Thursday, September 04, 2008 Ng: Avoiding becoming a spammer By Wilson Ng Wired Desktop
FOR the 2nd quarter 2008, it was reported that 74 percent of all mails are spam (unwanted or unsolicited). If you send a spam mail, then it is possible that your email address will be marked as a spammer.
That is sometimes the reason why your emails end up in the spam or deleted section. So if you have company email, the first thing you have to ask your colleagues is not to forward jokes or other unimportant mail to many people or your email system might end up being branded as a spammer.
Most spam mails, however, are sent by “zombie” computers—those that are normally invaded by viruses and other malware that send the spam mail in behalf of somebody else. This is more prevalent than you think. If you find that your intended recipients are not getting your mails or your mail goes to the spam area, it might mean that you are sending out various spam mails, and it might be time to check your system.
As of the 2nd quarter, 11 percent of “zombie” computers were found in Turkey, 8.4 percent were in Brazil and 7.4 percent were in Russia. Only less than five percent of “zombie” computers come from the United States, although so far, most spam mails advertise US products. It just means one thing—people are infecting computers outside the United States because they may be less protected.
That being said, although virus writers are focusing on attacking computers worldwide by spam mails, it is the US consumer market that they are targeting simply because they have more money. It was reported that US consumers lost almost $8.5 billion over the last two years due to viruses and phising schemes. Damage due to viruses was also reported at roughly $6.5 billion, and yet, there are still about 3.5 million US households with computers who don’t have proper protection or firewall.
One of the more affordable and yet effective anti-virus and Internet security solution is Kaspersky. It is somewhat new, and because of that, it is also cheap – only over P1,000 for three license subscriptions. I installed it in my children’s computers since they like to download a lot of stuff, and it was able to detect over 20 viruses that were undetected by another anti-virus solution.
SPENDING. Recession or no recession, research firm Gartner is predicting that Information Technology (IT) spending will still be up eight percent this year compared to 2007. Much of this growth will be in software (with a projected 10 percent growth) and IT services (up 9.4 percent).
Hardware spending is expected to rise seven percent in 2008, thanks to strong Asia-Pacific and Western Europe sales and a global shift to mobile computers.
One of the things that the IT world is abuzz with is that Google just released a new browser called Chrome. The software was made available Sept. 2, and the initial reaction was that it was fast – but there were still some sites where it does not work properly.
The other reaction was that it was simplified to make it easier to use, but for people who are used to various options, and pull down menus, the bare interface looked intimidating. We will have more detailed reviews on Chrome next week.
However, the initial thing I wanted to comment on was that Google used a 39-page cartoon book to initially hit the market.
The comics was written and illustrated by comic guru Scott McCloud, and it showed the ability of comics to become serious literature or art, as well as an effective tool to teach or market a product.
The other important news involves Windows XP Professional. Microsoft has released information that starting Sept. 23, users who fail to activate or validate their Windows software will get a black desktop background (regardless of the screen saver you choose) with a notice that the software has failed activation. If the user resets it, it will show the screen saver again but after 60 minutes, it will again reset to black.
Apparently, many people are not yet aware that their Windows XP may be bogus or counterfeit, or have not undergone validation. This activity should be a reinforcement or a notice that users have not bought a licensed software.
They may have a genuine copy, but they failed to validate it (buyers need to validate their serial number through Internet or phone). The black screen display will continue until a genuine copy is installed and is validated.
