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| "Cyberprowlers" know
that children today are computer savvy, and know that they generally are
very trusting of people. They use this knowledge to befriend them, and
can be dangerous if they learn information about who the child is, where
s/he lives, or tries to arrange a meeting. If you have children, check
some of the sites listed below. General Guidelines * Teach your children about safety online; children should never give out personal information such as full name, address, birth date, phone number, where they go to school or other identifying information * Monitor your childrens' online activity; know what they do online. Let children know you are not being nosy; that you are only trying to protect them * Don't place a computer that is attached to the Internet in a child's bedroom; keep wired computers in a main area in the house where online problems can be easily detected * Research children-friendly aides such as monitors (which can tell you where your child has visited), filters (which prevent your child from visiting sites based on various criteria), Internet service providers (ISPs) with child-friendly access, and suggesting children use child-friendly search engines. |
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| Spam is growing at a fast pace. While there are spam-buster programs out there to substantially reduce this unwanted annoyance, these "blacklist" filters have been found to sometimes delete "good email" as well. The new concept of white lists is growing, yet the issue is very complex. Perhaps your best bet is to create an email address that you use less frequently, so that any purchases or requests online can be sent to that address along with any unsolicited "spam". Meanwhile, however, if you have a repeat offender who fails to stop sending unwanted emails, send your information here and we shall create a database and report these offenders to the Attorney General's office. In the subject area, state: BD unwanted emails. Thanks. | |
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| What you should do if you are
infected by a computer bug: Turn off all active shares (file sharing)that you are running on your computer so that your computer is not accessible on the department network. Do not send any emails prior to resolving this issue. Identify the virus - most computer viruses can be identified by simply running a virus detection program like McAfee VirusScan. Download a copy from OIT's website now if you do not have one. (note: the download link will only work if you are on campus). Find a solution - please take a moment and visit http://vil.nai.com/vil/default.asp. McAfee puts up a exhuastive list of computer viruses and directions to eradicating them. Make sure you power down (shut-off) your PC and unplug the network cable from the computer and/or the wall jack. What you can do to keep your computer safe Like any rational system the prevention of a problem is much desirable to finding it's solution. We have provided the following checklist that our clients may use as a guideline to protect themselves from various computer attacks. [ ] Turn off File Sharing if you do not need it. By default file sharing is turn on automatically when you install Microsoft Windows NT/2000/XP. Most people do not need to share files but they may need to access them from other people. Turning file sharing off will not hamper your ability to access other computers on the network and collect data. [ ] Do not share the root of your main drives. The C: drive is usually the main drive in windows machines because this is where the system files are stored. Sharing the whole drive is not recommended as it makes it easier for these files to be corrupted or possibly deleted remotely. We advice that you create a folder in this drive and share only that folder on the network. Once again root shares are default in Windows NT/2000 for logical reasons that do not apply to most users. [ ] Password protect your shared folders (when possible). [ ] Make sure you have a virus detection program. [ ] Firewall anyone? For extra security you could purchase or download firewall software. A firewall closes all the entry points to your computer and don't restrict access. In its simple form it will make your computer invisible to the network and internet. The side effect is that you will not be able to access your computer remotely in most cases. A good freeware firewall program is Sygate Personal Firewall. Download this from TUCOWS.com. |
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