Hi Vivienne, here's this week's news from The Web on Wheels!

In this week's issue we'll look at:

• 'Phishing';
• Personality Quiz; and
• a light-hearted moment - comparisons!

Enjoy the news, and if you know of someone who might also enjoy the newsletters, please forward to them, or let them know they can sign up for their own free newsletter here: http://members.thewebonwheels.com.au

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Just a quick word about the content of this message.
Throughout this newsletter I have included various links to websites, and included some pictures. Sometimes those links don't work.
It's NOT you!
Sometimes your computer, or the system you're using (eg. Hotmail, Outlook) decides to look after your security and won't go straight to an outside website or download pictures. Sometimes it's simply that your computer is set to receive only plain text messages. So no matter what you do, you won't get the nice looking, easy-clicking tricks, your message will be just as it says - plain text without any of the fancy stuff.

If a link doesn't work, try looking on your screen, usually toward the top of the email message and see if there's some sort of message saying something about the link not being allowed. It might say,  "to protect your privacy downloads have been prevented" or "links have been disabled" - or something similar. Often in the same area there's a messsage saying 'Add to Safe Senders List', or 'Mark as Safe'. Go ahead and click that, then future messages will come through perfectly for you. (Let me know if things don't work as you expect and I'll get it sorted for you.)

Until next week, please take good care of yourself.

Viv

  "Junk is something you've kept for years and throw out three weeks before you need it."
                           From laughitout.com

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This week's problem

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Phishing

This week’s topic is another of those things that really clever, but really mean people do.

It’s called phishing, and it’s pronounced “fishing”. The term phishing refers to emails that are sent, where they’re ‘fishing’ for your information. Essentially someone sends an email and tries to trick you into clicking on a link that will take you to a website where you’ll be prompted to put in your details such as name, password, credit card details. This is what they can use for things like identify theft. With your passwords, they can get into your bank account and drain it.

These ‘phishermen’ send the messages to thousands of people, and are hoping that someone will take the bait in the email – most won’t, but sometimes someone does – and ‘wham’ they’re hooked!

So how do you protect yourself from being hooked?

First:   Be vigilant.    If a message looks suspicious – delete it!

These messages look like they’re coming from legitimate companies, and they word their messages in such a way that they either try to scare you into going to the site - they might say they’re from a bank, and you’re account is going to be suspended, or they say there’s been unusual activity on your account, please click here and verify your information.

The link that they’re asking you to click on looks legitimate, but when you click on it, it takes you to a different site. Often a fake site, that looks really similar.

Learn how to ‘copy and paste’ a link, or better yet, type it in yourself. One of the tricks they use is to have a legitimate looking website address, BUT if you hover your mouse over the address, the real address will show on your screen. If it’s different to what’s in the email – delete the message. Other times the address still looks the same, but when you actually click on it, you are taken to another website.

So rather than clicking on a link in an email to go to a website, Copy the link, (right-click on the link, click Copy), open your web browser (the program you use to go on the Internet) and Paste the link into the address field, (right-click in the address field, click Paste), then press Enter. That way the web address in the email will be the web address that you’ll go to.    

Be careful with your sensitive information.    If you are going to enter sensitive information, like passwords, bank account details etc – be sure the web page is secure. Check the web address at the top looks genuine, and look for the gold padlock.

Type in a false password. A good trick here is, if you’re at all unsure if the website's genuine, type in a wrong password.

If the site is legitimate, then of course, the system will have your details, and typing in a wrong password will cause an error message. Then you can go ahead and put in your correct password. But if it’s a fake site, they won’t have a clue what your password is, so they’ll accept what you type. In that case – get away from the site!

Use phishing filers.   Many internet security programs have phishing filters in them –make sure they’re turned on. The later versions of Internet Explorer has Phishing Filter inbuilt. (You'll find it in the Tools menu in Internet Explorer 7. Click Turn on Phishing Filter, then Turn on Automatic Automatic Website Checking. In Internet Explorer 8 it's called SmartScreen Filter).

