Midget Lesbian Porn, Trannies With Knives, and Other Assorted Spam Comments

There’s not much that’s funny about comment spam. Comment spam has the potential to be dangerous – if it’s allowed to be blindly posted. I’ve written a number of articles dealing with the hows/whys of comment spam in the past, so I won’t belabor the point. If you wish you can checkout – Comment Spam Is Dangerous BS!

Over and above the danger it may pose to Internet travellers, by its very nature, comment spam is a pain in the patootie for bloggers who have to deal with it. Here on this site – every morning I’m forced to deal with upwards of 300+ pieces of comment spam. This morning for example – 358. These numbers do not include the 200 or more spam comments, that will arrive throughout the day.

Not a big problem you might think – just hit “delete all spam.” Done – over with – on to the next thing. Except, the downside to the quick erase method is; some genuine comments that may have a link/attachment (which will trigger the spam filter), get lost in the flush.

Recently, for example, a reader made the point that I had not posted his previous comment and questioned, if I intended to handle his current comment in the same way. Since I do not filter genuine comments, I could only assume that this reader’s prior comment had fallen victim to the “flush it down the toilet” method. An apology, of course, was in order. So, a pain in the patootie? You bet.

Even so, hard as it is to imagine – there is a bit of a silver lining to comment spam. Sure, I had to dig deep to find it – but, I have to admit – there are those rare moments when I get my morning coffee up my nose, when the unintentional humor of a spam comment catches me unaware.

Now, I don’t mean any disrespect to those who consider Midget Lesbian Porn to be the height of eroticism …………………….. (no, I better not write what I really want to say). But, the following brought tears to my eyes – tears of laughter, that is.

Midget lesbian porn – dominican-republic-travelxxxxxx/ x
hflrzwnxko@vkukou.com

Lolita midget porn videos – dominican-republic-travelxxxxxx

Midget asian porn http://dominican-republic-travel-dealsxxx

Hard core midget porn pics, QzpMldJ.

All of the links actually resolve to – http:midgetporntube4u.com/?act=public_html/dominican-republic-travel-deals.net/&

Travelling to the site – if you’re running WOT – would pop up the following warning. Just a quick question for WOT though – why would “Child safety” be unrated?

But lets move on to the following. Both of these put a cramp in my sense of how to comment, in this post, gracefully. So, I’ll just say – WHAT?

Ticked off trannies with knives (referral link removed).

Penis enlargement bible free download (referral link removed).

But the best, the spam comments that leave me in stitches, are the Google Translate fails. One would think, that if a spammer went to all the trouble of writing a complex spam comment, he’d a least get it right.  Here’s a few recent examples.  

I beloved up to you’ll receive carried out proper here. The comic strip is tasteful, your authored material stylish. however, you command get bought an impatience over that you wish be turning in the following. ill without a doubt come further beforehand once more since precisely the same nearly very incessantly inside case you protect this hike.

Pretty element of content. I simply stumbled upon your blog and in accession capital to say that I acquire actually loved account your blog posts. Anyway I’ll be subscribing in your augment or even I success you get admission to constantly quickly.

Undeniably imagine that that you stated. Your favourite justification seemed
to be at the internet the easiest thing to have in mind of. I say to you, I certainly get annoyed while folks consider concerns that they plainly don’t recognize about. You controlled to hit the nail upon the top and defined out the entire thing with no need side effect , other people can take a signal. Will probably be back to get more. Thank you

Simply desire to say your article is as astounding. The clarity to your put up is just nice and i could suppose you’re knowledgeable in this subject. Well together with your permission let me to grab your feed to keep updated with approaching post. Thank you one million and please carry on the rewarding work.

Fantastic goods from you, man. I’ve be aware your stuff prior to and you’re just too excellent. I really like what you’ve got right here, really like what you are stating and the way by which you are saying it. You are making it entertaining and you continue to take care of to stay it sensible. I cant wait to learn far more from you. This is really a great web site.

So you see – even comment spam has an upside. Sort of.  

A quick note: In the 20 minutes it took to write this short piece, I’ve become the ungrateful recipient of another 118 spam comments. These guys just never give up.

Google Gives Users The Finger One More Time

The Internet is one kickass place – survey after survey continue to show that cybercriminals are picking off unaware/undereducated users, as if they were shooting fish in a barrel. And Google, the “Do No Evil” company has just made it easier for the bad guys to take aim at you, and me. Read on.

