Have you seen this before? I'm sure you guys have!

I've been using the internet since I'm standard 5 (which is 11 years old, 12 years ago!). When I first go online, I remember the FIRST even website I step into was www.nba.com (Hurray!). I've start learning how to use search engines, and free emails such as Rocketmail and Hotmail. It was back then everything looks so clean; viruses are rarely heard, spywares are non-existant. Probably due to the fact that during that time 56k modem is the fastest gig around, and I'm just using a 23k modem as my first one. :O

Technology wise, everything gets better in time. BUT, there are more sh*ts around than you can imagine. Hoax mails, viruses, spywares, trojans...4 / 5 of my friends out there using the internet will have been tricked, one way or another!

I'll start with the less serious ones. Take a glance at this email (you don't need to waste your time reading all of it, just take a quick glance) :

KIA MOTORS WORLDWIDE LTD.
KIA Programs & Events Department
KIA Motors
P.O. Box 850
Manchester
MR2 8GD

WINNING NOTIFICATION

We are officially announcing to you the result of KIA Motors Email Lottery
Promotion held on the 20th Ap...blah blah blah SNORE ZZZZZZZZ

Here is a Video of your winning CAR.
http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/front_website/video.php?id=200601

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

We also advise that you keep your winning information very confidential as our
security policy demands to avoid double claims/impersonation and unwarranted
abuse of this program by some individuals. The selection process was carried
our through our computerized Email Selection System (ESS) which selects email
from a database of over 600,000 emyada yada zzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZ.

Customer Service Unit
CONTRACTED AGENCY: JACKSON CHOW & MUSTAFA SPENCER ASSOCIATE LTD,UK

CONTACT PERSONS

Mr. Jackson Chow
+44 703 196 3404
---------------------------
Mr. Mustafa Spencer
+44 703 196 3405

Email: msjc_associates@cooltoad.com
20 Queens land Road, London
SW2 3JB ENGLAND. U.K

You can call any of the claims agents assigned for your claims, or send an
email to them, you are to provide to your agents the below under listed
information as soon as possible:

1. NAME IN FULL:
2. ADDRESS (IN FULL):
3. NATIONALITY:
4. AGE:
5. SEX
6. OCCUPATION (POSITION HELD):
7. HOME PHONE & MOBILE NUMBER:
8. Where would you prefer your car to be shipped? Home Or Office Address?


This program is promoted and sponsoredblah blahb blah ZZZZZZ

*ok i think it's enough torture*

And this (I saw this floating around friendsters and forwarded emails many many times before) :

Subject: FW: Microsoft and AOL merger
Date: Fri, 24 Sep 1999

I'm forwarding a forwarded message...read on, it it works you may get $$ from Microsoft. Certainly Bill has enough to share-maybe today we'll be blessed financially!

I am forwarding this because the person who sent it to me is a good friend and does not send me junk. Microsoft and AOL are now the largest Internet company and in an effort make sure that Internet explorer remains the most widely used program, Microsoft and AOL are running an e-mail beta test. When you forward this e-mail to friends, Microsoft can and will track it (if you are a Microsoft Windows user) for a two week time period. For every person that you forward this e-mail to, Microsoft will pay you $5.00, for every person that you sent it to that forwards it on, Microsoft will pay you $3.00 and for every third person that receives it, you will be paid $1.00. Within two weeks, Microsoft will contact you for your address and then send you a check. I thought this was a scam myself, but two weeks after receiving this e-mail and forwarding it on, Microsoft contacted me for my e-mail and within days, I received a check for $800.00.

Heck, there are many more of these kinda craps, like "oh please forward this mail to donate get 20cents to this poor kid in this picture with cancer/wierd disease/no d*ck/watever. Please forward if you have the heart! :( :( :( "

Seriously...WHY ARE YOU GUYS TRUSTING THIS? Well, maybe those non tech savvy guys and girls may not have a clue about it but...why are you IT people got tricked? OMG, its as stupid as telling a car mechanic "Hey, I heard rumors that if you attach a bigger wing on your car, it can fly higher when you drive fast!". Some people are thinking "There's no harm trying this stuff, so oh well...it doesn't matter if I forward it right?" The answer? WRONG.

Wanna know why? Did you know that forwarded mails can be a cause of information stealing, mail spamming and time & space wastage? Lets go to information stealing first. When you forward mails to your friends, their email address will be displayed in the email message header right? Thats how spy companies get our information from! They kinda "steal" you and your friend's email so that they can spam the cr*p out of your inbox, which eventually leads to unnecessary bandwidth wastage and loading time. SNORE zzzZ.

Ok enough of the light part, now on to the more serious stuff : DANGEROUS MALWARES.
See these samples:




or stuff like this from your friends in the messenger :
"Hey tell me what you think about these photos! They are HOT

*sends a zip file named "photo.zip"

"

Stuff like this are actually more dangerous than the emails. YOU WILL BE IN DEEP SH*T IF YOU CLICKED ANY OF THE LINKS THE BOT PROVIDE YOU. Yes, its a spamming bot and NO, its not your friends. Their messenger accounts got hacked and spyware companies decide to make full us of it. If you did click, you're not only putting your own computer in trouble, but you're putting others as well. It's a freaking worm for goodness sakes, its one of the FASTEST spreading malwares out there.

The worse case scenario is that you have to format your computer. And you may not be 100% free as well, since you'll usually backup some important files before formatting your computer BUT the worm has snucked on board together with your backup files.

What about antiviruses? Aren't they suppose to do the job? Well, as far as I know, antiviruses MUST be updated a.s.a.p, and even so it doesn't guarantee your safety. Remember this logic : DOCTORS NEED TO RESEARCH TO FIND A CURE/MEDICATION/TREATMENT FOR A NEW DISEASE. Same goes for antiviruses. If the new worm/virus was just created yesterday, chances are they can slip through your computer undetected.

Alright, I guess thats enough rants to wake yourselves up. I'll briefly do a rundown on what you guys and girls know-whats :

1. Do not trust forwarded mails that promises money and sh*t like that. Doesn't work technically, scientifically and astronomically.
2. Do not click on stupid useless links and files your friend send to you in the messenger. Make a conformation with your friend on the other side first by asking "did you really send this?" and wait for his/her reply.
3. Do not simply click on advertisements on the net that says "You're computer is infected by virus! Clean up today by downloading our antivirus, etc etc". Trust me, if you start downloading from those websites...you're downloading annoying SPYWARES into your PC.
4. Do get a decent antivirus and antispyware to protect your PC, notably AVG (cause its free).

It's all about IT and tips today, so rants go into another day!

Until then Mr.Kazuki out.

I had a very very nice weekend btw. :D