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Hoax-Slayer is a website we discovered a couple of weeks back and a member of our team literally fell in love with it straight away.  Graham described it as a ‘website after my own heart’!  Therefore, I’ve been set the task to let you know what it’s all about!  The description on the Hoax-Slayer website pretty much sums the site up in one paragraph:

“Hoax-Slayer is dedicated to debunking email hoaxes, thwarting Internet scammers, combating spam, and education web users about email and Internet security issues.  Hoax-Slayer allows Internet users to check the veracity of common email hoaxes and aims to counteract criminal activity by publishing information about common types of Internet scams.  Hoax-Slayer also includes anti-spam tips, computer and email security information, articles about true email forwards and much more.  New articles are added to the Hoax-Slayer website every week.”

So in other words, Hoax-Slayer is out with a mission to remove any scams and hoaxes around on the internet to make it a better and safer place for all!  The site has a variety of really helpful articles and guides to help you avoid any problems!

The site is really worth browsing over to prepare you for any potentially problematic emails/scams on the internet!

Today we’re doing our fourth Anti-Virus software comparison.  Today we’re looking at Award Winning AVG Internet Security and avast! Professional Edition.  Now a lot of you will be sitting there thinking, ‘I’ve never heard of avast!’.  avast! are another ‘smaller’ Anti-Virus software company which is snapping at the heals of the ‘Big Three’, AVG, Norton and McAfee.  For more about avast! check out their website! The comparison will involve an overview of the features each package has and then at the end we’ll tell you which we think is better through our rating system. Our ratings are worked out by the amount of ticks the product has. Further points are awarded for faster download, simpler/better installation and cheaper price.

Feature
Download Time	Very Fast	Fast
Installation	Simple and of average length.  However, unlike AVG you still have a lot of configuration to do.	Takes an average length of time.  Quite extensive and helps you set up the basic features of the software.
Anti-Spyware
Anti-Rootkit
Anti-Virus
Task Scheduler
Automatic Updater
P2P and Instant Messenger Shield
Web Shield
Virus Chest (Known as Vault on AVG)
Network Shield/Identity Protection
Anti-Spam
Firewall
Anti-Malware
Available to buy from Brandstar?
RRP	£24.95 (1 year)	£39.14 (1 year)
Overall Rating	11 out of 16	14 out of 16

Overall AVG Internet Security is the better software by far, however, it is almost £15 more.  I would say that spending that extra £15 is worth it, especially if you look at the tools/features that you get with AVG compared to avast!  I would say avast! has loads of potential but it the product needs to be far more extensive to warrant a purchase.  After all, some of the features they’re missing out on are pretty basic, necessities for any Anti-Virus software.  avast! has a really cool interface (see picture), however it isn’t that easy to find you way around.

Are you finding that emails from some of your contacts are sneaking into your Junk Mail/Spam folder?  Here is a great little tip for those of you who are running AVG 8/8.5 to stop this happening!

1. Open up the AVG Interface (Start –> Programs –> AVG –> AVG User Interface)
2. Click tools and then advanced settings
   
3. Click on the (+) next to Anti-Spam and then Click Settings.  After this click in the box next to ‘add recipients of sent e-mails to whitelist’ to make sure there is a tick in it.  (Click on below image to make it bigger)
   
4. Select Apply and then click OK.

We hope this helps!

You may find that your AVG Anti-Spam isn’t catching some of your SPAM Emails.  There are two different ways to catch SPAM emails.  The below tutorial will show you both ways, starting off with HAM.  HAM training of Anti-Spam teaches AVG what emails you want.  The other method is SPAM training, this teaches AVG which emails you don’t want.  Both methods are pretty straightforward and we highly recommend you teach AVG to do it in both ways.  You may have to do this a few times but AVG catches on pretty quick!

Read the rest of this entry »

In the past we have written about recognising spoof emails trying to acquire some form of personal information on you, whether it be from a hoax bank email or website, the problem is becoming much more common and serious.  In September 2008 there were over 8,621 Phishing Sites/Emails found and verified.  Our previous posts on this topic are:

Phishing – general advice to help you stay safe online

Advice on Hoax Virus Warning Emails

Quick Tip: Stopping Spam

Today we came across PayPals 3 Part Phishing Guide.  We think that articles are well worth a look.  They are primarily based on helping identify PayPal spoof emails, however much of the information applies to general spoof emails.  The links below link to each Part of the Guide:

Part 1- Understanding Phishing

Part 2 – Recognizing Phishing

Part 3 – Fighting Phishing

With more and more phishing sites/emails being found each month we all need to be on our toes with what’s going on!

Safe Surfing!

You may find that your AVG Anti-Spam isn’t catching some of your SPAM Emails.  If this is the case you will need to train AVG.  You may have to do this a few times but AVG catches on pretty quick!

1. First of all open up your email program e.g. Microsoft Office 2007 (Although we are using Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 for the example, the process is very similar in most email software.)  Now you must create a new folder.
   
2. Give the New Folder a name.  We suggest ‘TRAIN_SPAM’.  Then Click OK.
   
3. Drag into this new folder any Spam emails that AVG has missed.
4. Once you’ve put any missed spam in the folder you need to open up AVG.  Select ‘Tools’ and then ‘Advanced Settings’.
   
5. Click ‘Anti-Spam’, Settings and then ‘Train Anti-Spam’.  (Click on image to make bigger).
   
6. Select your Email Software from the list.  (Click on image to make bigger)
   
7. Now you will be asked for your profile name.  For most people there will be only one option because you will only have one profile.  But for those who have more make sure you select the right one, i.e. the one you will to train with.  You can make your selection via the drop down list.  Then Click OK.
   
8. Find the folder which you wish to train.  Then click ‘Next’.  (Click on image to make bigger)
   
9. Select All Messages (No Filtering) then Next.  (Click on image to make bigger)
   
10. Click Next.
11. Once the process is complete click ‘Finish’ and then ‘OK’.
12. Go back into Outlook or your email program and delete anything that was in the TRAIN_SPAM folder.

From now on the files like those that were in the TRAIN_SPAM folder should be sent automatically to your junk email folder. Sometimes they need to be trained a few times as there are variants of Spam so just repeat the steps above. Give it a go and let us know if you have any suggestions!

Spam is a huge problem for everyone and while we will never get rid of all of it there are little things that help! So here are a few:

1. Never Respond to Spam, this tells the sender that your address is active.
2. Block Images: Spammers can tell if an image was displayed in an email so if possible turn off image display on your email client for suspect messages.
3. Don’t forward chain letters – it is just a way of collecting email addresses. For more information on this read here.
4. Don’t click links – much like the images, if you click the links it tells the spammer your address is active.
5. Never respond to an email requesting information – if a company like ebay or your bank requests for you to confirm your details then it is most probably a hoax. But if you want to be 100% sure then log-in to the respective site in your normal way (going direct to the site!) and then see if you have a message from them.

Well there we go, my top 5 quick tips on stopping or avoiding spam. I hope it helps