As I reported in March of last year – Search Engine Results – More Malware Surprises Than Ever!

Cyber criminals have bumped up the level of search engine malware.

One in five search topics lead to malware…………

Google search results produced 38 percent of overall search engine malware.

Luckily, those users in the know – were aware that steps could be taken to mitigate the risk of an infection transmitted through a bad search engine result. The tool of choice – one I have long recommended to regular readers here – has been WOT (Web of Trust).

WOT, one of the most downloaded Firefox Add-ons at the Mozilla add-on site, (also compatible with Internet Explorer and Chrome), is a free Internet Browser resource which  investigates web sites you are visiting for spyware, spam, viruses, browser exploits, unreliable online shops, phishing, and online scams – helping you avoid unsafe web sites.

For example, here’s a Google search in which WOT indicates which sites are safe. Notice the unsafe (red) sites, in the Google ads!

You can now scratch the reputation icon associated with the Google ads shown in the previous screen capture. Here’s the bad news. Google has reversed course, and no longer (as of April 13) allows a reputation assessment icon (in other words – a SAFETY assessment icon), to be displayed on Google sponsored ads.

According to WOT – “Due to Google’s policy change, WOT and some other similar tools can no longer show reputations for sponsored links on Google’s search results, or elsewhere on Google ads.”

In the following screen capture (taken today), you’ll notice WOT’s reputation icon (the green circle), attached to generic search results. You’ll also notice, on the TigerDirect (a Google ad), a reputation assessment is no longer available.

In my view, Google can take its “Do No Evil” motto, and “shove it where the sun don’t shine”. No matter the reasoning behind this move – the net result is, Internet surfers are at more risk than they were last week. Tell me that’s not EVIL!

A big “thank you” to regular reader Michael F. for the heads up.

Gmail Scammers Still On The Make

Email spammers/scammers are masters of the well worn “carrot or stick” school of motivation. They seem to bounce from “this is what you’ll get” versus, “this is what you’ll lose” – with some regularity.

Some samples of each motivational technique taken from my spam honeypot Gmail account in the last few days.

The carrot:

Hi
It`s Kerri again. Will you ever contact me?
I made those nude pictures especially for you and I won’t write to you again!
If you wanna see them just drop me a line at – – – – – – –

and the following heavily edited example.

Robert S.Mueller
FBI Director

Check: To be deposited in your bank for it to be cleared within three working days. Your payment would be sent to you via any of your preferred option and would be mailed to you via UPS. Because we have signed a contract with UPS which should expire by August 20th you will only need to pay $150 instead of $420 saving you $270 So if you pay before August 20th, 2011 you save $270.

Oh yeah, don’t forget to send us your name/address; sex/age; cell number; and –  a scanned copy of your driver’s license.

Yes, I’ll get right on that  

Both of the above are just too preposterous to be taken seriously. Although, as difficult as it is to believe, there are those who are laughably loony enough to  respond.

The stick is a little different, and a good example of this is the various forms of the “Your Gmail account needs verification to avoid being shut down ” phishing attack.

Unaware webmail users are much more likely to respond to the threat of losing their email privileges than you might imagine. If the notice looks convincing enough (and, they often do), some Gmail users are bound to be taken in.

The stick:

If you expand this graphic to its original size, you’ll notice the sender is googleemail.com – close, but no cigar. As well, if you’re a WOT (Web of Trust) user, you’ll see that WOT has cleared the “Sign in” link as being safe.

A rather confusing mixed message. Googlee is not Google, but WOT marks the link as safe.

Unfortunately, this “green light” is a shortcoming in WOT’s reputation assessment since the rating reflects the reputation of the the principal domain, and not a subdomain – which, in this case, the link resolves to.

Sadly, average users are generally unaware that Gmail provides a simple tool to view message headers which contain tracking information for an individual email.

In this case, checking the headers (as shown in the following screen capture) reveals this email actually came from prajim.siaminterhost.com – obviously, not Google.

Of course, I didn’t response to this password phishing attempt and click on the enclosed link. But, those users who fall for this type of crafty scam, are often redirected to a forged version of Gmail’s login page where they can happily provided the requested information.

Advice worth repeating:

If you have any doubts about the legitimacy of any email message, or its attachment, delete it.

Better yet, take a look at the email’s headers. Check the initial “Received from” field in the header, since this field is difficult to forge. Additionally, the mail headers indicate the mail servers involved in transmitting the email – by name and by IP address.

