Five Free Apps » security

Protect Your Data With Secure My Apps For BlackBerry

Brian Mongold — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 22:46:56 +0000

Secure My Apps ($2.99 in BlackBerry App World) was recently released and is now available for BlackBerry users to download.

The app helps you protect your data by password protecting your photos, emails, text messages and any application you select. In addition to protecting your data from being seen, it prevents accidental deletion.

Secure My Apps works with both native apps and third part applications from BlackBerry App World. You can setup unique profiles and schedule them to start at preset times.

Once protected, the app icon will still be displayed, but if someone attempts to open, they will be prompted to first enter a password to access.

In addition to the current features, the developer promises enhanced profiles, a tab to quickly access frequently used apps, a grouping option and enhanced customization and preferences in future updates.

To learn more, visit their website @ SecureMyApps.Com.

While your data is saved internally, it may not last if you drop your phone. There are plenty of low-profile cases on the BlackBerry cell phone accessories page that won’t add much bulk to your phone but will still protect you from the hassle of having to replace everything.

Protect Your Privacy And Access Censored Or Blocked Sites With These Free Tools

Brian Mongold — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 10:00:03 +0000

Wikipedia, defines online privacy as “the ability to control what information one reveals about oneself over the Internet and to control who can access that information.” Anonymity on the internet is an excellent defense, but it’s difficult to be anonymous when you’re required to submit online forms for various reasons, such as ordering items online.

So what is our personal information used for? Sometimes simply for the purpose of statistics, while other times for more malicious purposes such as spyware. All the data you send and receive travels through your consumer’s ISP. Though there are technical, ethical and other issues, these companies have the ability to observe information we send and receive that’s not encrypted.

Methods of protecting your privacy include using IP masking, proxy servers and VPN tunnels. The tools below will help you protect your security and privacy, while helping you access censored or blocked sites.

Hotspot Shield

Hotspot Shield provides security through a VPN. Upon installing Hotspot Shield, a quick launch shortcut is loaded on your desktop. Launching it takes you to a connection page (from your web browser) which consists of the connection status, IP and Server Address and more. The application is useful to protect you while online and to access programs blocked in different countries such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Skype and others.

TorProject

TorProject is a network of virtual tunnels. The primary purpose of TorProject is to protect you against internet surveillance known as traffic analysis. If someone is trying to watch your internet connection, TorProject will give them a random pathway through several relays to make it difficult to follow, throwing them off. It also periodically erases your footprints and keep the sites you visit from learning your physical address.

Ultra Surf

Ultra Surf protects your privacy, security and helps you get around censorship and blocked sites. It uses anonymous surfing and browsing, hiding your IP address and location and cleaning your browsing history/cookies. Data transfers are transparent with high level encryption.

Proxy Servers

Proxy Servers gives you a list of links (proxy servers) to use to surf the net. They specify information for each proxy server, to include rating, country, access time, uptime percentage, online since, last test and functionality. You can sort by each field to choose the proxy server for you.

Do you have any valuable tools to add to the collection? Let me know what you think of the applications listed.

Top Apps: Best Free Anti-Theft Apps To Protect Your Android Device

Brian Mongold — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 23:25:43 +0000

Have you ever been in a situation where you either left you phone somewhere and can’t find it? Or worse…the Android phone you spent $200 for and got locked into a 20 month or so contract has been stolen. What do you do? While iOS devices have the “Find My iPhone” MobileMe features, there are an assortment of free Android apps that offer methods to find the location of your phone, remotely wipe and lock your device and much more. The list below contains five of the best free Android security apps that provide these such features.

Quick list of the Top Anti-theft Apps, located on AppBrain.com

LMaxi Anti Theft

This security app provides protection against your lost or stolen phone. Features include the ability to send work directly from the device with a series of SMS messages. With a simple SMS, you can retrieve location information, initiate (and end) an alarm siren, wipe the device deleting all your contacts, call logs, SMS, MMS and files form your memory card and even intercept record phone calls for up to three minutes and send them to your email. You can also lock the device remotely with the tap of the “lock” tab and get .

