Clickjacking – Don’t click to beat scam threat

Another new word in the IT lexicon. This time it is clickjacking.

This term was coined last month by a couple of net security boffins to describe a threat that we all need to be wary about. Malicious code is hidden behind links on legitimate and innocuous web sites to trick web users into revealing confidential information or to take unseen control of their computer.

The scamster penetrates the security on the site and slips code behind some interesting content. The unwary user clicks their mouse thinking it will do something else, but a damaging bit of script is run instead.

The term has shot to prominence since these specialists put the spot light on. they briefed software companies, but no one else, about how it could be perpetrated. Then last week, Adobe underlined the problem by putting out a security warning for its flash product.

Most os us have flash installed these days, as so many websites, include flash animation, So, you may want to check out security advisory APSA08-08 on the Adobe site )follow a link towards the bottom of the support page)

But flash is not alone in being vulnerable, All the web browsers, it seems can be exploited, even the recently released Google chrome.

Unlike with viruses and their ilk, getting protection against clickjacking is not straightforward. There is no security that can help.

Microsoft, Mozilla, Google, Adobe and others are now working hard to release fixes that eliminate these know risks. Meanwhile there seem to be few precautions we can take except to stick to sites we feel confident in.

Write your name in the stars….

GET online and you, too, could have a chunk of space named after you.

This months news that a Dutch schoolteacher had a distant gas cloud named after her has re-ignited interest in the Galaxy Zoo website. She spotted the usual bright object in the sky whilst using the site last year and reported it.Experts did not know of it, found it fascinating and it is now known as Hanny’s Voorwerp.

Since this site’s inception, 150,00 worldwide users have helped astronomers by pooring over pictures of far reaches of the universe. So, what is it all about?

In a nutshell, professional star gazers cannot keep up with the stream of photographs that their telescopic cameras are taking of remote galaxies. Yet computers cannot do the job of examining the pictures either. So, they have roped in web users to help.

The galaxy zoo site presents you with a photo that may be the first to see and it asks you what the galaxy looks like. Thus, you classify it and flag up any-thing unusual or interesting. This leaves the boffins to concentrate on the more technically demanding work.

Like everything to do with space, big numbers are involved, So, far amateur enthusiasts have made 50 million galaxy classifications.

If, though, you would prefer to get to grips with what you can see with the naked eye, stick to Google.

The “sky” option in Google Earth (choose “switch to sky” in its “View” menu) is a good a guide to those twinkly pin-heads in the black soup as its main mode is to our own backyard.

Big Business still shunning Microsoft Vista

Almost eighteen months after it was let loose in the market, Microsoft Vista remains as well received as a matchbox in a fire-work factory.

A major supplier caused a fracas this week by admitting that, despite Microsoft ending XP machines sales on 30 June, they were still shifting faster than bangers from a barbecue.

There is a legal loophole which allows PC makers to sell boxes with Vista licences but load up XP regardless. Microsoft counts these as Vista sales, Customers have XP, everybody is happy until, that is someone let the cat out the bag.

Mind you, there are no XP boxes at local stores; we are talking corporate sales such as a website design company here. Big Business is doing all it can to avoid taking on Vista. According to an international research report last month, less than 10 percent of the big companies have started using it at all.

Why the downer on Vista? Tests have suggested it is slower than XP and users claim it is harder to get to grips with. But how much anti-Vista feeling is caused by its reputation going before it.

Try looking up ‘Mojave Experiment’ on Google and find out what happened when Microsoft took a cross section of Vistaphobes and had them try ‘Mojave’ instead – before telling them that Mojave was actually Vista. Critics say, though, that this stunt had all the credibility of a David Blane special.

A breakthrough is desperately needed. The longer the industry rubbishes Vista and Microsoft persuades itself that all is well really, the irritations caused by its incompatibility with XP.