It may take a little practice to realize the benefits in adding this precaution to your SOP, but it’s worth the extra effort if you have any concerns.

If you have a webmail account other than Gmail, check out this page for instructions on finding headers for your specific provider.

Google provides excellent advice on their page – Messages asking for personal information, from which the following has been taken.

Here’s what you can do to protect yourself and stop fraudsters:

Check the email address of the sender of the message by hovering your mouse cursor over the sender name and verifying that it matches the sender name.

Check whether the email was authenticated by the sending domain. Click on the ‘show details’ link in the right hand corner of the email, and make sure the domain you see next to the ‘mailed-by’ or ‘signed-by’ lines matches the sender’s email address.

Make sure the URL domain on the given page is correct, and click on any images and links to verify that you are directed to proper pages within the site. Although some links may appear to contain ‘gmail.com,’ you may be redirected to another site after entering such addresses into your browser.

Always look for the closed lock icon in the status bar at the bottom of your browser window whenever you enter any private information, including your password.

Check the message headers. The ‘From:’ field is easily manipulated to show a false sender name. Learn how to view headers.

If you’re still uncertain, contact the organization from which the message appears to be sent. Don’t use the reply address in the message, since it can be forged. Instead, visit the official website of the company in question, and find a different contact address.

If you enter your Google account or personal information as the result of a spoof or phishing message, take action quickly. Send a copy of the message header and the entire text of the message to the Federal Trade Commission at spam@uce.gov. If you entered credit card or bank account numbers, contact your financial institution. If you think you may be the victim of identity theft, contact your local police.

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Web of Trust (WOT) And Facebook Collaborate To Protect Users From Malicious Links

If you’re a Facebook user and you haven’t met a cybercriminal yet; hang in there – you will. Survey after survey continue to show that cybercriminals are picking off Facebook users as if they were shooting fish in a barrel.

Most cybercriminal schemes on Facebook are outrageous. But the bad guys know, that even the most outrageous schemes stand a better than average chance of being successful when targeted at Facebook’s largely unaware, and unsophisticated, user base.

With the collaborative effort announced today by Facebook and Web of Trust, WOT will now provide protection against dubious and malicious web links, that Facebook users continue to be exposed to. When a Facebook user clicks a link that leads to a page with a poor reputation rating as defined by the WOT community, Facebook will show a clear warning message.

Click on graphic to expand to original.

The plan is to roll out to US users 100% on May 12, and then the following week, after the translators have time to finish their work, roll out globally.

A quick reminder:

WOT’s Browser add-on users see reputation icons on Web sites, Google search results, email links, Twitter, as well as shortened URLs. WOT ratings are recalculated every 30 minutes to ensure users have the freshest and most reliable information. The free WOT add-on works in all web browsers and can be downloaded here.

You can read a full review on the benefits of adding WOT to your Browser here on this site – WOT (Web of Trust) – Is It The Most Important Browser Security Add-on You Need To Install?

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WOT Beta for Social Media – Facebook, Twitter Protection And More

WOT (Web of Trust), has just raised the Internet security bar a notch by releasing a Beta version of their award winning Browser add-on which will provide protection against cybercriminals in a number of their favorite hunting grounds – Facebook and Twitter.

Hopefully, WOT’s reputation icons on links in Facebook, Twitter and additionally for shortened URLs by most popular services, such as bit.ly and t.co, will help thwart some of the most outrageous criminal schemes perpetrated on unaware social networking site users.

At the moment, the beta of WOT for social media is available for Firefox only. But, be quick – there are only 1000 preview downloads available!

Download the beta version of WOT for Social Media here.

According to WOT – “The new WOT version will be released in a few weeks for general WOT users, and newcomers.”

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Cyber Criminals Bump Up Efficiency Using Cloud Services

In a comment response yesterday to regular reader Mal C., I made the point – “It’s the person at the keyboard, that’s where the trouble starts – not the OS”. Continuing the discussion with regular reader John B., I expanded on this –

“It’s the person at the keyboard, that’s where the trouble starts – not the OS”, is operative – no matter the operating system.

Just one example: Email accounts are continuously been phished (“your account will be deactivated”, is a popular approach), with the objective being to have the user respond with, password, DOB, mobile telephone number, etc.

If the phish is successful (and many are), the crook ends up controlling that account. Cyber crimes like this, are not system specific. They depend on unaware, undereducated users, for their success.”