NetQin Antivirus FREE 1.5

NetQin is primarily an antivirus, but offers anti-theft features to help you find your missing device. It’s a very ideal security application that scans newly installed apps against the cloud security database to rid your device of malicious apps. The anti-theft options include locating your phone without GPS (reducing battery consumption), remote delete, lock your phone, sound an alarm and report when the SIM has been changed.

Prey Phone Tracker

Prey Phone Tracker lets you find your device using your phone’s GPS and WiFi location. Other features provide a loud alarm sound, options to lock your phone, uninstall protection and more. You’ll get a notification when the SIM has changed.

Ripcord Alarm

Ripcord Alarm is a bit different from the other apps listed. It helps protect your device while it’s being charged in a public place. You simply plug it into a charger, launch the app and click the “activate” button. If someone grabs your phone and unplugs it from the power source, an alarm will sound. If the user reboots your phone it will also sound the alarm.

ViRobot Mobile

ViRobot Mobile is another all-in-one security app, providing more than just anti-theft functionality. With this app, you’ll get a security scanner to detect malware and vulnerabilities, anti-spam (calls and message blocking) and network monitoring. The anti-theft options consist of remote wipe, remote lock, remotely acquire the phone’s current location, screen lock and more.

Have you used any of the applications listed above? Has your device ever been stolen?

5 Free Super Utilities to Clean & Optimize Your PC

Brian Mongold — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 11:06:41 +0000

You fire up your PC, then you patiently wait… and wait…and continue to wait as your computer feels like it’s getting slower as the days go by. Sounds like it’s time to do a little spring cleaning to clean and optimize your system.

You wouldn’t sweep your carpet with a broom. That’s crazy talk! It would take all day and you’d leave dirt behind. We need the right tools to save us time, frustration and money, whether we’re cleaning our house or our PC. The free utilities below will help you clean up and optimize your system, just in time for Spring. Without further ado, here are 5 of my absolute favorite free utilities that’ll help you get the job done.

1. Advanced SystemCare Free (Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/Server 2008/7/NT)

Advanced SystemCare Free is an all-in-one utility that cleans and optimizes your PC, enhancing it’s performance. With one click of the circular “Care” button, the utility begins by maintaining your Windows as it scans and removes spyware and adware, cleans your registry, erases your browsing history and traces and cleans up your junk files. Once it completes the maintain Windows cycle, it moves on to “Diagnose System” as it optimizes and repairs your system settings, scans and protects spyware from being installed, defrags your harddisk and scans to find hijacked settings. Want more? There’s also a “Utilities” section to further repair, optimize and clean up your system. Don’t forget to run this program, since the free version doesn’t allow you to schedule it.

Image via brothersoft.com

2. Glary Utilities (Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7)

Glary Utilities launches in an easy to use interface in a “1-Click Maintenance” tab. You have 6 different focus areas in Registry Cleaner, Shortcuts Fixer, Startup Manager, Temporary Files Cleaner, Tracks Eraser and Spyware Removal with a check mark by each. Simply clicking “Scan” will provide a deep scan of your system and display any problems found in each area. After finding the problems determined from the scan, click “Repair Problems” to quickly fix the issues found.

Once you’re finished with the 1-Click Maintenance, you can also explore the “Modules” tab which gives you even more tools in the following tabs; Clean Up & Repair, Optimize & Improve, Privacy & Security, Files & Folders and System Tools. There are quite a few tools to take advantage of.

Image via online-tech-tips.com

3. Revo Uninstaller (Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/Server 2008/7)

Revo Uninstaller lets you uninstall programs in a quicker and smarter way than the standard Windows Add/Remove functions. When launching this program, you’ll see all the installed application’s titles and logos. It works by scanning before and after you uninstall an application. You can right-click on any of the applications and get options such as Uninstall, Remove Entry, Search on Google, Install Location and Open Registry Key. When uninstalling, you get different uninstall settings (Basic, Built-in, Moderate and Advanced). This provides different levels of scanning, i.e. Basic is your typical uninstall without the scan and additional options, while Advanced takes longer to execute but gives you a deep and thorough scan of your hard drive and registry for all the left overs.

