All Things Geek

[Rob Croson]

Yeah, pretty anything you get that says "Click here to verify" or any permutation of such, is a scam. This is doubly true if the details provided in the email are vague, or you can't remember ever having had any dealings with the institution that supposedly sent the message.

A practice I have always followed: Never click any link in any email purporting to be from any financial institution, period. I have widened that out to be anything related to any account, including emails dealing with email accounts. Always type the link yourself, or use one of your bookmarks/password managers. It is way too easy for scammers to craft emails that look so authentic that even experts would have a hard time telling the difference.

 

[Coss]

Great advise Rob; they now can hide infections in .doc and .pdf attachments so number one rule, Don't Open Attachments unless you are 1) Expecting them (even then, read the email FIRST!!) 2) well I can't think of a #2, it's Don't Open Attachments!

One of the first things I always look at it the Return Address if it looks like an email from a known source, but the return address doesn't match, you can be pretty sure it's a junk /scam email I've gotten a lot lately from PayPal. Macy's, Kohl's, MacDonald's but if you look at the return address it will be something like macyscoupon@weregoingtoscrewyou.com you know right then, it's probably not from Macy's

Sometimes you just have to suppress your curiosity.

 

[Jambe]

I hope everyone running Firefox knows not to fall for the malware described in:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1137056

It is full screen page with the text Urgent update... firefox-patch.js

 

[slinches]

Use ad and script blockers and only enable scripts first party and trustworthy domains. Any site that requires dozens of third party scripts to function properly is a huge security risk and doesn't deserver the traffic.

 

[John-b-gone]

The only Firefox related thing I've downloaded recently is: "Firefox Setup Stub 50.1.0.exe" I googled it but not before I downloaded it. Lucky for me it seems legit. I plan on doing the reverse in the future. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Coss]

I use a program called "CloudMark" and their Outlook add-in is Desktop One.
I have found it to be one of the best Free junk mail filter on the market today.
It works on Windows or Mac and you'll find it here CloudMark

 

[Coss]

Read today where there is another executive order about to be signed; this time it is directed at H-1B Visas.
(Anyone that has been in IT work knows what these are) companies are going to be limited to how many they can have, an have to prove that they have exhausted all US applications first. In total, they are also being limited to 85,000 total for the whole country.
They are also going to inspect the hiring practices have these companies that have shipped Help Desks overseas, and fine them if they do not bring them back. This was a good idea (the H-1B program) until larger companies abused it to increase profits.
Maybe this will get companies to start looking at hiring IT workers over 50 again. These are the only ones that are going to have the qualifications they need; rather than giving it to a H-1B worker that will work for half the $. This one I want to keep an eye on.

 

[Rob Croson]

Aren't they also doubling the minimum wage paid for people hired with H1B visas to $130,000? Not sure if that's just a proposal or part of the executive order.

 

[Coss]

Aren't they also doubling the minimum wage paid for people hired with H1B visas to $130,000? Not sure if that's just a proposal or part of the executive order.

Didn't hear that, so it might be a proposal.
But these big companies have to stop importing help over US workers, the big companies abused the US workers with that system.

 

[W. WIllie]

What about when you call in for a phone repair in the USA and the person who answers the phone is in India?