As luck would have it, this morning I got an invitation from Commtouch, to post an upcoming article here on Tech Thoughts (which will be published on their site shortly), that partly supports this view.

Cloud Streamlines Efficiency of Identity Theft

Working with cloud-based services significantly improves economies of scale – for cybercriminals, too. Phishers are already benefiting from free hosting by hiding phishing pages within hacked legitimate sites.  Now, they are leveraging cloud-based form management sites, such as Google docs or formbuddy.com. to collect information from unwitting victims.

With this technique, the phisher does not have to worry about creating/managing/storing back-end form data and can more easily scale the harvesting of phished data.  Those duped into filling out the form will not be aware of this nuance.

We just hope victims are paying attention when they fill out a seemingly legitimate form that directly asks for an “email address password.” If their attention lags, they are giving the phisher a significant pay-off for a minimal investment: Identity theft.

This attack targets users of HomeAway holiday rentals – See the images below. Click on an image to expand.

A look at the page source reveals that the filled in form is sent to “formbuddy.com” and not collected directly by the phisher.  Formbuddy.com collects and stores all the responses to the “form” shown above, and then emails a neat summary to the phisher (whose login name is “fanek”).

As a matter of interest, WOT (Web of Trust) warns against visiting formbuddy.com, as per the following screen capture.

As an aware and educated computer user, I know that you wouldn’t be deceived by this type of clumsy attempt to defraud – under no circumstances would you disclose your email address password to anyone.

As I said at the opening, these schemes depend on unaware, undereducated users, for their success. Unfortunately, that describes far to many Internet users.

About Commtouch:

Commtouch provides proven Internet security technology to more than 150 security companies and service providers including 1&1, Check Point, F-Secure, Google, Microsoft, Panda Security, Rackspace, US Internet, WatchGuard and Webroot,, for integration into their solutions. Commtouch’s GlobalView™ and patented Recurrent Pattern Detection™ (RPD™) technologies are founded on a unique cloud-based approach, and protect effectively in all languages and formats.  Commtouch’s Command Antivirus utilizes a multi-layered approach to provide award winning malware detection and industry-leading performance.

More information is available here.

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A Reader Wants To Know….

We receive a wide variety of questions here, from the very simple, to the complex – all of which are equally as interesting. The following thought-provoking questions were all recently posed by a reader.

Which Antivirus application(s) would you recommend?

Let me answer this by telling you what I run on my principal home machine. Despite the fact that I’m provided with a free license for all the security applications I test, I have chosen the following applications.

Microsoft Security Essentials (free)

Immunet Protect – a free Cloud based companion antimalware application.

ThreatFire (free)

WinPatrol (free)

Pc Tools Firewall Plus (free) – I recently changed from ZoneAlarm (free), since I finally tired of their incessant ads.

Zemana AntiLogger (paid) – I’ve managed to pick up a free license each of the last 2 years, however.

Each of these applications has been reviewed (some several times), on my site. A site search using the search box will lead you to the relevant article/s.

How many Antivirus application(s) should I have installed on my laptop.

Typically the answer is straightforward – one (in order to avoid potential conflicts). However, nothing is really straightforward with a computer. For an in-depth answer, please read Can I Install And Use More Than One Antimalware Application? on my site.

Which Firewall would you recommend?

Over time, I have installed virtually every available Firewall, and I must admit, my favorite has always been ZoneAlarm – not only for its effectiveness, but also for its ease of use. As I said earlier though, I recently made the change back to PC Tools Firewall Plus – a Firewall I’ve used in the past that is as effective and as easy to use as ZoneAlarm (without the annoying ads).

Comodo Firewall, which you’re presently using, is an excellent application. I’ve used and reviewed this application in the past, and I have no difficulty in recommending it.

Which Malware/Spyware application(s) would you recommend?

Since Microsoft Security Essentials combines both antivirus, and antispyware in the same application, this is a very workable solution. Additionally, the issue of maintaining good control over system resource usage is addressed by employing this combination.

How many Malware/Spyware applications should I have installed on my laptop?

The same answer applies here as in the Antivirus question.

Which Backup and Recovery program(s) would you suggest?

The principal issues affecting backups are determined by how (the skill level of the user), and for what purpose, a computer is used. Typically, average users are convinced that backing up is beyond their knowledge level, and so avoid this necessary chore.