2. Smart Defrag (Windows 98/Me/2000/XP/2003/Vista/Server 2008/7/NT)

Smart Defrag specializes in defragmenting your hard drive to run an a more efficient manner, but stands out among the other defrag utilities with it’s ability to also optimize your disk performance. Launching the application gives you a control panel that includes options to startup or just analyze Defrag Only, …, or Deep Optimize. The program works by organizing your data and files on your PC for better performance. You can also setup auto defrag, which runs in the background very quietly without tying up your resources.

Image via softsia.com

5. CCleaner (Windows 98/2000/XP/2003/Vista/7)

I couldn’t conclude this list without one of my favorite utilities I’ve been using for years, CCleaner. What does the C in CCleaner stand for you may ask? C = Crap and cleaning the crap your computer has is exactly CCleaner’s specialty. It eliminates all the tracks left behind from your browsing with Firefox, Internet Explorer and other browsers. It also erases traces from many of the applications you run, while providing options to clean your Registry and scan for any invalid entries. It provides additional options to uninstall programs, but I recommend sticking with Revo Uninstaller for any uninstall.

I use each of the applications mentioned above and personally love them all. Each are valuable, free and quite effective. It’s difficult to choose a favorite, but Revo Uninstaller is so unique and useful. The ability to remove all traces of folders, registry entries, etc when uninstalling applications is fantastic. Do you have any favorite, free maintenance tools you’d recommend? As always, I’d love to hear from you.

Facebook Places: How to Regain Control Over Your Privacy

Brian Mongold — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 17:03:19 +0000

Facebook recently launched Places, a location-based function that enables mobile Facebook users to check-in to locations you visit. This has a very similar model to the popular location-based social media site Foursquare.

This new feature enables any Facebook user to mark and share your or their location. You can see everyone who’s checked-in at current or nearby locations and can tag your friends who are with you.

How To Use Facebook Places

From your mobile device, click on the Places tab.
“Is Facebook allowed to know your location? Allow or Disallow

You can then share your current location, browse locations around you that your friends haved checked-in, see other Places etc. For example, when I tested the check-in I saw a series of five locations in the area I was going to check-in (i.e. 711 and McDonalds).

You can also add places, i.e. your house and tag people who are with you. Tagging those with you is very similar to the photo tagging features.

The Default Setting Facebook Opted You Into

When you use Places, your check-ins will appear on your profile, in the News screen and in the Activity Feed for the Place you checked-in. Your friends can check you in without your approval. When you check-in, your location is visible to your Friends and anyone else nearby.

My Personal Concerns

Being a military member, operational security is a major concern of mine. If military members share their locations, while tagging other military members, this gives the enemy specific locations and information along with an idea of how many soldiers may be checked in at a specific location. Once Places is launched in other countries, it’s even scarier. Soldiers have the potential to give up their deployed locations and painting a target.

I’m also concerned with friends checking in other friends to locations without permission. If someone of a high status, i.e military commander, judge, mayor, teacher, priest, etc is tagged at a location such as a strip club, bar, etc the consequences could be damaging to that person.

While Places isn’t a bad thing, not properly locking down you privacy settings, while being “Friends” with so many people you probably don’t truly know can be a problem waiting to happen. Use the steps below to adjust your privacy settings accordingly.

Control Who You Share Locations With & Who Sees Your Check-ins

Log in to Facebook
Click Account -> Privacy Settings
Find Customize Settings (bottom left hand corner) and Click

In the Things I Share header find Places I check in
Use the drop down menu to choose Friends of Friends, Friends Only, choose Specific People, or Only Me
From the same screen, you can also choose to hide your check-ins from specific people by typing their names in and selecting them.
Also within the Things I Share screen, you’ll find the Include me in “People Here Now” after I check in box. This option lets people view your location by the location page or when people search nearby locations. Uncheck to disable.

