Protecting our online and computer privacy

From my NBC-TV “High Tech Talk” segment this week…
The good thing about the Internet is that you can use it to find out everything about just about anything. The bad news is, people can use it to find out about you. As technology gets better and better, concerns are mounting about protecting our online privacy.

Here are some of the privacy-protection tools I mentioned in my NBC-TV story this week:

One of the things that amazed a lot of viewers was how, by typing in your phone number, anyone can get your address… and even a map to your house. You can remove your phone and address info from the Google service by going to this page.

But what really fried a lot of people was how your own computer can give personal details away to others who may share it with you. Even if you thought you erased it, we reported that a history of Web sites you visited can be called up. Even worse, all those auto-complete forms you fill out when sending in a credit card payment or registering for a service can be accessed by anyone who uses your PC.

The reason is because Web browsers such as Internet Explorer and Firefox can save every image and every website you open. Windows might save every login name and password you type. Media players often keep records of every movie and video clip you watch. A lot of people don’t know this and assume that it’s private. A lot of people have been fired for what was found on their computer, or had their identity stolen.

That information is, fortunately, very easy to zap, thanks to inexpensive shredder programs that nuke the personal details and keep your information… yours.

Privacy is a major concern and you should take the threats seriously.

Here’s the link to one of the programs I showed that will block access and protect your private info.

And for more info about online privacy, check out the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. They’re lobbying Congress for stricter controls.

Meanwhile, The problem of identity theft just gets worse and worse. The latest stats show that 8.6 million Americans had their identity stolen in 2006 and they were ripped off to the tune of $49 billion.

We’re now at the point where identity theft is so common that everyone needs to protect themselves against it.

A company called LifeLock offers a guaranteed protection plan. Up to $1 million in losses. They set it up so credit bureaus contact you directly to approve any credit transaction before it takes place. They also remove your name from those pre-approved credit card and unsolicited junk mail lists, which is where a huge proportion of the identity theft cases get started.

ADV:To protect personal info stored on your computer from others who may use your computer, CLICK HERE.

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Copy YouTube Videos to your iPod

The huge success of YouTube has transferred over to the iPod with a Web-based application called YouTube Copy, which lets you download any YouTube Video you want directly to your iPod by typing in the video URL on YouTubeSInce it’s Web-based, that means you can do this through any computer. The system also lets you load up your iPod with TV shows, movies and photo galleries you find online. Cost is $29. They even toss in some easy to use backup software to copy your clips to DVD-R or CD-R.

CLICK HERE to learn more about this.

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Wand-like scanner comes in “Executive Kit”

New gizmos and gadgets are allowing us to do all sorts of things from all sorts of places. So it is with a device contained in a $399 “Executive Kit.” The centerpiece of this kit is a high tech scanner that looks like a magic wand. As I said on my NBC-TV High Tech Talk report this week, it works well enough. But man, it’s expensive. It’s available from a company called Planon.

Meanwhile, if you are experiencing problems with your PC, or it’s no longer performing as it used to, the likelihood is your Windows registry is overloaded with redundant entries created by the Windows operating system or other software.

Windows communicates with its registry dozens of times every second and broken registry keys can make that communication difficult and slow.

Even moderate use of a PC running Windows could result in numerous registry keys and files spread across the Windows registry. Many of these entries are no longer needed or used by Windows and may well disrupt the smooth running of your system.

After just a few days these Windows registry keys and files can begin to accumulate and, over time, will cause your PC to slow down, trigger ‘missing’ .exe or .dll files messages and finally stop running altogether. If you’ve had your system for some time then you’ll be astonished at the number of unnecessary Windows registry keys and files hanging around, just waiting to strike. Deleted programs often leave a few Windows registry keys and files littered around and these are potential problems in the making.

If you’d like to know just how many redundant Windows registry keys and files are lurking in your PC just download and run Error Nuker - it will scan your Windows registry and give you the report for FREE. Then you can decide whether it’s worth buying the program.

ADV: Click Here to get Error Nuker

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Bringing TV to your PC

Ever since the personal computer took off in the 90’s, there’s been a movement to merge it with the world’s most popular entertainment medium – Television. It’s been a slow convergence but as a new gizmo I profile on this week’s NBC-TV High Tech Talk segment called the TV stick is making for a media marriage that seems to work.

It’s known as the WinTV-HVR950 TV stick and right out of the box, this handy gizmo is very easy to install. You run the install CD and plug it in.

Now they advertise this for a laptop computer. But our experiments were pretty dismal. The reception of over the air stations was grainy and gritty. Besides… do you really want to watch TV on a laptop? I don’t think so.
Bu if you hook the TV stick up to a desktop PC, and plug in an outside antenna or, better yet, a cable TV hookup, it works very well. Not only can you watch TV, but it has a built recorder, which lets you save your favorite shows right to your computer hard drive.

Suggested retail is about $100. I found it online for between $80-$90.

There’s another way to get TV to your PC… in this case, satellite TV channels. It all works through the Internet in a pretty cool way. Forget the roof-mounted dish or the expensive cable connection. This system supposedly lets you access up to 3,000 international satellite TV stations that are beamed directly to your PC. Think of VoIP for satelliet TV. It’s all perfectly legal and involves a $49 program.

You do need a broadband connection for the best audio and video pickup and it claims to work anywhere, picking up stations from Albania to Venezuela. Because the stations are streamed via the Internet, you don’t need any extra hardware or a PC card, either.

Click Here for info on Satellite TV on Your PC
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Time to do something about spam

It just gets worse and worse. Experts now say spam accounts for nearly 70% of all e-mail.By the end of the year, Jupiter Research says the average Internet user will get 3,600 spam messages. I’ve tried just about every spam filter there is. My favorite so far is the latest 3.0 version of a product called Spam Bully - which works with Outlook and Outlook Express.

It uses state-of-the art Bayesian filters that uses artificial intelligence to learn and then screen out junk e-mail. It also uses updated blacklists of spam addresses to keep them from getting to your inbox.

But one of my favorite Spam Bully features is the way it sends spam right back to the spammers, automatically bouncing it, or returning it to them. There are other cool features, like auto delete which, instead of saving spam in a folder, zaps it once and for all without you having to look at it.

Best thing is it’s free for 14 days

Click Here for a download. .

Cool mobile phone services

We’ve all gotten used to going to our desktop to get directions and maps. But now, that same convenience can be brought to our mobile phones. Not only that, but as I report in my NBC-TV segment this week, your phone can alert you to traffic tie-ups, locate gas stations and tell you the latest spots scores.

You have to hand it to Google. They pretty much rule the Net these days and their new Google Maps service lets you find businesses, pinpoint locations on a map or get directions. Even satellite views. All free. All very cool and convenient.

4Info is a service that sends free text alerts to your phone at times you specify or when a specific thing happens, like the final score of a sports game or major news occurs.

One of my favorite mobile phone services comes from the AccuWeather people. Go to their special mobile website and you can get live radar, storm tracking, weather forecasts and daily and hourly forecasts.

ADV: Here’s something else you can do… Get INSTANT ACCESS to cell phone owner information, address history, carrier, connection status, and location details for any phone number. The free search connects to a database on coverage details that includes cell, residential, business, pager, toll-free, and unlisted numbers. This kind of search is 100% legal and the company offers a service that provides complete personal reports, as well. Click Here to get info on a cell number

Office 2007 may be confusing

My NBC-TV segment this week looks at Microsoft’s Office 2007, suggesting that the redesign may present a steep learning curve for many. Here’s a link for info on the new features and how they correspond to the old.

Meantime, if your computer is running slow, Click Here for XP Repair pro registry Cleaner to get rid of the junk