Tips for Avoiding Spam Filters

I find that unless I vocally tell people to look in their spam box for my messages they usually DO NOT get them as they are fazed out of regular mail. How can this be rectified?

- Donna

You are experiencing the other side of the problem created by the sheer volume of junk e-mail messages being sent every second of every day.

The statistics vary widely depending upon the research group, but they all agree that the vast majority of messages circulating the Internet are spam, which means you have to be careful when you are crafting your messages.

Every e-mail program and mail service provider incorporates automatic spam filtering based on a number of factors. Your messages get scored based on the attributes that are commonly used by spammers.

The more of these attributes you may have inadvertently been using, the more likely your messages will get tagged as spam or worse, your e-mail address gets blacklisted by mail systems. Common things to avoid include: - ALL CAPS or excessive use of punctuation, especially on the Subject line or your from: address - Very large or very small text, especially in combination - Attachments - High image to text ratios (do you have an image in your signature?) - Any common keyword used in pharmaceutical, financial or real estate spam - Lots of bold or different colored text (green and red are the worst) - Using a background image - Excessive typos - No Subject line - Excessive blank lines, especially between text lines - E-mail addresses that use numbers and letters, especially if they start with a number or don't use any real words in the address

None of these on their own will automatically get your message tagged as spam, but a combination will certainly raise your spam score.

Another way to get your message caught in spam filters is to copy text from Microsoft Word into your message when it's setup to send in HTML (which is the default for most e-mail programs).

Microsoft Word documents will insert lots of extra code that you don't see but makes your message look like it's loaded with hidden code to a spam filter. Learning how to send messages in plain text, especially when you want to copy/paste from websites or a Word document is helpful (search your help menu for 'plain text messages').

If you include links in your messages, always make sure that the http:// is included (spammers routinely create fake links that say one thing, but send you somewhere completely different if you click on it).

The simpler the message, the more likely it won't create red flags for spam filters. You can do some testing with one of your friends that you know is having a problem by sending a simple text message with no images.

If it still gets thrown into their spam filter, have them add your address to their 'whitelist' and address book to see if it finally gets through.

If nothing you try helps you improve your deliverability, your best bet might be to create a new e-mail address (for personal use, I prefer Gmail) and avoid the known causes when setting up and using the new address.
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Microsoft Surface vs iPad; first impressions

How does Microsoft's Surface tablet compare to the iPad?

- Jesse

Microsoft is betting big on its overhaul of Windows and the primary driver of this radical change is the explosion of mobile devices.

Microsoft's vision is to provide its users with the exact same interface on smartphones, tablets and desktop computers.

The Surface tablet is their entry into the very crowded tablet market with this vision and I've had the opportunity to spend a little time using one as my primary mobile computing device instead of my iPad.

For clarification, I wasn't given a review unit by Microsoft; I purchased one in hopes that it would provide me with a better productivity tool when I travel.

The hardware itself is well built and has lots of features that aren't found on the iPad or require you to purchase additional accessories to accomplish.

One of the first things that I fell in love with was the built-in kickstand that allows for easy viewing and interaction when you aren't holding it.

The entry level Surface tablet ($499) has twice the memory of the comparably priced iPad (32Gb vs 16 Gb) and allows for expansion of up to 64Gb via the microSD slot for storing more of your data (apps must reside on the internal memory).

The standard USB port provides an easy way to interface with flash drives, tethering with smartphones, connecting with digital cameras or any number of peripherals that Apple requires a separate dongle to accomplish.

The display in portrait mode is taller than an iPad but not as wide. It's really designed to be used in landscape mode as the operating system, kickstand and keyboard connector are optimized for it.

The iPad's Retina display is superior from a resolution standpoint, but the Surface certainly provides a more than adequate display for everything that I've needed.

The design really emphasizes that this tablet is built for productivity as well as entertainment. The wider screen in landscape mode allows for a wider external keyboard that's much closer to a standard keyboard than any of the iPad accessories that I've used.

There are two specially designed keyboards available that magnetically snap to the tablet and also serve as a cover if you want more than an on-screen keyboard. The Touch keyboard ($119) was all anyone could talk about during the launch event because it's a really thin keyboard with touch keys, but I don't understand why anyone wouldn't spend the extra $10 to get the more traditional Type keyboard

The tactile response that most touch typists are used to only exists on the Type keyboard, so it's imperative that you test out both before making a decision.