Remove Your Friends Ability to Tag You at Locations

By default, your friends can check you in to locations without your permission. Whether you are at a location or not, the location your friend tags you in can get you in trouble or make your life more difficult. They can check you into a location as a joke (i.e. strip club, adult video store, etc) or share an actual location you visit without your knowledge.

Log in to Facebook
Click Account -> Privacy Settings
Find Customize Settings (bottom left hand corner)
In the Things Others Share menu, find Friends can check me in to Places.
Set to Disabled, so your friends can’t check you in

Disable Applications Sharing Your Location Data

Login to Facebook
Click Account -> Privacy Settings
Find the Applications and Websites link (bottom left-hand corner) -> Edit Settings
Click Info accessible through your friends -> Edit Settings
All checked boxes shows you which Facebook Applications are available for your friends to use.
Scroll down to Places I’ve visited and uncheck if you don’t want your friends applications getting your location information

What are your thoughts on Facebook Places? Do you share some of the same privacy concerns I have? How about for businesses? Do you see the value this new feature provides?

5 Most Popular Encryption Applications to Keep Your Files Private

Brian Mongold — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 13:18:00 +0000

When working with any files that contain sensitive or private information, one must be extremely cautious. Whether it’s work files or those you want to keep wandering eyes from viewing, encrypting your files keeps them safe and secure.

Luckily, many applications are available to help us secure our files through encryption and password protecting. Today, I wanted to highlight the 5 most popular encryption applications that many users are using today. For this post I’ve used the download site I trust, CNET’s download.com.

The top 5 is based on number of downloads in the last week. Also included is the price, editor and user reviews and total number of downloads just last week.

5. USBCrypt (Free 30 day trial, $29.95) No current reviews | 785 downloads last week

With USBCrypt, you can protect your private files on your removable drives. You can password protect a portion of any removable or fixed drive. It uses AES encryption and requires the appropriate password to be entered before showing the drive letter and files. USBCrypt works with any drives Windows recognizes, to include FireWire.

4. Actual Keylogger (Free) Editors 4 Stars | Users 3 Stars, 101 reviews | 1k downloads last week

Actual Keylogger records every keystroke made to an encrypted log file, providing the title of the window active. It runs in the background, automatically logging all keystrokes so you can see which actions are being taken by others on your computer. You can password protect the interface so only you can control Actual Keylogger. After collecting all the keystrokes, you’ll be able to view a report in either HTML or plain text. This application doesn’t have the capability to grab print screens of keystrokes, but is still useful.

3. TrueCrypt (Free) Editor 4.5 Stars | Users 4 Stars, 229 reviews | 1k downloads last week

TrueCrypt is a free open-source program to protect your private information. It works by creating a virtual encrypted disk within a file and mounting it as a real disk. Encryption algorithms used are AES-256, Blowfish (448-bit key), CAST5, Serpent, Triple DES, and Twofish.

2. Easy Private Disk (Free 35 day trial, $19.95) Users 5 Stars, 2 reviews | 5k downloads last week

Easy Private Disk works by protecting your sensitive data on your laptops, personal computers and removable disks. It creates virtual disks on your computer, so you can store private information. By saving files and folders on this private disk then closing them, Easy Private Disk protects your files automatically.

1. Folder Lock (Free 25 mb trial, $39.95) Editors 4 Stars | Users 3.5 Stars, 988 reviews | 7k downloads last week

Folder Lock is a quick way to protect your private files. You can either lock your files and folders or encrypt them with 256 bit Blowfish algorithm. Folder Lock can be used to encrypt and password protect your folders, lock your files, USB Drives, CDs and DVDs. Folder Lock uses Lockers to create your encrypted storage, providing a place to safely keep files behind your Locker password. Lockers can also be transferred by email. Create as many Lockers as you want.

