Technical Info

From MEC WIKI

This section contains miscellaneous regions related to computer technology. It not only keeps us informed of the latest and important technological advancements in the field of computing but also gives us an idea about mail spams and phishing and how to get out of the trouble created by them. Hope to keep this section packed with interesting facts.

DUAL CORE

The CPU is like the engine "under the hood." Dual core is the buzz these days. A dual core is basically two processors that share the workload. You can continue surfing the Internet or working on a document while downloading digital pictures or completing a virus scan in background without having the activity of one operation impact the other. A dual core CPU has many advantages over a single CPU and is worth the expense.

PUMP UP YOUR SEARCH ENGINES

When you think of searching the Internet, you probably think of Google or Yahoo, and you probably search by typing in a few key words into the query box and hope the results will contain something useful. Although that may be a quick way to perform a search, with billions of pages of content throughout the Internet, your results likely contain more useless and unrelated junk than the information you are seeking.

Here are a few simple tricks that will enable you to tap into the power that search engines can deliver and improve your odds of obtaining meaningful search results. Using Double Quotes

Some search engines like Google evaluate each word individually. Knowing how to group words in your search query will be helpful. For example, if you're looking for song lyrics, a book title or a quote, you'll have better results if you place double quotes around the phrase you are seeking. This makes the search engine look for the words in the exact order as typed between the quotes. This is also useful when searching for a person, place, or thing that has two or more words in its name, title or description, such as “John Paul Jones”, “Colorado River”, or “salt water taffy”. Be Specific

If you use too few words or words with double meanings you will likely not get the results you are looking for. If you want a nice image of a pink rose, you should be aware that the word rose is both a flower and a type of pink wine. Because search engines typically return pages that contain all of the words you type into the query box, using just the words pink rose will return hundreds of thousands of pages that have both roses and wine in them.

To make your search query more specific, you can make your search words more detailed, such as pink rose flower clipart. You can also place a minus sign (–) without a space in front of the word you don't want (in this example, you would type –wine). Just as with math, the minus sign subtracts a key word from your search and helps you avoid getting pages that you don't want. For this search, typing “pink rose” flower clipart –wine gives you a good chance of finding what you're looking for in the first 20 or so returns. You can also do this with bothersome words that show up in your search results.

Google offers many helpful features for searching all sorts of specific areas such as movies, music, phone numbers, people, stocks, the weather and much more. Just go to Google's Web Search Features to see their selection of specific search features. Yahoo! Shortcuts also offers special features designed to help you to find answers quickly they can be found at Yahoo! Help.

Specialized Search Engines

There are hundreds of free, specialized search engines that can also help your search. Here are some of my favorites.

Dogpile® is a meta search engine, which means that it gives you results from many search engines and web sources. Dogpile currently gets its results from Google, Yahoo, Live search, Ask, and more.

Search-22 is a directory of search engines, especially for kids and teens. You can find links to family-safe sites and reference and educational search engines.

The National Archives offers a search of the records from every branch of the Federal government. Almost all Americans can use this site to find themselves, their ancestors, or their community in these archives.

Zillow.com™ is an online real estate search engine dedicated to helping people find places to live or get the value of the home you have today. It also offers interesting housing information and maps.

Wink is a people search engine. The search engine finds individuals who are active Internet or social network users. It searches the public profiles on MySpace, Bebo, Friendster, LinkedIn, Live Spaces, and other sources.

PHISHY SCAMS AND FLIM-FLAMS

Phishing (pronounced like fishing) is an internet scam that can drive you nuts. The most common form of phishing is by email. The email appears to be from your bank or PayPal, a retailer like Amazon, an auction site like eBay, or a government agency like the FBI or IRS, just to name a few. The email typically asks you to confirm personal information with a threat that your account will be closed if you fail to do so, informs you that an item has been ordered in your name, or alerts you that your personal information has been lost or compromised. Don't believe them for a minute, and importantly, don't click on any links within that email. The only action you should take is to delete the email. More Information

The phisher's link takes you to a fake Web site that looks just like the real site of the company or agency they're impersonating. Any personal information entered at the fake site goes directly to identity thieves who will target you again and again. If you're not sure about the legitimacy of any email message asking for information, locate the company Web site via a search engine then contact them by phone.

Phishing can also occur by phone. In this scenario, you typically get a call from someone pretending to be a representative from your bank, one of your credit cards, or a law enforcement agency. They will again ask for your personal information under the guise of some urgent need, but again, don't give it out. Instead, ask for that person's name and phone number then hang up. Then contact the actual bank, credit card company or law enforcement agency and inquire as to whether or not such contact was for legitimate reasons. There are times when banks and credit card companies may need to contact you by phone, such as when they notice an unusual purchase pattern, but they will only ask if you made a particular purchase or transaction; they will not ask you for an account number or other personal information.

A notorious example in the category of flim flam or scam is the Nigerian email. This unsolicited email or letter will come from some high government official asking if you or your company can help them move tens of millions of dollars out of Nigeria or some other African country. Just delete this email — don't reply because they will only try to rob you again and again. Another popular scam is an email notifying you that you've won a lottery or a big million-dollar prize. Don't fall for this one either and don't reply, just delete it. Believe me, there is no lottery and no big-dollar money prize. Remember that if the offer comes to you by spam (unsolicited email), then it's a scam or flim flam just waiting for you to take the bait.

As a preventative measure, always protect your computer with spam filters, anti-virus and anti-spyware software, and a firewall. I know it is a lot to manage but these days it's necessary. The advantages these applications offer are many:

• A spam filter will help reduce the number of phishing emails you get.

• Anti-virus software scans all incoming emails and attachments for alien files and known viruses.

• Anti-spyware looks for illicit programs that have installed themselves on your computer in order to track your online activities without your knowledge. This software can protect you against pharming (another devious trick used by phishers).

• Firewalls work to prevent hackers from entering your computer. This is especially important with a DSL or cable modem connection because your computer is on the Internet whenever it's turned on.

Also remember to keep each of these protective programs up-to-date as efficiently as you can.

Your life online can be fun and informative but always be on guard against all unsolicited emails. To be on the safe side, delete all spam that gets through your filters. Don't believe any unexpected email that asks to verify personal information. Don't open email attachments from unexpected email.

Lastly, bookmark and use OnGuardOnline.gov and StaySafeOnline.org to learn more about how to keep you and your computer safe and secure.

Author:Susan Ayers Walker Updated : Narayanan K Date:17Dec,2007