Inspiring Search Engine factors by 37 SEO experts

This document i am mentioning here represents the collective wisdom of 37 leaders in the world of organic search engine optimization. Together, they have voted on the various factors that are estimated to comprise Google’s ranking algorithm (the method by which the search engine orders results). The result is a resource of incredible value – although not every one of the estimated 200+ ranking elements are included, it is an opinion that 90-95% of the knowledge required about Google’s algorithm is contained in this article.

Seo by 37 Experts here

Bookmarks the spot you want

This article intends to simplify the use of the Bookmark element

I want to highlight a couple of underused features in Microsoft word that you might find handy if you have not found them before.

Let us start with Bookmarks. These are useful for longer documents, especially while you are drafting them, maybe even cutting and pasting sections from one part of the document to another, and find your self scrolling up and down looking for a particular chunk of text.

Bookmarks help you to go back to a particular point in your document time and again. You can even create an electronic Contents list using them.

To try it out, put your cursor somewhere towards the end of a long document. Select Bookmark from the insert Insert Menu at the top. A dialogue box will appear. Type in a Bookmark name, for example, Recommend Actions and then click the Add button.

Next go to the top of the document and put the cursor there. Then try using your Bookmark by selecting Insert Bookmark again. In the same dialogue box, your new Bookmark is now listed in the main panel. Click on it and then click the Go To button. In the background your cursor will find the Bookmark.

If you have lot of Bookmarks, the dialogue box helps you to find the one you want by giving you the option to sort them alphabetically or by the sequence they occur in the document.

Finally, a quick one. If you get into a real knot with the formatting of some paragraphs of text and want to start over again with it, then select the text and hit Control, Shift and N buttons at the same time. This removes all added formatting and takes it back to the default appearance of your document template.

Another Microsoft Word Top Tip from the Web-architekt look out for all my articles on computer tips and tricks we aim to simplify the use of elements within software.

Something symbolic on the menu

Often times, I am frequently asked how to do a Euro symbol because someone needs to send information across the Channel or how to type a letter ‘c’ in a circle to indicate copyright. Then, of course, children with French or Spanish homework need to find vowels with ‘acutes’ and circumflexes’ and the like.

Both Word and PowerPoint include ‘Symbol’ on the ‘Insert’ menu. This opens up a dialog box with an array of Symbols in it. Later versions also include a panel of ‘Recently Used panel of Symbols’ so that you do not need to search for the one you used last time.

Regular Symbol users, though, will appreciate a faster approach, which allows you to type frequently used symbols as you go. Each of the ‘Normal Text’ symbols has a code which can be used with the ‘ALT’ key on keyboards which have a separate numeric pad. (Please note: this does not work with the numbers on the top row of the keyboard.)

Set ‘Number Lock’ on your numeric keypad, hold down the ‘ALT’ key and type ‘0128’ and see Euro symbol appear. Then, do the same with ‘0190’ and you get a three-quarters symbol, or ‘0186’ to get a ‘degrees’ symbol for recording temperature.

There are a number of handy lists of these codes, which can be used to learn any useful to you.

Extensions can mean heartache

CONTINUING with a look at the file extensions and the headaches they can cause, I want to talk about the way a computer chooses the right program when you double click a file name in order to open it.

Each program we use has particular extension types that it can use.Some extensions types are used by a number of programs, like the ‘dot jpg’ files used for photos.So, your computer maintains a list of all the file types it can recognise and it associates with an application that will be used with it. Install a new program and this list gets updated, and that is when the fun can start.

For instance, your computer will be delivered with a default setting for viewing ‘dot jpg’ files. This may be Paint, Explorer or Picture Viewer, perhaps.

You get used to it and you like it that way. However, install a new package, for instance an application supplied with your new camera, and you can find that things have changed.

In the manner of a visitor who is sat in your favourite chair before you can get the front door closed, your new software has presumed that all ‘dot jpg’ shall henceforth be viewed in it self and updated your list.

To see this list, use Windows Explorer, select ‘Folder Options’ from the ‘Tools’ menu and look at the ‘Files Types’ panel. There are facilities here to add, change and remove records and get file types opening with your preferred applications.