Additional features include hack monitoring, stealth mode, data shredding, history cleaning and more. The Locker’s delete, move and rename functions are password protected to help keep data from being lost.

This Week in Android Apps – Spotlight on Top Security, Productivity & Social Apps

Brian Mongold — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 19:07:14 +0000

Welcome to another edition of the new weekly series focusing on the best in Android Applications. Each week, I explore the most popular Android Apps, utilizing statistics and rankings via one of my favorite apps ATrackDog.

As of 27 Mar 10, The Android Market is up to 41,771 Android Applications used 5.8 million times. The number of apps are growing at a rapid pace and Android users are benefiting from all the outstanding developers.

Today, I wanted to first highlight three excellent security applications, then provide this weeks top productivity and social applications. The apps are calculated by total number of downloads in the last week. Enjoy!

Three Awesome Security Android Apps

antivirus free (FREE) 4 Stars, 10k ratings, 250k downloads

Protects your phone from viruses, malware and other attacks via real-time scanning.

Antivirus Pro ($4.99) 4.5 Stars, 290 ratings, 5k to 10k downloads

Gives you real-time scanning protecting against viruses, malware, operating system exploits. The pro version also offers “findR” to find your lost or stolen device via GPS and cell tower identification.

Lookout Mobile Security (FREE) 4.5 Stars, 8k ratings, 250k downloads

Blocks viruses and malware, scans your memory card to stop viruses from phone to PC and has a built in backup tool. If you lose your phone, you can use Lookout Mobile Security to locate the phone on a map and activate a loud alarm.

image via appbull.com

Top 10 Android Productivity Apps

10. Quick Settings (FREE) – 5 Stars, 3k ratings, 50k to 250k downloads

Provides a quick way to toggle your Ringer, Wifi, volume (multi-channel), Bluetooth, LED Flashlight (Droid only), etc. You can also add additional settings and customize.

9. OI File Manager (FREE) – 4 Stars, 3k ratings, 250k downloads

Lets you browse your SD card, create directories, rename files as well as copy, move and delete them. This app also adds an extension to other applications, providing the ability to Open or Save.

8. AK Notepad (FREE) – 4.5 Stars, 19k ratings, 250k downloads

Create notes, set reminders for your notes, share via SMS or e-mail and stick any note on your home screen. You can customize the notes’ appearance, setup labels, sort and search.

7. Documents to Go Full Version ($9.99 on sale) – 4.5 Stars, 50k to 250k downloads

View and edit files in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Adobe PDF. You can create new, save and send changes, view and update charts, zoom, modify formats and password-protect files.

6. AndroZip (FREE) 4.5 Stars, 6k ratings, 250k downloads

Manage files and folders and work with files in ZIP, RAR, 7ZIP, GZIP, TAR and BZIP2 formats. Copy, delete, move and sort files. This app also provides a task killer.

5. Root Explorer ($2.10) 5 Stars, 624 ratings, 5k to 10k downloads

This is a file manager for root users. It provides the ability to access the entire Android file system, including the elusive data folder. It includes a text editor, zip files, execute scripts, re-mount, permissions, bookmarks, APK binary XML file viewer and more.

4. EStrongs File Explorer (FREE) 4.5 Stars, 9k ratings, 250k downloads

This app is an all-in-one file manager, app manager and task killer. Copy, cut and move, use thumbview, multiselect, edit text, send as, search, unzip, media on FTP, access PC and more.

3. Documents to Go 2.0 (FREE) 4 Stars, 7k ratings, 250k downloads

Lets you view Microsoft Word and Excel files and attachments in doc, docx, xls and xlsx file formats. The pay version provides additional editing and viewing of PowerPoint and Adobe PDF files.

2. Advanced Task Killer (FREE) 4.5 Stars, 27k ratings, 250k downloads

This tool kills applications running, giving you the ability to select particular apps or the entire list of running apps to end.