If connecting your tablet to an external video display is important, the micro HDMI port will come in handy but when it comes to the speaker system, the iPad's the clear winner.

When it comes to apps, the meager selection currently available via the Microsoft Store is a joke compared to the 275,000 apps that are available for the iPad.

This will change over time, but there is one significant advantage the Surface has over the iPad for Windows users: Office 2013 is pre-loaded.

The Windows RT interface (a subset of Windows 8) is a big departure from previous versions of Windows, but I was surprised how quickly I became acclaimated to it. It was certainly a shorter learning curve than my first Android device.

My opinion is that if you're more interested in entertainment, then stick with the iPad but if you lean more towards being productive with a side of entertainment, the Surface tablet is worth a look as long as you don't mind being an early adopter.
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Windows 8 Upgrade Tips & Advice

I'm considering Windows 8 but don't know if my current computer is capable of the upgrade. Any quick way to figure out if I need a new computer or not?

- Donald

Microsoft's newest operating system is causing quite a bit of commotion (and rightly so), but before you decide to take the plunge, there are a couple of things to ask yourself:

Am I ready to learn a new set of interface tools?

Can I do the initial testing on a computer that isn't mission critical?

In an effort to unify mobile and desktop computing in a single interface, Windows 8 is a bold undertaking by Microsoft that will cause 'change anxiety' in users that aren't open to change.

A lot of detractors are making a big deal out of the 'missing' Start button, but the default screen is essentially what you used to see when you clicked on Start in older versions, so it's not quite as bad as it is being made out to be.

I've been using the various preview versions on a desktop computer for a while and recently began using the Surface Tablet and can see where Microsoft is trying to take us all.

If they're successful, they'll be hailed as visionaries; if they aren't, lots of people will be using Windows 7 for a long, long time (Windows XP is over 11 years old and still accounts for over 40% of global desktop market share).

Generally speaking, unless you are in the industry (developer, technician, analyst, etc.) or just love the challenge of the unknown, it's always safest to hold back on migrating so that the tech savvy community can discover all the inevitable quirks.

If you have an extra computer that you don't rely upon and you like to tinker, then the system requirements are pretty basic: • Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster with support for PAE, NX, and SSE2 (more info) • RAM: 1 gigabyte (GB) (32-bit) or 2 GB (64-bit) • Hard disk space: 16 GB (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit) • Graphics card: Microsoft DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM driver

If you want to do a more in-depth check of your computer and peripherals, make sure you have everything that you care about plugged in and turned on (printers, scanners, etc.) then download and run Microsoft's Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant: http://goo.gl/LP5Kx

The least problematic way to migrate to Windows 8 is certainly to buy a new computer that comes pre-loaded with the OS, but that's also the most expensive.

If you want to avoid the pain of re-installing all your programs (if you can even find the disks!), transferring your pictures, documents, music, network settings, printer drivers and everything else that makes your computer YOUR computer, you can perform an 'in-place' upgrade.

The only operating system that will allow an in-place upgrade is Windows 7. If you have Windows XP or Vista, the upgrade will install without wiping out all your data, but you will have to reload all your applications (this scenario is generally the most problematic, so consulting a techie or professional that has done it before might be a good idea).

Microsoft has gotten very aggressive with pricing on the upgrade. If you don't require the disk, you can download the Windows 8 Pro upgrade for $39.95 or buy the boxed version for $69.99 if you do want the installation media.

If you aren't quite ready to start using Windows 8, but need a new computer, you can buy a Windows 7 system now and qualify for an even cheaper upgrade ($14.99) to Windows 8 later.

Anyone buying a Windows 7 computer between June 2, 2012 and January 31, 2013 can register for the special upgrade offer at: http://goo.gl/AiyUU
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Tips for Getting your iTunes Music from Home to Work

I have thousands of songs in my iTunes at home that I would like to listen to at work and I don't want to pay Apple to use iTunes Match. Any other suggestions?

- Nicholas

Most of us have accumulated digital music from a myriad of sources over the years that can range from ripping CDs to buying songs online.

If all the songs you want to listen to were purchased via the iTunes Store, you can use the iTunes in the Cloud feature of iCloud ( http://goo.gl/HLaiJ ) to download all your previous purchases to any iTunes library, including any Apple mobile music players (iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch).

But, if you are like most of us, you have lots of music from many years of ripping CDs, so you'll want something more.

