Clearing Internet Explorer Cookies and Temporary Internet Files

With current web technologies and companies like Facebook being caught looking into your cookies and how you surf the Internet. An important step to take for both device performance and protection of your privacy is to clear away your cookies and temporary Internet Files.

One way to prevent companies from researching where you go on the Internet and what you look at is to run your browser its unique privacy mode. For Internet Explorer, they call it In Private Browsing. You can go into this mode by selecting the Safety pull-down menu and choosing InPrivate Browsing.

Additionally, you can cut back on the amount of Internet Temporary Files and Cookies that live on your system by choosing to clear these associated files living on your machine / mobile device. To do this in Windows Internet Explorer:

Internet Explorer 9

Select Tools > Safety > Delete browsing history…/.
Make sure to uncheck Preserve Favorites website data and check both Temporary Internet Files and Cookies then click Delete.
You will get a confirmation at the bottom of the window once it has successfully cleared your cache and cookies.
Close ALL applications and reboot your system to make sure you do not have any instances of Internet Explorer running.



Internet Explorer 8

If you’re having trouble with a website, sometimes clearing your Internet Explorer temporary Internet files can help:
Select Tools & Internet Options.
Click on the General tab and then the Delete… button.
Make sure to uncheck Preserve Favorites website data and check both Temporary Internet Files and Cookies then click Delete.
Close ALL open applications and reboot your computer to insure you do not have any instances of Internet Explorer running.

Short Video on How to Tell if an Email is Fake

New trends in malware and security breaches include using personal email address books and sending email from your account, to someone you know. Typically the email may only include one sentence, if anything, an attached link to a website, sometimes with a leading sentences like:
"Check out our recent vacation pictures..."
"The funniest video I have seen in a long time..."
"I captured a picture of you naked"
"Sign up to get a free iPad"
"Your account has been deducted"
"UPS delivery"
"Important Intuit account information"
"IRS fraud notice"


It is the best policy to simply DELETE the suspicious email and NEVER click on the link.


Here is a video that can help you determine if you are seeing a fake email:

How to Create A Strong Password

Years ago when the Internet was still 'wet behind the ears', using a simple password seemed like a good idea.

Today things have changed and it is critical to update this policy for every individual. There are too many ways for bad people to figure out your password, to leave it as a simple work or word and number. 
Here is a great and quick primer video from Google to help understand how to create a great password.

ALWAYS make a unique strong password for your email so other people cannot verify your password changes.

Password Checker Sites - Use these!

A recent popular Trojan that took account passwords from a famous technical blog site, Gawker.com has been a focus of geek attention.
The UK paper called The Telegraph also wrote about the 25 weakest passwords in use today. These accounts at Gawker were broken into because of weak passwords.
Hackers have been showing more and more interest in breaking into web accounts like Gmail, Hotmail.com, Comcast.net, Live.com, Twitter.com, Ffacebook.com, etc.

While Gmail has released something called 2 step verification as an EXCELLENT option for your Google Account, most other sites are still not doing this.

For a sanity check there are some reliable and trustworthy web sites you can use to test your existing passwords; to see how strong they are.  These great sites let you know if your password is strong enough for today's web:

Microsoft Password Strength Checker
How Secure Is My Password?
The Password Meter
WolframAlpha
our favorite Steve Gibson Password Haystack Webpage 

For creating a very complicated password, consider using Steve Gibson’s  Password Generator Webpage

This is so importnat that we have now published this on both blogs.
- credits to lifehacker.com and grc.com !

Waitress Steals Credit Cards of Bad Tippers

A recent case in New Port Richey, FL where a waitress had a portable magnetic card scanner and passed customer credit cards through it for people who didn't tip her enough, or made her work too hard - in her own opinion.  Once the card was scanned on the device, it was processed and the card was recreated and used in local stores.
According to the linked article written by Marcie Geffner:

...That's a cautionary tale for restaurant diners and a good reminder to practice safe credit card habits:

• Try to use credit and debit cards only at reputable merchants.
• If in doubt, pay cash.
• Watch out for red flags, such as a credit card that's taken out of your sight for a too-long period of time.
• Monitor your credit card statement for fraudulent transactions.
• Report any unauthorized use of a credit card to the card issuer as soon as possible.

Follow her on Twitter: @marciegeff

The waitress didn't create the credit cards directly, but was a link in the process of passing on  the cards through the syndicate. If this is happening in one location, you can be sure it is happening in others around the country.