1. ASTRO (FREE) 4.5 Stars, 26k ratings, 250k downloads

Manage files, applications and tasks. Read ZIP and TGZ files, view files and images, kill tasks, backup and restore multiple applications, send files as attachments and more.

image via androlib.com

Top 10 Android Social Apps

10. Touiteur (FREE) 4.5 Stars, 1k ratings, 10k to 50k downloads

Touiteur is a sharp looking, highly customizable Twitter client to keep up with your Tweeps.

9. Foursquare (FREE) 4 Stars, 2k ratings, 50k to 250k downloads

Foursquare lets you explore your city by seeing where your friends are, find places they visit often and as you travel, you can unlock rewards.

8. Wingletter (neighbors talk) (FREE) 4 Stars, 58 ratings, 1k to 5k downloads

This app stems from the idea of messages flying high above the sky. Once a letter is released, other users are able to comment. The more popular your letters are to the public, the higher they fly. If your letter doesn’t get any attention, it sinks to the ground.

7. Bloo – Facebook Beta (FREE) 4 Stars, 3k ratings, 50k to 250k downloads

In its’ beta stage, this app provides an excellent alternative to the Android Facebook App.

6. Camera Magic (FREE) 4 Stars, 2k ratings, 250k downloads

This app provides an improvement over the default camera. It features autofocus, a higher resolution, digital zoom, a timer, burst, white balance and more.

5. Bump (FREE) 4 Stars, 2k ratings, 250k downloads

Bump simplifies swapping contact info and photos. To use this app, open it up on both phones, bump your hands together while holding the phones and confirm the exchange.

4. Seesmic (FREE) 4.5 Stars, 6k ratings, 50k to 250k downloads

Seesmic is a feature rich Twitter client that lets you share photos, post videos to YouTube, search Twitter and get all your notifications for new messages.

3. MySpace (FREE) 4 Stars, 65k ratings, 250k downloads

This MySpace app for the Android provides a nice mobile solution for MySpace users.

2. fring (FREE) 4 Stars, 4k ratings, 50k to 250k downloads

This app lets you call and chat with your friends free over 3G and Wifi using the fring network. It supports Skype, MSN Messenger, GTalk, Twitter, SIP, Yahoo!, AIM and ICQ.

1. Facebook (FREE) 3.5 Stars, 52k ratings, 250k downloads

Share status updates from your home screen, check your news feeds, view your friends’ walls, view profiles, upload photos and share links.

image via androidtapp.com

How to REALLY Hide Your IP Address

Darko — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 18:29:41 +0000

Today’s post is from my previous guest author, Darko Twist from AllSearchRecords, a site that is dedicated to helping you discover cool and useful internet resources, tips and so much more. Enjoy! - Brian

A while ago I wrote a post on web proxy sites and how they can help you hide your IP address.

However, I must admit something…there are way more powerful ways to hide your IP and protect your privacy online. I’ve talked to many people about this (people who have the strongest reasons to hide their IP, hope you don’t have any similar motivations like they do ) for a simple reason: They are most likely to know the best ways that exist to do this thing.

The below resources and tips are 100% white hat only.

Principle #1: Public = bad

Most likely you know that public proxies are one way to hide your IP. However, you have no idea who owns them (he may be using a program to log all your data). You also have no idea whether they work until you configure your browser (to check if they work, go to whatismyip.com).

ProxyFirewall is a great software to check for working proxies.

This approach is very time consuming. It’s hard enough to come with a good proxy list you can easily import into a proxy checker, not to talk about finding WORKING proxies. It’s a rat race really. You’ll be spending a lot of time for nothing.

Instead, I suggest you to spend your time on something more productive that will actually bring you money which you can later use to buy a VPN account. Strong VPN is a reliable service of this kind.

You see, trying to find something that’s available for everyone will take you hours of your time per month. And time = money. So that’s why I think it’s much better you use the time you’ll otherwise spend on finding working proxy servers for something else that will bring you money which you can use to purchase a reliable VPN server. Virtual Private Networks are today the most secure and reliable ways to hide your IP. Almost all of the people I know who are serious about this use VPNs.