If the library isn't too big, you could use the old 'sneaker network' by copying the files to a USB drive and taking it to the office to transfer. If you have a large music collection, you could use an external hard drive to transport the songs.

The problem with any 'old-school' manual copy process is that it's kind of a hassle if you continually add songs to your library.

As long as you have a high-speed Internet connection, there are lots of free online options for uploading music files so you can stream the music from anywhere or any device or download them to another computer.

If you simply want to upload the songs to the 'cloud' so you can download them at work, any of the free storage service such as Dropbox, Skydrive, or SugarSync can do the job, but make sure your library isn't larger than the free storage limits.

For most folks that want a fairly painless process that allows you the options of streaming the library or downloading some or all of the songs, I like Google Play's Music offering ( http://music.google.com ).

Google allows you to store up to 20,000 songs from iTunes, Windows Media Player or any folder that contains standard music files. Once you upload your library, you can listen to it from any computer or mobile device via any web browser.

The key feature that makes this a more elegant solution, especially for non-techies, is the Music Manager app ( http://goo.gl/w5tHj ) that runs in the background on your computer and keeps your online library updated.

Once the initial upload is completed, which can take some time depending upon how large your library is and how fast your upload speed is, you simply log into your Google Play account at work and start listening to any of the songs you have at home.

You can also do the same thing from your smartphone or tablet, regardless of which platform it's on, just by using the web browser to go to http://music.google.com (Android devices can download an app).

If your workplace frowns on streaming media sites because they eat up bandwidth, you can use the Music Manager to download the entire library or selectively download songs from the Google Play Music web interface (right-click on songs you select to download them).

If you created playlists in iTunes or Windows Media Player, they get uploaded as well, so you don't have to re-create them in the Google Play library.

There are lots of other alternatives, but this has worked best for me especially when my wife wants a song that she hears on one of my playlists!
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Tips for Editing PDF files on your iPad

I travel a lot and work with a lot of PDF files. Can you recommend a PDF editing app for my iPad?

- Lee

The breadth of productivity apps for the iPad continues to improve its ability to do the work of a traditional laptop, making it more of a 'go-to' device especially when you are travelling.

Depending upon the level of editing that you require, I have a couple of recommendations.

If your editing needs are simple, you may be able to use the free Adobe Reader app that works on iPads, iPhones and the iPod Touch ( http://goo.gl/3pFJ5 ).

It's capable of doing simple annotations such as highlight, strikethrough and underline as well as basic mark up using the freehand drawing tool.

You can add comments to any section of the PDF with sticky notes and you can add text to forms with the Typewriter tool.

You can also fill out forms, add digital signatures and e-mail the PDFs right from within the app. This latest version is even capable of filling in form fields that have validation, calculations and formatting.

Another great feature is the 'Ink Signature' tool that allows you to sign any document using your finger and there is support for a multitude of languages.

One of the areas that Adobe Reader is lacking in is the integration with the multitude of file syncing services such as DropBox and SugarSync or private FTP servers.

It can only work with other apps and services that support the 'Open In' feature built-into iOS devices.

If you want a more robust PDF editing app that's also fairly intuitive yet easy to use, you can't do much better than Readdle's PDF Expert ($9.99 http://goo.gl/iVC93 ).

It has superior file management capabilities for those that work with lots of documents and the thumbnail file view can save you lots of time when you are searching for a specific document.

It has all of the form filling and signature capabilities that Adobe Reader has but when it comes to drawing options, it's far superior.

You can draw boxes, circles, lines and arrows as well as add stamps or images to any part of the document. When you press and hold on any part of the PDF, you can insert a note, text, stamp, image or signature in a snap.

You can also easily add audio notes or your corporate logo and it supports the playing of embedded video.

When you press on a signature field, you are presented with two options: My Signature or Customer Signature. This allows you to insert your own stored signature or have someone use their finger to sign the PDF which you can then easily resize to make it fit into the form field properly.

PDF Expert really excels in the area of file syncing with direct support for DropBox, Microsoft's SkyDrive or any WebDAV server.

You can also download and upload files directly from an FTP server, Google Docs, Box, SugerSync and MobileMe accounts and store up to 512Mb of your files for free on Readdle's Storage servers if you don't already have cloud storage account setup.

If you're not sure if you'll need all of the additional power that PDF Expert offers, start by using the free Adobe Reader until you run into a problem that PDF Expert solves!
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How to Share Your Panoramas on Facebook

I love the new panoramic photos I can take with my iPhone, but when I share them on Facebook, they are too small. Help!

