Ask Leo!: Internet

How do I know what to believe on the internet?

leo@pugetsoundsoftware (Leo A. Notenboom) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 14:58:37 -08:00

A very good friend - a mentor and inspiration for Ask Leo!, in fact - has fallen victim to a particularly nasty form of fraud. It turns into an important lesson for all of us in understanding what we can, and cannot believe on the internet.

Here's the scenario...

There's a web site that, for lack of a better term, promotes a "get rich quick" scheme. I'm not going to name names, because I don't want to give them any press or links or page views. In fact, the specifics aren't important here - the situation, however, is.

On this web site, near the bottom is a glowing testimonial. From my friend.

A testimonial that he never provided.

Someone I met in chat is threatening me - am I safe on my computer?

leo@pugetsoundsoftware (Leo A. Notenboom) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 10:35:02 -08:00

I met a boy in the chat room and talked to him decently and did not give him any of my personal information. After few days his behavior was not good and I stopped talking to him. He sent me email that was an invitation for speed dating. He once said to me in chat that this attitude will be costly for me in future. I am afraid. Can he harm me? Can he hack my computer to get my information? If yes, can he hack my all accounts or only that particular account which he knows?

Am I safe on my computer?

]]> You're probably just as safe as you were before ever talking to this person.

But you're not alone in being concerned. I hear about your kind of situation all the time, and the bottom line question is always the same: "am I safe on my computer"?

The answer isn't really yes or no, I'm afraid. It depends on a lot of different things, which I'll review for you.

What are Root Certificates, and why do I need to update them?

leo@pugetsoundsoftware (Leo A. Notenboom) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 11:54:25 -08:00

Windows Update has a download for "Windows Root Certificates". It was not critical and I did not know what it was. So a long time ago, I did not download it and turned the download off.

A search on Google gives me differing information on whether Windows Root Certificates are good or bad, or maybe even dangerous?

What are Windows Root Certificates and should I download and install them?

]]> Root Certificates are one of the fundamental pieces of public key cryptography used by browsers and other services to validate certain types of encryption. For example, the root certificates are used whenever you connect via an https connection to make sure that you're connecting to who you think you are.

How do I block porn?

leo@pugetsoundsoftware (Leo A. Notenboom) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 12:27:07 -08:00

I would like to block porn from coming into my house. I am sure many people feel the same way because they have children but my reason for wanting to block it is my idiot son-in-law.

My daughter, grandchild, and idiot son-in-law live in an apartment in our basement because he cannot support his family. They were using a dialup modem but I got tired of them tying up the phone so I agreed for them to connect wirelessly to my router.

Since then, and before I suspect, my son-in-law has been viewing porn and I really do not want it in my house but I do not want to start a fight with my daughter by taking away the DSL. Especially since he says he needs it to look for a job.

I tried installing OpenDNS and configuring the router to use it but it did not work. I posted to their forum and was told that each computer had to be manually reconfigured to use OpenDNS for it to actually block certain websites. Since I do not have the password to their computer and do not want to snoop on their machine, that option was out.

I have been reading your blog for years now and you are always telling people that your ISP can see anything and do anything. Well, I am my SIL's ISP so how do I use the router to block porn without having to access their machine?

]]> Well, I believe you were on the right track with OpenDNS, but I suspect that the advice you got was a little off the mark.

That being said, I also have to throw out a big fat caveat as well, that you probably won't like.

Are there any legitimate uses for peer-to-peer file sharing programs?

leo@pugetsoundsoftware (Leo A. Notenboom) — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 12:08:12 -08:00

My son installed Torrent on the house computer. This of course, without asking first as is the rule. This program slowed my computer down so much that I could not get online. I found out that as it was downloading, it was also uploading with unlimited bandwidth. I could not find any information on what it was uploading. I dislike P2P because of past experience with them, virus, spyware and the feeling I am stealing from the programmer, this program was promptly uninstalled. Is there any legitimate use for P2P programs?

]]> This is a very sad case of some very amazing technology getting smeared with a bad reputation because of how some people choose to use it.

Absolutely, there are many legitimate uses for peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing programs like BitTorrent.

In fact, I wish it were used more.