Principle #2 Belonging to someone else = risky. Belonging to someone you don’t know much about = VERY risky

Web proxies are really popular these days. For a reason. They’re free + easy to use + they work which makes them very appealing for most people.

However, I strongly discourage using most web proxies, for the reasons outlined in this post below.

If you don’t know who owns them exactly then you should accept the risk that person may record everything you do via that proxy.

The solution? Get yourself a cheap host and .info domain and create your own web proxy! Use Glupe or CGI Proxy.

Yes I know…it costs money. But as I outlined above, these days the TIME you’ll spend finding 100% free ways to protect your IP will lose you a lot of MONEY which you can use to get WAY superior protection.

Facebook Privacy – Can You Track Who Visits Your Profile?

Brian Mongold — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 17:14:51 +0000

I’ve been asked whether there are Facebook Applications that users can utilize to track who visits their profile, views their photos, etc. I wanted to highlight a few things from the Facebook Help Pages so we can better understand who can see our profiles, posts, photos, videos, etc.

Can you know who is visiting your profile or how often it’s being viewed?

“Facebook currently does not provide an application that allows users to track profile views or statistics on the views of any specific user content. Third party developers, however, may offer applications that provide some of this functionality. Please keep a few things in mind for these applications:
Applications CANNOT track profile visits for users who simply go to another person’s profile; Facebook has made this technically impossible. In order to be tracked by an application, you will need to specifically agree to allow the application to track your actions.”

So, Facebook has put measures in place that requires anyone who is visiting your profile to first accept an application to track where they are visiting to make this possible.

Can others know when I visit their profiles?

“Facebook currently does not provide an application that allows users to track profile views or statistics on the views of any specific user content. Third party developers, however, may offer applications that provide some of this functionality. Please keep a few things in mind for these applications:
Applications CANNOT track profile visits for users who simply go to another person’s profile; Facebook has made this technically impossible. In order to be tracked by an application, you will need to specifically agree to allow the application to track your actions.”

If you haven’t accepted an application that will track your profile or content views, Facebook has measures in place that won’t allow this.

Bottom Line

Be sure to read the details of each application prior to allowing the application to access your profile and information. Unsafe applications do exist and the typical Facebook user posts quite a bit of personal information their profile. If you don’t agree to allow your actions to be monitored, they won’t be. To adjust your privacy and security settings in Facebook, be sure to read 10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know.

Best in 2009 – 15 Security Freeware Tools for Windows

Brian Mongold — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 20:49:39 +0000

Now that 2009 is almost a wrap, let’s take a look at the some of the best free security, maintenance and utilities for Windows. With the list of outstanding freeware available, purchasing security software is becoming a thing of the past. The software below is categorized and features some of the highest rated software via CNET available free of charge.

ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE

AVG Antivirus Free Edition 9.0 (Windows 2K, XP, Vista, 7) – Gives you an excellent collection of tools for antivirus, antimalware as well as a link and e-mail scanners.

Avira AntiVir Personal 9.0 (Windows 2K, XP, Vista 32-bit and 64-bit) – Antivirus and antispyware protection.

Avast Home Edition 4.8 (Windows 95/98/Me/2K, Vista, XP, 7, NT) – Antivirus protection, multiple shields and multiple virus removing tools.

Firewalls

ZoneAlarm 9.1 (Windows 2K, XP, Vista, 7) – Simple to use with a handy wizard. Protects against internal and external threats.

Online Armor Free 4.0 (Windows XP/Vista/7 32-bit) – This free firewall features a keylogger guard along with tamper and worm protection.

SpyWare Removers

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware 1.42 (Windows 2K, XP, 2003, Vista, Server 2008, 7) – scans and removes malware, but real-time protection is only available with the paid version.

Ad-Aware Free Anti-Malware 8.1 (Windows 2K, XP, Vista) – This tool scans and removes malware and spyware.

Trend Micro HijackThis 2.0 (Windows 95/98/Me/2000/XP/NT) – Scans for and displays hard to find spyware.

