Custom Image by Jason Bean

You can follow these five steps to keep yourself safe on any system with any software installed.

1. Know Your Links: Too many times I think people just click on anything that’s blue and underlined in their browser. Take a minute and read where that link suggests it’s going. You can do this by hovering over the link and reading the information in the status bar. Notice the link shown in the status bar below. Not always a sure thing, but I rarely click on a link that doesn’t have a recognizable word, or just looks odd.
   

   Snagit of Firefox Status Bar

2. Don’t Install It: Before you go installing something cool you’ve just found, take a moment and think about whether or not you really need the application. Have you heard of it before you found it online? Was it recommended by someone you know and trust. My opinion is if it’s not familiar, it’s not installed.
3. Email Attachments: Rarely do I ever open or view email attachments I didn’t expect or ask for. This includes that cool video, music or PowerPoint presentation you got from your Uncle Roy. I delete almost immediately.
4. False “Helpful” Warnings: Sometimes you’ll get what appears to be a helpful message letting you know your system may be infected. The problem is that the helpful message is wanting you to click on it to install malware on your system. Be familiar with your own software, whatever you’re using and don’t click on anything that’s not familiar to you. Including the “Close” buttons or other items. When in doubt, you can use ALT+F4 to close active windows or the Windows Task Manager.
5. Forget Forwarding: Perhaps not an immediate threat to the security of your system, forwarding emails over and over is just a problem that builds upon itself. If you wouldn’t pick up the phone to tell someone about what you just saw on email, don’t forward it to someone. Too good to be true? Delete it! For one you’re spreading useless information. More importantly you’re helping to harvest active email addresses for spammers. If you must forward something, use the BCC: field and remove everyone’s email addresses from the body.

Post from: EveryJoe

5 Steps to Stay Safe on the Web

For today’s weight lifting blog , I want to emphasize the importance of safety and lifting within your means. It’s one thing to push yourself, it’s another to lift beyond what you are physically capable of. The video I have for you today might not be the best example of this, but it does give you an idea of what can happen when your mind goes beyond your muscle.

The video is of Janos Baranyai trying to snatch 326.3 pounds in his third lift in the men’s 77-kilogram division. He is unable to handle the weight and his elbow is completely dislocated. Now, snatches aren’t in my normal weight lifting repertoire so improper form could have been the culprit here, but I personally wouldn’t want to get that close to bad technique costing me an arm. And let’s not be mistaken, bad technique is a real possibility when you’re exerting that much force and lifting 236 lbs at 170 lbs.

I’ll warn you now, the following video is graphic and disturbing to watch as his elbow completely comes out of the socket.

Last warning. I did turn my head away after a few angles.

The video should serve a healthy reminder (although it’s different in application) to those trying to lift beyond their physical means that you have to put in the work before you lift the weight. You can’t go from max benching 135 to trying 255 in a week. You need to progress and build the foundation to lift your weight.

Post from: EveryJoe

Olympic Weight Lifting Accident

We wanted to give you advance notice that the (v1.5) beta will be coming to a close at the end of February, and that your OneCare beta service will expire by March 2007 (or sooner, depending when you installed the beta). After your service expires, you won’t receive new Virus and spyware definitions or other OneCare updates. To continue your OneCare protection, you will have to uninstall OneCare and then reinstall the released version of the product. We strongly urge you to do so.

They don’t need to twist my arm at all to purchase this software. I’ve been very happy with it and will continue to use it. If you need a great security application and have more than one computer at home this is a great program for you. A single license provides the rights to install the Windows Live OneCare software on up to three machines. Interestingly enough, that’s how many machines I’ve got at home right now. Perfect!

Post from: EveryJoe

OneCare Beta Is Ending

Post from: EveryJoe

ALERT! If you own a Dell laptop