- Sandy

Fortunately, panoramic photography via smartphones has been around for a while, so you have numerous options for sharing them in all their glory with your Facebook friends.

Apple's recent iOS 6 update included a slick panoramic auto-stitching option (only available on the iPhone 4S and 5) that works great and makes it very easy to create panoramas up to 240 degrees.

The iPhones 4S/5 cameras are capable of capturing very high resolution images and when you combine it with the panorama stitching, it creates enormously large images (up to 28 megapixels; over 10,000 pixels wide).

Facebook automatically compresses any image you upload to save space on their servers. When I uploaded my first panoramic image, it reduced the image width to 520 pixels in the standard view and 1136 pixels in full screen mode.

Your friends can get a sense of what the image was trying to capture, but it really comes alive when they can go full screen and drag their mouse around to move around in the image.

To do this, you must upload the panorama to another website, then share a link to the image on Facebook. An example of this can be seen on our Facebook page: http://goo.gl/k1Ro6

I've tested lots of sites that allow you to do this and found http://dermandar.com to be very easy to use and it's free! Dermandar will allow images up to 8191 pixels in either direction, which means you won't be able to upload the images until you reduce the size a bit.

For that task, my favorite photo management software, Google's Picasa ( http://picasa.google.com ) does the trick.

Not only can it help you resize the image, it's a great way to unload space-hogging images off your phone so you don't fill it up with panoramas.

Simply connect your phone to your computer and click on the Import button in Picasa to transfer the images.

Once you have them on your computer, click on the panorama you want to upload, then click the 'File' menu and select 'Export Picture to Folder'.

When the dialog box comes up, type '8191' into the box below the 'Resize to:' option and click on the Export button.

Make sure you pay attention to where the file is being saved (the location option is at the top) so you know where to find it when you are uploading to the Dermandar website. Dermandar's process for setting up a free account and uploading the panoramas is pretty straight forward. Once you create one, you can simply paste the link into a Facebook post for a fully interactive image that will impress your friends.

If you want to expand your panoramic options, I've used Microsoft's free Photosynth app ( http://goo.gl/e3adZ ) on my iPhone for years because it doesn't limit the horizontal capture of a panorama. You can continue to stitch on as much of the sky, ground or anything you deem to be of value and it makes 360 degree images very easily.

If you save a 360 degree Photosynth panorama to your camera roll or Photo Stream, you can upload it to your Dermandar account without the need to reduce the size.

Dermandar also has a 99 cent panorama camera app for iPhones, but in my tests, the stitching was much less accurate than what is built into the iPhone or Photosynth so save your money.
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Why So Many Think Facebook is Exposing Private Messages

I trust you guys, so I have to ask: Is it true that your private Facebook inbox messages are now visible for all to see, from 2010 and earlier? I keep seeing people posting this on Facebook.

- Robyn

This recent privacy pandemonium is likely the shock waves generated from users in other countries that are just now being forced to use Facebook's Timeline.

According to TechCrunch, the first cases of people being worried about the potential exposure of old private messages came from France, which was the most recent country where Timeline was pushed to all users.

Facebook has reviewed every claim made that private messages were appearing on Timelines and found them all to be previous posts. The confusion seems to be from the fact that before 2009 there were no Likes or comments on wall posts, which meant we used posts to reply to previous posts. Taken out of context, these posts could easily be mistaken for private messages today.

Facebook went on to say that there are technical barriers that prevent private messages from appearing as wall posts. The two systems are totally separate from a programming standpoint, so this actually is technically not possible.

Old-timers may remember back then you couldn't comment directly on a wall post (they weren't the same as status updates). You had to use the Wall-to-Wall feature to piece together a conversation that took place over multiple individual posts on each other's Walls.

If you see anything that you feel isn't something you want to be public, you can always float your mouse over the top right corner of the post to hide or remove it, which is the only accurate information contained in the warnings.

If nothing else, this should show everyone on Facebook how globally connected we all are and how one person starting a rumor in another country can easily cause hysteria on the other side of the world in a matter of hours.

A quick math exercise should help everyone understand that they should be more diligent about blindly spreading 'warnings' that they haven't checked out for themselves.

If we assume that the claim that an average Facebook user has 245 friends, there are only three degrees of separation between you and 14,706,125 other users.