As always, make sure you have internet security programs working on your computer. There are many free ones available – I like the AVG free. But of course if you pay, then you get more features, and better programs. The pay-for one I like is Kaspersky. I have it on three of my computers. the link to Kaspersky is here: Kaspersky Internet Security 2009

Check spelling.   It’s amazing how many times they mis-spell things. But, sometimes those spelling mistakes are deliberate, and it’s a way for them to be able to get a similar address without being too obvious. For instance Paypal has been known to have a 1 substituted for the l, so it looks like paypa1.com. If things aren’t just right – go away from it!

GOLDEN RULE

If you receive an unsolicited email, one that isn’t addressed to you, one that has spelling errors or looks a little odd – never click on any of the links in the message.

That’s it for today on that subject, as always be ever-vigilant, and if in doubt about a website – get away from it.

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How are you?

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Or Who Were you??

This test is a little different to the regular personality tests.

It determines what sort of job you would have held in medieval times.

The link is here:   www.kingdomality.com. (Yes, it’s a legitimate link, and a genuine site :). They offer you the free quiz in hopes that you’ll buy their book. Here's a link to the book which is sold at Amazon:  Kingdomality: An Ingenious New Way to Triumph in Management  (it's also a very reputable site.)     You can see an excerpt from the book, and buy online. But if you’re not up to buying the book, why not try your library, they might have a copy.

Anyway, the quiz alone is a bit different and a bit of fun. Here’s the link again:     www.kingdomality.com

• Click on the centre picture:
  

You’ll be taken to the next page

• Click on the scene with the knight and castle.
  Then you will be taken to the page with the introduction.
• Scroll down a little bit and Click on the shield to take the quiz.

The Kingdomality Personal Preference Profile.    (What a mouthful, I feel like it should be said with trumpeters in the background.)

They need you to enter some information. They need your name, your occupation, (I put Chief Encouragement Officer, you might be retired, or executive ...) and then the answer to a question, but it’s for their research purposes only. You can choose to enter your email address, that’s entirely optional. (I don’t).

Now to the Quiz.

• Scroll down and click on the button that says to go to Question 1.

To complete the quiz, you’ll need to choose a number from a drop-down list for each question. For those who don’t know about drop-down menus, there’s a little tutorial on the Kingdomality site, that explains it and lets you have a practice. Feel free to click on that if you like.

Here’s an example of my answer to Question 1.

• When you’ve made your choices, click on the Submit button to move to the next question.

When you’ve completed the last question, you’ll be taken to the results page. I’m a Dreamer-Minstrel!

What are you? I’d love to know – why not click on reply and let me know :). Only I will see it, unless you email our members at our group email:    thewebonwheels@igroops.com. Actually, I’ll post my results there, so you can see what they think I would have been.

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Humour me!  

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Congratulations to All the Kids Who Were Born In The 1920s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s !!!

 
First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us and lived in houses made of asbestos.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes or cervical cancer.

Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright coloured lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets or shoes, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.

Riding in the back of a Ute on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.

Take away food was limited to fish and chips, no pizza shops, McDonalds, KFC, Subway or Red Rooster.

Even though all the shops closed at 6.00pm and didn't open on the weekends, somehow we didn't starve to death!

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We could collect old drink bottles and cash them in at the corner store and buy fruit tingles and some crackers to blow up frogs with.

We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soft drinks with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because ...

WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day.   And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. We built tree houses and cubby houses and played in creek beds with matchbox cars.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms........... WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no Lawsuits from these accidents.

Only girls had pierced ears!

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

You could only buy Easter Eggs and Hot Cross buns at Easter time.......no really!

We were given BB guns and sling shots for our 10th birthdays.

We drank milk laced with Strontium 90 from cows that had eaten grass covered in nuclear fallout from the atomic testing at Maralinga in 1956.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!

Mum didn't have to go to work to help dad make ends meet!

Footy had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!

Our teachers used to belt us with big sticks and leather straps and bully's always ruled the playground at school.

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

Our parents got married before they had children and didn't invent stupid names for their kids like "Blade" (Ed. Nothing wrong with Blade (named in honour of champion ruckman Brendan Lade)

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!

The past 70 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned  

HOW TO
DEAL WITH IT ALL!

And YOU are one of them!

CONGRATULATIONS!
You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good.

And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.

PS -The big type is because your eyes are shot at your age :)

Bye for this week,
Smiles and best wishes
Viv

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This is an e-mailing from the The Web on Wheels Community group.

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