The reality is, major advances have been made in the development of simple, “push button” easy, backup applications. There are a many applications to choose from, both paid and free, and the one I’m very enthusiastic about at the moment is Free EASEUS Todo Backup. You can reread my recent review of this application here.

Which registry cleaner would you recommend?

Registry Cleaners are often referred to as the “snake oil” of the computer industry. There is a major difference of opinion concerning the value of these applications.

Generally speaking, it’s my view that this type of application should not be used by an average user – except for a very mild cleaner, such as Ccleaner, which I do, in fact, highly recommend.

There are times when a powerful cleaner, (such as RegSeeker), in skilled hands, can be beneficial.

Which Anonymous Surfing application would you recommend? (My privacy is mine and important to me).

I’ve reviewed and recommended quite a number of such applications here, but the application I’m most partial to (at the moment), is Free Hotspot Shield. You can read the latest review of this application here.

Finally – while you mentioned WOT and SnoopFree Privacy Shield, additional Browser protection is a critical ingredient in overall system protection. I recommend that you read the following article here – An IT Professional’s Must Have Firefox and Chrome Add-ons

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Comment Spam Is Dangerous BS!

If you’ve ever wondered why comments on this site, and many other sites for that matter, are held for moderation by a site administrator, the simple answer is – comment spam, and the need to control it.

Without a doubt, comments are an important part of the mix for a technology site. Comments can spark discussion (always a good thing), allow a reader to present his/her point of view, share tech wisdom, or spread the word on a unique piece of software.

But, comments are not without their share of issues; with comment Spam, in my view, being a significant problem. Spam is virtually everywhere on the Internet. In your inbox, on Twitter and Facebook and other social networks, and so it’s not surprising that you’ll find Spam comments. Recently however, I’ve seen a major increase in the amount of comment Spam.

The following comment spam (full of praise – like many are), is just a small example of the type of nonsense Spam I deal with daily. (click on the screen capture to expand to original size – 1280 x 589).

Take a look at this one, and try to imagine the type of creep who would submit this as a comment.

Hard as it is to believe, there are many sites that rely only on a Spam filter to sort out the wheat from the chaff. Unfortunately, this complacency can lead to the posting of comment Spam that contains dangerous links. Links, which if followed, can lead to a malware site – guaranteeing a very painful experience. The comment shown above, for example, contains a number of malicious links.

Some advice:

Be cautious when following links contained in comments on any web site.

Be particularly cautious of comments, on any web site, where the writer is describing a problem with recommended software and offers a link to alternative software.  This is a favorite technique employed by cyber-criminals.

Be cautious when following any link contained in any web site, since the latest reports indicate there are 5.8 million individual web pages infected across 640,000 compromised websites. Cyber-criminals are finding it easier than ever to inject malicious content into legitimate sites.

Be cautious following links on web forums. Forums can often be a source of dangerous links.

Since the majority of infected sites are infected with Java based scripts, consider using Firefox with the NoScript add-on active. NoScript offers superior protection.

Install an Internet Browser add-on that provides protection against questionable or unsafe websites. My personal favorite is Web of Trust, an Internet Explorer/Firefox add-on, that offers substantial protection against questionable, or unsafe websites.

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Jealous? Cyber-crooks Have You In Their Sights

Physiological studies have observed jealousy in infants as young as five months old and surprisingly, in elderly people. Many psychologists hold the view, that jealousy is a normal and appropriate reaction to the fear of losing a loved one to someone else.

It’s no surprise then, that Cyber-crooks are continuing to use jealousy as a social engineering email hook, to entice potential victims to click on an email containing enclosed links which can lead to the installation of malware.

The following screen capture (from one of my email inboxes, yesterday), illustrates the type of crafty email currently circulating on the Internet. Consider carefully – would you follow the links in this email?

If you had attempted to do so, in this case, you would have been cautioned by bit.ly (a free service that shortens long links), since the original link has been shortened using this service. Kudos to bit.ly for being on the ball here.

(Click pic for larger)

The following is the text of another email of this type, currently circulating on the Net.

Hello,

I apologize for my frankness. I’m sorry for not being able to speak to you in person, but I can only talk to you via email and I feel obliged to notify you to open your eyes, you are being betrayed.

I know it is difficult to prove, but every picture tells a story, I’ll send you these pictures so that you can see it with your own eyes. Take care…a big hug

From a good friend who is very fond of you

View photos here

In this case, there is no intermediary, like bit.ly – so you’re on your own.