Part 3 of 3 All you need for SEO

Free SEO Desktop Tools
* Good Keywords Good Keywords – Find the best keywords for your web pages.
* Free Monitor for Google Free Monitor for Google – query Google easily. Google Monitor Query website position web ranking software
* GSite Crawler Google Sitemap Generator for Windows Google Sitemap Generator for Windows :: GSiteCrawler

Web Site Submission at Major Search Engines
* Google Add your URL to Google

* Yahoo! https://login.yahoo.com/config/login?.src=s…om/free/request
* MSN Live Search URL Submission

SEO Discussion Forums
* SEO Workers SEO Workers – Search Engine Optimization & Marketing Discussion Forums – Index
* Webnauts Net Webnauts Net Discussion Forums (Powered by Invision Power Board)
* Digitalpoint Webmaster Forum – Internet Marketing & Search Engine Forums
* Google Community Google Community
* Search Engine Forums Talk SEO … Search Engine Optimization Techniques and Search Engine Marketing Industry Discussion Forums at JimWorld

Web Site Submission at Human-edited Directories

Social Bookmarking
* Social Bookmarking (all in one) Socializer – free automatic social bookmark submission

* DMOZ Submitting a Site to The Open Directory Project
* Webnauts Net Human and Search Engine Friendly Web Directory Submit a Link – Has been checked by HVO Group !!!

Seconds out, round two for the battle of phone heavyweights

DESPITE the challenger tripping while leaving its corner last week, Round Two of the Apple vs Blackberry bout is underway at last.The launch of the new iPhone 3G has taken the tussle between these two heavy-weight fruits to a new level and the industry is now eagerly watching to see which creeps ahead on points.

Apple staggered a bit when the bell went, much to the disappointment of the crowd, many of whom had queued outside for hours to be ringside at the start.Systems failures made it near impossible to register an iPhone and the choice was to leave empty handed or hang around through the morning in the hope of getting started with one.

The judges’ verdict on the early action is that honours are even. Both are good phones, the lightweight Safari Browser on the iPhone makes it a very smoky sufer, but Blackberry is much more versatile with e-mail. Whilst the Blackberry looks and feels corporate, the iPhone is more cool and funky.Now if you just want a handset to make phone calls, these heavy hitters are not for you.Then again, if you like the idea of using a phone for a decent standard of Internet on the move, be aware that costs are, as yet high.

The bill for getting downloading YouTube clips can pack a nasty surprise.You might, though, want to wait for Google to enter the ring. Google Android is coming and the prospect of quick knock-out blows with fast, handset, based versions of Google Search, Gmail and Google Maps is tempting.
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David is a IT Consultant and Website Designer Birmingham providing computer Bits and Bobs, Tips and Tricks, His Website Design Company is here Veritas Webdesigns for further information.

Important days ahead for future of the Net

THE Net headlines this week have been dominated by Viacom’s Round One victory in its legal battle with Google, owners of YouTube, over copy-right infringement.

A judge rules that Google must hand Vicom a 12,000 Gigabyte database recording every time a YouTube clip was watched and by whom. If you watched any YouTube clip, the details will be included. They will not identify you by name, but you’re IP Address and any login name you used will be there.

The one billion dollar claim against Google is for the copyrighted material that users uploaded to the site. Google say it is the fault of those users and that it complies wit the Law by removing illegal material once notified. However, this excuse is a bit thin given that you do not need to try hard at all to see blantant infringements on the site.

For instance, I am writing this Sunday afternoon (13 July 2008), and already I can watch still warm, if grainy, clips of the yet to finish Nadal vs Federer tennis marathon . Broadcasters’ copyrights count for nothing here.

It could yet be that Viacom will seek to use the data in question to go after those who posted their clips on the site. What do you think? Are these YouTube users performing a helpful public service or should the book be thrown at them?

One way or another, this is an important case. The nature of the Net,. The accessibility of Information and the privacy with which we use of it may all be at stake.

Another article by the Website Design Company Birmingham