Cybercrime

If you ever wondered about the how and why of virus programs, cyber crime and all that nasty stuff then please take 18 minutes out of your busy schedule and watch this video.

As usual I welcome suggestions and comments right here in the blog.

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What does Microsoft want do do with Windows 8?

Recently I was looking at the Modern User InterfaceI (formerly Metro Interface) and thinking about the many discussions in other places about Windows 8 pro and cons. 

I realized that Microsoft wants me to tell them among others:

1. Who I communicate with via email

2. Who I communicate with more informally (instant messaging)

3. Who I am "friends" with (social networking)

4. Where I live and when and where I am on business and/or vacation

5. What I schedule in my calendar

6. What photos I take when and where, the latter if I a have a modern camera with GPS feature (smartphones!)

7. What stocks are in my portfolio or I am interested in

8. What I store on Sky Drive

9. What news I am interested in

10. Where I take a vacation or travel to or plan to eventually travel to

11. What sports I am interested in

12. What media I consume

13. What I look up and/or do and/or buy on the Internet (IE10)

And there is more, so much more...From my 48 years in IT (sorry, sometimes I have to brag a wee bit; please forgive me) I have a vague idea what Artificial Intelligence programs can do when they scan my emails, my communications and correlate that with all the details I have had to tell Microsoft about myself to fill the tiles on the Modern UI with, for me, meaningful information.

And Microsoft really tries quite obviously to coax me into using my age-old Hotmail account to log in. That would give them the unique ID to easily tie it all together.

I believe I am usually fairly bland and somewhat straight headed but THIS is THE ONE ASPECT of Windows 8's Modern UI that fills me with a lot of trepidation. Apple has made an incredible fortune "having access" to all this information about their customers and as I see it Microsoft wants to bake themselves a similar pie, not only get a slice.

Once I realized this my reaction was "Big Brother. . . ". Please don't tell me anything about "conspiracy" or similar, I have expressed only some thoughts, not a theory at all!

I am really curious what kind of comments this will get; let it rip guys!

Oh, before I forget it, I do know that much, if not most of that information is already out there on some computers; but it is distributed over many computers in different companies. What really scares the heebie jeebies out of me is to GIVE IT ALL INTO ONE HAND!

 
 As usual I welcome suggestions and comments right here in the blog.

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Windows Live = NO Privacy At All

One of the more technically oriented newsletters I receive regularly arrived with this article: Windows Live shares your Messenger contacts. 

Already in April 2010 I wrote about Microsoft and Privacy. Now on top of all that comes above mentioned article from the Windows Secrets newsletter. Again, in my opinion the author is a reputable man and a very experienced computer journalist; I trust his words.

You may want to wade waist deep through the original article; if you prefer to save yourself some time here are selected literal quotes:

With the new Live format, Microsoft pays a great deal of lip service to maintaining your privacy; but my tests show you can't trust what you see on the screen.

Now, imagine my surprise when I discovered that the so-called new and improved, privacy-conscious version of Windows Live — the social-networking sphere containing Messenger and Hotmail — continues to share my personal information, even when I explicitly tell it to keep my info and communications private.

Windows Live's most pernicious form of privacy invasion is what I call third-party tattling. Here's how it works: You and Mr. A have a conversation via Live Messenger. Days, weeks, or even months later, you and Mr. B also have a conversation. In Windows Live parlance, you are now friends with both Mr. A and Mr. B.
Tattling comes into play when Mr. A signs on to Messenger or Hotmail or Windows Live and sees that "[You] and Mr. B are now friends."

I'm sure you can think up many different scenarios where that kind of sharing could be quite embarrassing (even lethal) — an informational gold mine for business rivals, political opponents, love triangles, wanted nuclear scientists; you get the picture. To put it succinctly, it's none of Mr. A's freakin' business who else I've contacted with Messenger.

Microsoft tattles — dishes up lists of my new-found Friends every time they log on to Messenger, Hotmail, or the main Windows Live page.

Microsoft has taken Hotmail and Messenger accounts and turned them into Windows Live Spaces accounts. What's more worrisome, MS has also taken the liberty of converting your Messenger contacts into Friends. It then shares information about these new Friends with each other. To try to prevent this sharing (and, based on my tests, you can't), you have to navigate a mind-boggling labyrinth of privacy settings.

It has a bad odor to it. When I use Facebook, I fully expect that other people will be able to see what I'm doing. No problem — I would never use Facebook for sensitive business communications. But when I use Messenger, I expect it to be as private as a phone call.

I hope this is enough to keep you from using ANY of Microsoft’s Live services, be it Messenger, Hotmail, cloud storage or whatever other service under the umbrella of a Windows Live ID.

Please distinguish between services and some useful programs Microsoft freely offers as part of what currently is called Windows Live Essentials.

For example I write this blog with Windows Live Writer; it is a God-sent for me. Other Windows Live Essentials programs that some of my customers use – but I don’t have any experience with:

1. Windows Live Movie Maker to edit family videos,
2. Windows Live Photo Gallery for photo organizing and basic editing,
3. Windows Live Family Safety to protect kids from Internet smut.

The big risk is that these programs are offered together with Live Messenger and Live Mail and every time you update one of them you again and again will get inundated with requests to set your home page to MSN, make Live Search (and/or Bing) your main search provider and to get a Windows Live ID. User beware!

As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog. Thank you in advance.

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Facebook and Twitter - Beware

This is a serious warming, guaranteed no jokes in here!

If you or any family member use any of Bebo, Facebook, Friendster, hi5, MySpace or Twitter your computer is at acute risk.

The Koobface virus is on the loose!

In the meantime there are several variants of this nasty critter around and some of these are outright difficult to remove. If you want to do your part to keep your computer clean then please be extremely wary of or avoid altogether:

• Links sent from friends you don’t communicate often with
• Broken/bad English in the messages
• Outright grammar and/or spelling errors
• Exciting messages (see this hilarious video!)
• Email hackers and password thieves  (change your Facebook password to be different from your email password)
• Short web link instead of a fully spelled out link
• Wall posts from others that don’t seem normal or appear strange in any way
• New Friends requests from people you don’t know in person
• “Gifts” of Farmville money or the like
  If you ask “What is Farmville” I say “Good for you that you don’t know; don’t even think about going there!”
• And new, developing tricks and lies to come. . .

This list is by no means complete, it is solely meant to give you ideas on what to be wary of.

If you want to read more about risks and dangers on Facebook please take the time to read this article from Cnet (opens a new window or tab, depending on your browser settings).

Naturally the best precaution is as always to stay completely away from social networking sites. Did you know that pickpockets operate in crowds, but hardly ever where there are only a few people?

As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog. Thank you in advance.

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