Active Facebook users have 2 to 3 times the average number of friends and are most responsible for spreading misinformation because their networks are bigger.

In their excitement to be the 'source' of some new information to all their friends, few bother verifying the information first.

It's actually very easy to verify or debunk any 'warning' on Facebook before you decide to share it. Simply copy and paste the entire warning into Google and you will likely find many references to the information so you can validate or discredit it.

If you can't validate it, don't spread it. If you can debunk it, share the real information with your friend along with the tip that Google can help them verify warnings in the future.

A big red flag for any warning posted by any of your well-meaning friends is when there is no link to a credible source that fully explains the information.

Another sign that the information might not be authentic is when the post ends with 'copy and paste this to your wall to share it with your friends'. It's the same level of suspicion you should have when an e-mail 'warning' tells you to 'forward this to all your friends'.
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How to get Google Maps back after iOS 6 upgrade

I upgraded my iPhone 4S to iOS 6 and heard about all the problems with the new Maps app that Apple switched to; is there a way to get Google Maps back on my phone or something else that's more reliable?

-Samuel

It should be pretty obvious to even a casual observer that Apple and Google don't like each other.

What started out as an amiable relationship during the first iPhone launch has turned into a multi-billion dollar patent war over dominance in the mobile device industry. When Google decided to create its own smartphone operating system (Android) it suddenly became a competitor to its partner and Apple was none too happy.

The culmination of this relationship gone bad is evident in the most recent update to Apple's mobile operating system (iOS 6) as both Google Maps and the native YouTube app disappeared.

Apple no longer wants to include anything from its competitor and is going after Google's dominance in mobile mapping by replacing it with their own mapping system (there's substantially advertising revenue at stake).

Apple took one-step forward by finally including turn-by-turn directions and many steps backwards in the actual core mapping data.

The complaints range from massive mistakes in location (cities and stores located in oceans and rivers) to huge chunks of data and images that are really old or missing altogether. Apple's position on their new Maps app is that "it's a cloud-based solution and the more people use it, the better it will get." They are counting on 'crowdsourcing' to fix all that is wrong or missing (more on that later).

Those of us that used Google Maps on our phones in the early days remember being sent to the wrong end of an unfamiliar city because the map data was inaccurate; Apple is now throwing us back to those days with their work-in-progress mapping system.

Google has an approved replacement app for YouTube, which is actually much better than the old built-in app, but to date, there is currently no option to install a Google Maps app from the App Store (there are rumors that Google will be submitting an app for approval at some point).

You can, however, still use Google Maps via a web browser by going to http://maps.Google.com .

The first time you load the page, it should ask for permission to use your current location, which is necessary if you want to use the web version of Google Maps. If you turned off the location services for Safari or an alternative browser, you will need to go into Settings/Privacy/Location Services and turn it back on.

To make it easier to access in the future, once the page loads, tap the share icon (the rectangle with the arrow pointing to the right) and click on 'Add to Home Screen' to add the site as an icon on the phone.

We also like Microsoft's Bing search app that includes their mapping service; it's very similar to the old Google Maps app and includes mass transit directions if you need them.

Apple is hoping that the millions of users that have their new mapping system on their phones will help them 'improve' the quality of the information by tapping on the 'Report a Problem' button that exists in the details of any location pin when they find something wrong (crowsourcing).

I think if they had been more up front about the need for help in getting their mapping data cleaned up, they would have had a more sympathetic audience. The problem with the existing situation is that you can't really trust the directions or locations of unfamiliar destinations until you get there.

I'd highly recommend confirming location information with Google or Bing before relying on Apple's turn-by-turn directions on any long trips in unfamiliar territory until they get their act together.
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Our Favorite Music/Video Recording Program

In the past, you guys talked about a program that allowed you to record Internet radio and YouTube videos pretty easily. What was the name of the program again?

- Stephen

The Internet is chock full of resources that allow you to stream audio and video on demand, which is slowly killing off the wonderful art of recording.

But there are lots of reasons to want to record digital media these days and no program brings me more joy than Jaksta ( http://www.jaksta.com ) when it comes to recording from the Internet.

As an old-timer that still has fond memories of recording hit songs from the radio onto a cassette so I could listen to them in my car (or on my Walkman!), Jaksta takes me back to those days.

If you listen to music from http://Pandora.com while you work on your computer, you've likely heard a new song that you'd love to hear again, but Pandora doesn't allow you to replay it or request it.

