Free US Government Publications

Available as pdf downloads

Taking Charge: What to Do If Your Identity is Stolen
Handbook with tips about protecting your information, and instructions, sample forms, and letters to help recover from theft.

Best Practices for Keeping Your Home Network Safe
The cyber threat is no longer limited to your office network and work persona. Adversaries realize that targets are typically more vulnerable when operating from their home network since there is less rigor associated with the protection, monitoring, and maintenance of most home networks. Home users need to maintain a basic level of network defense.

Home Wireless Safety Checklist

Six steps owners of wireless networks need to take to ensure network security

Cars: Buying, Leasing and Renting, Understanding Financing

For Sale: Used Federal Government Personal Property

Learn how to find and buy everything from construction vehicles to cameras, computers and jewelry. This is your guide to types of items, how they are sold, and payment options.

Copyright Basics

Covers what can be copyrighted, who can apply, registration procedures, filing fees

 

How to Avoid Being Harvested by Spambots

One of the primary ways spammers get email addresses is by stealing them from websites. They do this by using "spambots," computer programs which automatically troll web pages and harvest email addresses.   It is important to protect your address so your address doesn’t get ‘harvested.’  My former employer was a great place to get these in one’s email…the Chinese were especially good at it. Using the tips and tricks below will be effective at stopping most spambots.

"Munging" Your Address:

This involves modifying the addresses on your site in such a way that they are invalid but easily fixed by human beings; the second is to hide addresses on your pages so spambots cannot find them.

You can make your address technically invalid by inserting random text that spambots won't be able to recognize as not being part of the address, but most human beings will understand they need to remove before sending to you.

tartajubow@REMOVETHISexample.com
tartajubowDELETEBEFORESENDING@example.com
Zartajubow@example.Zom (replace the Z with T and  C)

Spambots will still harvest these addresses, but when spammers send to them their messages will bounce. Unfortunately, this continues to create traffic on the network and your mail server.  Also many legitimate visitors to your website will incorrectly demung your address and therefore be unable to send messages to you.

The second strategy is to hide addresses from spambots so they are never even harvested. If you want to hide your addresses from spambots, you must understand how they work. Most spambots find addresses by looking for patterns of text that look like an email address. For example, email addresses always contain a @.  Spambots therefore scan the text of a webpage to find any @s. If you eliminate the @ from addresses then most spambots won't be able to recognize that your addresses:

Tartajubow-at-example.com

While this hides your address from spambots, visitors to your site will often still incorrectly demung your address, or not even recognize it is an email address, and therefore be unable to contact you.

A more sophisticated version of hiding your address, which still allows human users to see the addresses without any apparent munging, involves using ASCII character codes. For example, if you want to represent an @ you can either use the character itself, or you can use it's ASCII character code: @ (ampersand number-sign six four semi-colon).

If you use the ASCII code then human visitors to your site will see an @ because their browsers automatically translate the character code.  Most spambots currently do not recognize the codes and therefore ignore addresses created with them. The following addresses will all appear the same if they are included in the HTML of your site:

Tartajubow@example.com

For a full explanation see the article at Project Honey Pot

Online Dangers

PC World article on the 17 most dangerous sites on the Web…must read!

Tips from the Pros: Top 5 Ways to Stay Safe Online:

Stay up-to-date, stay paranoid, stay protected. That's the message from the security experts we spoke with while developing this story. Here are a few of their top tips and suggestions for protecting your computer against malware and hackers.

1) Keep up on patches.

Be sure to run Windows Update, as well as the software update features in the other programs that you use every day.

2) Be password smart.

As tempting as it is to use the same password in multiple places, don't. And use longer passwords, too-they're harder to crack. If you have lots of accounts to manage, use a password manager. (See "GPUs Power Games, Crack Passwords," for more on this issue.)

3) Use security software.

That may seem self-evident, but it can help block malware or software that is acting suspiciously, and security software companies are hard at work devising new ways to stop infections be­­fore they ever reach your PC. Check our antivirus and security software page regularly for the latest on security products.

4) If it sounds too good to be true... well, you know the rest.

No, someone in a faraway land isn't really offering you millions of dollars. No, attractive women from Russia probably aren't seeking you out specifically. No, those aren't magic cure-all pills.

5) Assume that everyone's out to get you.

PC security is one area where it pays to be paranoid. Just remember that no security software is fail-safe, and that you're still the one sitting at the keyboard. Assume that no site is safe. And don't automatically trust a link or file download, even if a friend sends it to you.

Auslogics Disk Defrag - Highly Recommended!

      A compact and fast defragmenter that is much superior to the defrag program that comes with Windows. Auslogics Disk Defrag comes recommended by the Official Windows Magazine as a tool for optimizing the latest hard drives.

     From its first release in 2007, the program has been tested and reviewed by numerous software distribution and analysis editions, both online and in print. It received the highest 5-star rating from CNet, SuperShareware, as well as Editor’s Choice award from Softpedia, Free Downloads Center, Download3K, TechSupportAlert.com and a number of other independent reviewers.
     Among the program’s advantages, the testers listed the following features:

Availability of multiple defragmentation options

Program’s small size and fast performance

The ease of use for an inexperienced customer

The fact that the application is available for free for home use

 Download from CNet

Free Computer Games

Hundreds of free downloads available: arcade games, 3D games, puzzles, shooting games, card games, board games, sports, casino and strategy games.  New games added regularly.