Utilities

SmartDefrag 1.30 (Windows 98/Me/2000/XP/2003/Vista/Server 2008/7/NT) – Scans, analyzes and continually defrags files you use the most.

Revo Uninstaller 1.85 (Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/Server 2008/7) – Uninstalls and completely removes programs.

TweakNow PowerPack 2009 1.7.2 (Windows XP/Vista/7) – Tools that include, registry cleaner, registry defragmenter and tools to tweak and personalize Windows.

Advanced SystemCare Free 3.4 (Windows 2K, XP, 2003, Vista, Server 2008, 7, NT) – Suite of tools for cleaning and maintenance of your PC with one click.

CCleaner 2.27 (Windows 95/98/Me/2000/XP/Vista/NT) – Removes cache, cookies, cleans registry and more.

Glary Utilities 2.18 (Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7) – Utilities that clean junk files, fixes shortcuts and frees disk space.

Macrium Reflect Free Edition 4.2 Build 2098 (Windows XP/Vista/7) – Backs up your computer.

10 Essential Apps to Protect Your BlackBerry Data – BlackBerry Enthusiast

Brian Mongold — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:08:52 +0000

Staying on the topic of Privacy, I wanted to share my recent published listing of 10 BlackBerry Apps to Protect your personal BlackBerry Data in the event of theft, unwanted access, etc. Below is an excerpt from the listing. To read the rest, please do keep reading at BlackBerry Enthusiast’s 10 Essential Apps to Protect Your BlackBerry Data.

We use our BlackBerries to surf the net, manage our banking account, shop online, send and receive personal e-mails, etc. What would happen if someone does the unthinkable and swipes our BlackBerry? If someone is gutsy enough to steal our device, what would they do with our data and most personal information? Luckily, we have the ability to employ applications to help protect us if we lose our device, have it stolen, or just leave it unattended at any given time. Today’s post is to present a variety of applications that can help you lock your device and applications, manage your passwords and secure your data, protect and wipe your information and block unwanted calls and spam.

Lock Your Device and Applications

PatternLock for BlackBerry Storm ($2.99) 268KB

Provides an alternative to locking your BlackBerry Storm. Create your pattern, then to unlock just repeat that pattern by tracing it with your finger. Any incorrect pattern will not unlock your device. The app also has an added feature of call screen lock, which helps to avoid accidental screen clicks during a call. You can also setup a lock out, that blocks any input for a period of time if the wrong pattern is entered a maximum number of times.

SwipeLock for BlackBerry Storm ($2.99) – 149KB

SwipeLock is very similar to TalkLock, in that it prevents you from accidentally pressing buttons with your face while talking. You can lock the device or unlock the device using a unique swipe pattern or unlock it using the slider. The puzzle protect mode can give you an alternative method to security than that of a alphanumeric password.

Advanced Device Locks ($15.99) 158KB

Lock your phone or applications you specify, such as Messages, Pictures, Contacts, Video, etc. You can configure the app to automatically lock your phone at specified times, such as when it’s powered on, when the SIM changes, when someone tries to access the applications you protected, etc. You can also specify your level of security, secret or sensitive.

To read the rest, please do keep reading at BlackBerry Enthusiast’s 10 Essential Apps to Protect Your BlackBerry Data.

10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know – AllFacebook.com

Brian Mongold — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 02:52:49 +0000

Today, I stumbled upon an outstanding article that will help you lock up your Facebook account from the world. It was written in February, but is still very relevant. I wish I would have found it earlier. Here’s a summary of allfacebook.com’s 10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know.

Use friends lists
Remove yourself from Facebook search results
Remove yourself from Google
Avoid the infamous photo/video tag mistake
Protect your albums
Prevent stories from showing up in your friends’ news feeds
Protect against published application stories
Make your contact information private
Avoid embarrassing wall posts
Keep your friendships private

What do you think of the tips? Do you have any to add? I’m going to go check a few of my settings.