of this offer may change at any time. Digital River is an affiliate sponsor of this site.

• Be heavy users of the World Wide Web
• Make extensive use of e-mail, and
• Frequent social networking sites.

Any of these legitimate activities has the potential to expose users to Rogue Security Software, either directly or indirectly.

Students depend on their computers for academic work — so it’s important to be able to recognize this threat and take protective action. In this article, we will describe a real-life solution using a popular, free removal tool to remove the fraudulent “Rogue Security Suite.”

What is Rogue Security Software?

Rogue Security Software is a form of malware; usually, it is part of a scam which attempts to deceive users into paying to remove fake or simulated virus infections. In some cases, Rogue Security Software actively installs other malware on the user’s computer.

Rogue Security Software usually relies on some form of social engineering, whereby the user is tricked into installing or authorizing the bogus antivirus application.

Once installed, Rogue Security Software will make false claims about having detected viruses, Trojans, or other malicious software. Frequently Rogue Security Software will interfere with the normal operation of the computer, for example: preventing the user from launching other applications, or blocking access to legitimate antivirus web sites.

How Does Rogue Security Software Get Installed?

According to Symantec, “There are two main ways that rogue security software programs can get onto a user’s computer… either through an intentional download, where the user is persuaded to download and install the program, or via an unintentional [a.k.a.“drive-by”] download, where the download occurs without the user’s permission or knowledge.” (Symantec: Report on Rogue Security Software Whitepaper)

In order to bypass the security features of modern browsers and operating system, Rogue Security Software is often delivered as a Trojan horse, and may be disguised as:

• A browser toolbar
• An e-mail attachment
• A multimedia player codec update
• A free online malware scanning service

Often the Rogue Security Software will disguise itself as either a part of the Windows operating system, or a legitimate antivirus application.

Here is an example called Rogue Security Suite that we recently encountered:

With the generic name "Security Suite" this fraudulent application attempts to fool users into thinking it has found urgent security risks. (Click for larger image)

By the time this screenshot was taken, the Rogue Security Software had added a setting to the user’s registry which caused it to be activated whenever the computer was booted.

How To Remove Rogue Security Software

The first step in protecting your computer is to have a reliable antivirus application, with automatic, daily updates, which continually monitors your computer to protect it from malware.

Some of the solutions we have previously featured include Norton from Symantec, ESET NOD32, and Avast! Antivirus.

All three companies offer useful trial versions for evaluation purposes, and avast! Free Antivirus is a fully-functional antivirus solution (for personal, non-business use) that is popular with college students.

Another excellent product that also has a fully-functional free edition is Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware. The free version of this product was able to successfully remove the Rogue Security Software shown in the image above, with the following steps:

• When the malware first appeared, the computer was shut down and disconnected from the network  before rebooting.
• Using a different, uninfected computer, we  downloaded the latest free version of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware
• Because the Rogue Security Software had added itself to the computers auto-runs, we rebooted the computer in Safe mode to prevent it from launching.
• Malwarebytes Anti-Malware found and eliminated the rogue from the following location: %UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\

These steps are presented as an example of the approach to take to remove the threat. More detailed information is available at the sites listed below. Just remember: Don’t pay the companies that create Rogue Security Software! Use legitimate antivirus software.

The entire threat shown above was removed at no cost, using the free version of Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware.

Further reading:

Microsoft Security Blog: Watch out for fake virus alerts
Symantec: Symantec Report on Rogue Security Software
Wikipedia: Rogue security software
Trojan-Killer.net: Rogue Security Suite. New fake anti-spyware in the Web.
MalwareInfo.Org

Worth A Look:

Save now – 25% off – 2 year license of ESET Smart Security 4
Save now – 25% off – 2 year license of ESET NOD32 Antivirus 4
Save 10% on renewals of ESET NOD32
Save 10% on renewals of ESET Smart Security

Two years for the price of one.

If you are a college student, you probably have a computer — and you probably need that computer to complete your class assignments.

As in the past, we do recommended Avast’s excellent free antivirus software — avast! Free Antivirus — to keep your computer safe.

Protect your computer for the years ahead

At the start of the new school year, it’s important to be sure that your computer is operating properly and is protected from viruses and malware.

It is never a “good time” to have your computer infected with the virus, but these disasters seem to occur at the worst possible time …like when you’re faced with important deadlines and don’t have time to deal with data recovery or troubleshooting.

There is no reason to ever have less protection than avast! Free Antivirus 5.0 — after all, it is completely free for personal use, and not limited to a short trial period like many professional-grade antivirus utilities.

However, despite the great protection provided by avast! Free Antivirus, you may want to get even more security when you take  advantage of the special two-your offer before it expires.

• With a single purchase, you’ll be able to protect up to three computers in your household for two years
• If you are a heavy Internet user, like many college students, you may need the extra protection you get with the more advanced versions of avast!
• Both avast! Pro Antivirus 5.0 and avast! 5.0 Internet Security include protection against viruses and spyware, just like the free version of avast! … But they also include additional measures to protect you against suspicious websites or applications

A great new feature in both avast! Pro Antivirus 5.0 and avast! 5.0 Internet Security is the new avast! Sandbox.

Contain your risks with sandboxed web browsing

This is a feature not available in other  antivirus programs.It “enables potentially exploitable programs (such as web browsers) and/or suspicious executables to be run in a safe, virtual environment.” The avast! Sandbox runs on both 32 and 64bit platforms.

If you’re a heavy Internet user, do any online banking, or pay bills online — or if you need to visit websites that you don’t completely trust — the sandbox technology alone can be worth the price of the entire product.

If you like the free version of avast! and have been thinking about upgrading, or if you’re in the market for a good antivirus/anti-spyware solution you can depend on, take advantage of this chance to get two years of protection for the price of one.

You’ll get the transparent, always-on protection that has made avast! the choice of over 100 million users —and earned top awards and recommendations  everywhere:  from CNET, to NotebookReview, to the AARP. Plus you’ll have the advanced features that provide a comprehensive defense against the latest Internet threats.