Free Government Publications

The U.S. the government offers many free publications on just about everything imaginable.  Want information on pet turtles, fleas on your pet, questions on child support, scams to get your money, American History, Gardening, you name it?  Most of these are 1-4 page informational sheets and some have nominal fees (usually $1-$2).  You can download pdf copies from the site.  Could be of some value for say, teachers, parents, display in some public places, somebody with a flea-bitten dog…I don’t know.

Dropbox Cloud Storage

When I was looking for a good file sharing site on which to store my chess booklets that I offer for downloading I was advised of this cloud site by an IT tech who told me he uses it all the time and highly recommends it. 

Dropbox is a free service that lets you store all your photos, documents, and videos anywhere. This means that any file you save to your Dropbox on your computer will automatically save to all your computers, phones and even the Dropbox wesite

This makes it easy to share your files with others or you can access you files from anywhere.  You can start working on a computer at school or the office, and finish from your home computer without emailing yourself the file.

You can invite your friends, family and teammates to any folder in your Dropbox and it'll be the same as if you saved that folder to their compute. For example, if you have team project on the job the files can be made available to everybody on the team. You can also use it to share photos or anything else…all the you need to do is supply the recipient with the link.

Go to the Dropbox site and download an install the app on your computer and you’re in business.  It’s that easy.  It will install an icon on your computer and when you open the Dropbox program you can then move or copy any file to a folder then when you want to share it with someone just click on the file and select “Copy Public Link.”  You can then email the link to someone and it will take them right to document or photo or whatever.

The free Dropbox gives you 2 GB of space and if you refer somebody they will add another 500 MB up to 18 GB…FREE!!  I currently have over 30 of my pdf chess booklets in Dropox and have used on a little over 500 KB of space, so 2 GB is HUGE.

Link to Dropbox

Withdraw of 4Shared Recommendation

   On Sunday, July 15 I received an email from 4Shared advising me that it was reported that I “offer unlicensed copies of, or have been engaged in other unauthorized activities relating to copyrighted works. The abuse report came to us from LeakID. Storing and sharing of such material violates proprietary rights of the file copyright owner as well as 4shared Terms of Use”

      What was involved was my offering for download  on my chess blog a 28 page pdf booklet I wrote. 

      I sent an e-mail back describing the material and received what appeared to be an automated reply signed by someone name “Josh”at 4Shared. Basically the e-mailed advised me it wasn’t their problem and I should please “get in touch with the reporter via email (e-mail listed for Leak) and figure this out.”

      According to their website, LeakID “is the first digital agency and was founded by experts from the world of radio, television and internet. We undertake the design, management, strategy ...etc.” According to LinkedIn they are Specialists in Law Enforcement IP, content protection, anti-piracy, Anti Counterfeiting.

      According to the customer service people at Sendspace, Leakid is spamming Sendspace with takedown notices: "We keep being sent takedown notices by leakid.com. You will probably wish to take this up with them." Interesting that even Sendspace, like 4Shared, doesn't seem to care that this is a problem for some of their sites users. Obviously if LeakedID is doing spamming they won't be too concerrned about complaints will they?

      As expected, I never heard from LeakID. Apparently I have not been the only person to have experienced problems with this issue involving both 4Shared and LeakIt. As a result I have deleted my 4Shared account and am no longer offering my pdf booklets for download and due to the don't care attitude of 4Shared I withdraw my recommendation of the site.  Don't use it!

Personal Finance and Budgets

The US Government's Federal Trade Commission offers a lot of information on managing your finances, including credit, debt, home ownership, money management, retirement and estate planning and more. There is even information on pet medication, do not call signup, identity theft, you name it. Lots of good information. For example:
Credit and Debt: How to file bankruptcy, car loans-beware, personal credit help, file a complaint against credit card companies, etc
Home ownership information, mortgage resources
Bank complaints, charities,
Retirement and estate planning, planning a funeral


Having a personal budget is an absolute MUST!! This site shows you how to start a budget and manage your money better with free budgeting worksheets, frugal recipes, homemade gifts and thousands of tips to help you save money all through the year.

Predatory Lending

As reported by the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center:

Predatory lending is the practice of making loans to consumers who have little ability to repay the loan. It involves the use of deceptive and/or high-cost consumer loans and equity-stripping mortgages. Predatory lenders exploit borrowers by charging extremely high interest and fees. A common element of all predatory loans is exploiting a consumer’s ability to repay. Predatory lending includes both:

* Technically legal, but high-cost, loans

* Outright fraud through deceptive sales practices

Common examples of predatory lending practices include:

* Payday loans

* Car title loans

* Tax refund anticipation loans

* Check-cashing stores

* Pawnshop loans

* Subprime lending institutions

* Home improvement scams

Targets of Predatory Lenders

Predatory lenders often target desperate groups who need money immediately and can’t wait, can’t qualify for or distrust traditional bank loans. Some target groups include:

* Elderly consumers

* Minorities

* Young soldiers

* People with limited education

* Desperate homeowners

* People needing immediate cash

* People with weak credit records

* People living beyond their means

Beware of these Red Flags of Predatory Loans

* Frequent refinancing. Predatory lenders often encourage borrowers to refinance an existing loan into a bigger, longer-term loan, often with a higher interest rate. This is called loan flipping. Fees are charged for each loan.

* Lending more than borrowers can afford. Borrowers are allowed, even encouraged, to borrow more than they can afford. When borrowers are unable to pay, the lender encourages them to refinance or forecloses, often taking away the borrower’s home and the home equity they have spent years building.