Pandora does allow you to buy the song from iTunes or Amazon or you can wait until it comes back around on the mix, just like with the radio.

When I listen to my Pandora channels with Jaksta running in the background and hear a song that I'd love to have on my iPhone, it's a simple matter of a few mouse clicks to add it to my iTunes library.

Jaksta automatically records everything that Pandora is playing as a separate song and puts it into a queue of files that I can review, delete or add to my iTunes library. Other music streaming sites like http://GrooveShark.com can also be recorded or you can even record just the audio from YouTube music videos.

If you want to capture video from YouTube or other video streaming sites that you can transfer to your mobile devices, Jaskta does that too.

Jaskta can capture and convert content into standard audio and video formats such as MP3, AVI and WMV as well as Apple audio books and for devices such as the Apple TV, Archos video players, Sony Playstation, XboX 360, Zune and virtually every platform of music player.

You can convert video into compressed or uncompressed DVD and VCD formats or into a file that most common handheld gaming devices can play back.

What's truly amazing about the technology Jaksta incorporates is that you don't have to sit through an entire song or video in order to capture it. It literally sucks the file down in seconds as soon as you start to play it, so you don't have to sit through a entire video or song to capture it.

Jaksta claims that it can download video and music from over 100,00 sites, but it can't capture sites or services such as Spotify that use protection schemes to block the recordings, so don't expect it to be able to capture everything you see or hear.

Jaksta is available for both Windows and Mac based computers and comes in a variety of packages that can record just audio or video or both that range from $19.95 to $69.95.

You can download a trial version of any of the packages before you decide to buy from http://www.jaksta.com/download .

I like Jaksta Plus for Windows ($49.95) because it includes the automatic music identification and tagging of converted MP3 files, so that song title and artist info is automatically embedded in the captured files.
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How to Avoid Search Engine Poisoning

I heard you guys talking on your radio show about some tool that used red, green and yellow dots to alert you of dangerous websites when you are searching. I was in my car and couldn't write it down, so could you tell me what it was called?

- Gina

The international cybercrime world has actively engaged in 'search engine poisoning' for many years so they can infect unsuspecting internet users via the major search engines.

Most people assume that if Google or Bing is providing links during a web search, the links must be safe. Nothing could be further from the truth and the cybercriminals are counting on that misguided faith.

These sophisticated crime syndicates are gaming the search indexing systems to constantly create websites that are essentially cyber booby-traps.

They especially target fast breaking news that generates a large volume of search traffic (the death of Osama Bin Laden, the announcement of a vice presidential candidate, etc.) by creating fake websites that fool the search engines into thinking that the site is a legit source for breaking news.

Some security experts estimate that up to 40% of malware is delivered via poisoned search results.

There are many tools built into various browsers that attempt to automatically weed out obvious malicious sites and the search engines do their best to police the half a billion (and growing) websites on the Internet, but that only goes so far.

The tool that we discussed a while back on our radio show ( www.datadoctors.com/radio ) was one that we have recommended for years called Web Of Trust ( www.mywot.com ).

It's a free add-on that becomes part of your browser so it can constantly watch over you as you surf the web. It's a human-generated rating system kind of like Trip Advisor is for the travel industry that can quickly alert you to a site that is considered to be dangerous or questionable.

It uses a simple traffic light system to rate sites that show up in your search results: Green means it's a trusted site, yellow means you should proceed with caution because of some questionable items and red means don't click the link without some serious investigation.

It's easy to install and goes right to work by adding these colored circles at the end of every link on the search results (they even have an alternate setting for those that are color blind!)

You can easily see the value in this tool after you install it by searching for 'free screen savers' or 'free music downloads' and seeing red warning circles on the first page. WOT is especially useful if you have younger users in your household because the green, yellow, red system is easy for them to understand.

The power of this tool is in the community (they claim over 40 million downloads) and the user comments on why a site has been rated poorly. Whenever you see a site with a red or yellow circle, you can see exactly what the poor ratings were for by clicking on the circle.

The WOT ratings tool also works on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter by rating any links that appear in posts and feeds.

This additional coverage is especially important since the largest increase in malware attacks has been on social networking sites.

If you use a webmail service such as Gmail, AOL.com or Yahoo Mail, the WOT rating system can be used for any link in any message. By right-clicking on links, you will have a new option to 'Open WOT scorecard' for that link that will also display the color circle to give you a quick way to know if it's dangerous!
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