CompuClever Blog

Surf with Confidence

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Unlike shark attacks, cyber-attacks are numerous, sophisticated, and ever-changing. Many cyber criminals who have managed to evade law enforcement are not only resourceful but also considered experts. To a certain extent they are even innovative. Compelled by the sinister desire of luring more victims while remaining undetected, hackers diligently invent new techniques and schemes to exploit systems of users who are even security-conscious.

Jaw-dropping

The cases presented below are a couple of example of classical cyber-attacks that are conniving, stealthy, and almost ingenious.

  • Case 1: While surfing the web at home, the user of a hacked PC was prompted to create new accounts in order to use her own Wireless Access Points (WAP). Not knowing what was happening behind the scenes, the victim would use a common username or email address along with a password that was used for several other online accounts.  The result: the hackers gained complete and unblocked access to her email, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or even online banking site.
  • Case 2: On the premises of a Starbucks coffee shop, hackers positioned a Wi-Fi hotspot and disguise it so that it appears to belong to Starbucks. Attackers then redirect victims to frequently used websites that were actually modified or fake to capture login credentials or deploy keylogging malware to harvest personal identity information.
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Are you well protected

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“Am I well protected by the antivirus product that I just chose?” This is the most common question that lingers in the mind of almost every security-cautious PC user when first installing an antivirus solution, whether it’s free or purchased. Almost every commercially available antivirus program today boasts that it will protect you from any and all malware.  However, the reality is no two security products are created equal and there are similarities and important differences among antivirus software when it comes to evaluating the level of sufficiency and effectiveness of protection. This article shows you what to look for and how to tell if your antivirus software provides you enough protection.

Known or Unknown

There two types of malware: Known and Unknown.

  • A Known virus is a piece of widespread and prevalent malware discovered in the past four weeks. Detection of known viruses is relatively trivial because for the past decade or so, the antivirus industry has evolved into a “coopetition” landscape (in other words, a coexistence of cooperation and competition), through which security researchers and solution providers proactively and voluntarily share discovery of new virus samples with absolutely secure measures.
  • An Unknown virus, better known as a zero-day attack, is a threat that exploits an unknown computer security vulnerability.
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New Year’s PC Resolution

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This past year we introduced topics and subject matter related to PC enhancement. We intend to highlight the best of these as they apply to providing you the tools needed to enhance your PC performance and take action against unwanted behavior. It is our hope that you can take a look at our year in review and pick what you need to carry out your PC goals for the upcoming year. It’s likely that there are items in your computing world that need attention and here’s your chance to fast track to those areas that have been neglected.

We have chosen six of the most popular articles from 2014. Here is an overview of these articles in three categories:

Privacy / Security:
– Identify and Clean Cookies (July)
– Virus vs PUP and How to Remove Both (Sept)

TuneUp / Clean Up:
– Improve Startup (Aug)
– Spring PC Cleaning (June)

Support:
– CompuClever Free Functionality (Oct)
– DIY vs. Repair Shop (Nov)

Here are the PC enhancement articles for 2014.

Identify and Clean Cookies

About: Not all cookies are created equal. Cookies are created when browsing to particular web pages. While most are safe – especially when coming from a trusted source – not all are. Continue reading...

Browsing for browsers

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There are two main themes to present – choice and browser clean up.  As for choice… not all browsers are created equal.  Most all of us start off with what comes with our PC – Internet Explorer.  For some people, this is the only choice they know.  While all browsers have the ability to access your favorite sites and create bookmarks, there are very real differences between the top most widely used browsers.  This could be the time for you to look into the options.  As for browser clean up, we have new functionality to roll out with our PC Clean Maestro application.  As we are well aware, browsers start out with the basics and then, through the installation of extensions, they can get bogged down or in some cases are altered without our approval – most frequently, our homepage or search engine changes.  It’s time to take charge and have your browser function as you would have it.

 

Here is what we will cover:

  1. Components:  We’ll start with a breakdown of the components.
  2. Top Picks:  We’ll look at the top three browser candidates.
  3. Our App:  We’ll describe how you can make full use of our latest release of PC Clean Maestro.
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DIY vs. Repair Shop

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Why is it that asking for help can be an overwhelming obstacle?  The reality is… there is a certain shame that comes from seeking help when we don’t know something.  No one wants to admit to being lost and needing directions and no one wants to feel like they are not smart enough.  Plus, we all want to join the ranks of DIY – Do It Yourself.  To be real, this takes assessing the situation and knowing if the issues are outside our expertise.  When we are simply spinning our wheels, it’s time to take it to the professionals.  The next task is to get good and reliable service that will lead to a real solution.  This article segues from some of our recent articles that focus on assessment of PC problems.  We’ll cover this in brief and provide links.  The main impetus for this article is to shine some light on PC repair technicians that are not trustworthy and to strongly emphasize how our users can benefit from available tools and services including those offered by our CompuClever support team.

Here is the article menu du jour:

  • Background:  We’ll start with the background story of one man’s experience with a not-so-honest repair shop.
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