It may well be that certain individuals are not prepared to take the fidelity of a loved one at face value, but these same individuals have no hesitation in opening an email from an unknown sender, it seems.

Do these types of emails work for scammers, do you suppose? You bet! Let me give you an example of how foolish people can be –

Several months ago, I wrote an article “Nude Pics Of Your Wife/Girlfriend Attached – Click Here”, as another of my frequent tests of Internet user gullibility. This is the very type of article frequently used by cyber-criminals to launch penetration attempts. Much to my surprise, the article is now one of the most frequently read articles on this site. I ask you – how careless can people be?

Regular readers of this site are familiar with the following safeguards:

• Install an Internet Browser add-on such as WOT (my personal favorite), which provides detailed results on a site’s safety; protecting you from security threats including spyware, adware, spam, viruses, browser exploits, and online scams.
• As well, WOT now checks links embedded in your email, and warns you of dangerous web sites so that you can avoid spyware, spam, phishing, identity theft and other Internet scams; before you click on dangerous embedded links.
• Don’t open unknown email attachments.
• Disable scripting features in email programs.
• Make regular backups of critical data.
• Make a boot disk in case your computer is damaged or compromised.
• Turn off file and printer sharing on the computer.
• Install a personal firewall on your computer.
• Install anti-virus and anti-spyware software and ensure it is configured to automatically update when you are connected to the Internet.
• Ensure the anti-virus software scans all e-mail attachments.

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Kate Middleton, Prince William Engagement Leads To Poisoned Search Results

If an event is newsworthy, you can be sure cybercriminals are exploiting it and creating opportunities to drop malicious code on our computers – malicious code designed, in most cases, to separate unwitting victims from their money.

Taking advantage  of our curiosity surrounding current events has long been a favorite tool of the bad guys, and as expected, cybercriminals have jumped on the news of  Prince William’s engagement to Kate Middleton, and are actively exploiting this popular topic.

Cybercriminals don’t have to jump through hoops, write brilliant code, or take extreme measures, to be successful at the type of social engineering that goes hand in hand with capitalizing on newsworthy happenings. They simply poison selected search engine results – not as difficult to do as you might imagine.

For example, the Sunbelt Software Blog is currently reporting that “a Google search for “Kate Middleton” results in a poisoned link on the second photo under “Images for Kate Middleton.”

Google search string “Kate Middleton” = 14,300,000 results. (Click on a graphic to enlarge).

Google search string “Images for Kate Middleton” = 8,600,000 results.

Sunbelt warns that searching for photos of Middleton, can lead to images which redirect a  Firefox user to a compromised site where the user is encouraged to download a Trojan masquerading as a Firefox update.

Click on the graphic to expand and check the URL closely. You’ll notice that it reads Friefox – not Firefox.

(Graphic courtesy of Sunbelt Blog).

The Sunbelt warning goes on to say:

The destination pages are usually legitimate ones, but are rarely ones dedicated to bringing news to readers. Depending on which browser the users are using, they will be redirected either to a YouTube-like page offering a video codec or to a page sporting and infection warning and offering a fake AV for download (IE users).

To save you the trouble of having to search – here’s a pic of the bikini clad Middleton. 

Old advice, but worth repeating nonetheless – Save yourself from being victimized by scareware, or other malware, and review the following actions you can take to protect your Internet connected devices including your computer system:

• When surfing the web – Stop. Think. Click
• Install an Internet Browser add-on such as WOT (my personal favorite), which provides detailed test results on a site’s safety; protecting you from security threats including spyware, adware, spam, viruses, browser exploits, and online scams.
• Don’t open unknown email attachments
• Don’t run programs of unknown origin
• Disable hidden filename extensions
• Keep all applications (including your operating system) patched
• Turn off your computer or disconnect from the network when not in use
• Disable Java, JavaScript, and ActiveX if possible
• Disable scripting features in email programs
• Make regular backups of critical data
• Make a boot disk in case your computer is damaged or compromised
• Turn off file and printer sharing on your computer.
• Install a personal firewall on your computer.
• Install anti-virus and anti-spyware software and ensure it is configured to automatically update when you are connected to the Internet.
• Ensure the anti-virus software scans all e-mail attachments.

For additional information on fake search engine results, you can read an earlier article on this site – Malware by Proxy – Fake Search Engine Results.

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