1.
Help! Someone threatened to hack my computer!
First
of all, calm down. The Furcadia program is built so, that it is impossible
to hack your computer trough it. Unfortunately, some abusers may find other
ways to make your life a trouble. Here's few of them.
1 - Controlling
you with fear
Mostly,
hacking threats are just empty talk, where the abuser tries to get control
over you. He may tell, what he could do to you, if he just would bother
to do it. In most cases, empty talk never forms into any kind of real vandalism
(not to say that the terror wouldn't be a form of vandalism though!). Remember,
that 99% of the threats never lead to anything. Don't be too scared, most
of the online game players do get threats like this at some point of their
lives.
2 -
Sending a Trojan horse
As
the popularity of the Internet, and the use of standardized programs (read
"Microsoft products") has grown with the time, it is possible that hostile
users may try to send you a program through email, or make you download
one from their web pages. With bad luck, the program you have downloaded,
may contain a virus, or a so-called "Trojan horse" which opens your computer
to anyone who knows how to use the inimical program ("Trojan horse").
You can't get
a virus or a Trojan horse without running the program infected with one,
or in case of so-called macro
viruses, opening documents in programs such as Microsoft Word.
Fortunately,
this trouble is very easy to fix. Make sure that you are running all the
time an up-to-date virus scanner, such as McAffee
VirusScan. Confirm that the program checks all the program files before
running them, and you should have no troubles with viruses nor Trojan horses
afterwards. Remember to update your virus protectors at least once in a
month!
3 -
Freezing your computer
Something
rather easy to *try* is to freeze your computer by sending you flawed data.
For this, the abuser must know your IP-address. This kind of information
cannot be received trough Furcadia, but if you are using user-online programs,
such as ICQ or AOL Instant Messenger, your IP-address can be figured out
without your permission.
The best solution
is not to stop using the programs! Oh no, that would be letting the abuser
control you. Keep your programs, but make sure that you update them frequently.
As well you should update your network drivers if you can.
Additionally,
the harasser may try to coax you to visit a web page, which secretly sends
the information about your IP-address to the third party, such as the abuser.
To prevent this kind of situation, make sure that you use the Proxy -service
your Internet Service Provider provides, or hide your IP-address with services
such as the Anonymizer.
In general,
this is quite a minor threat, but if you want to get completely rid of
it, ask from your ISP if they can offer firewall services for you, or get
a personal firewall for your computer.
To ensure
your safety on the international network, we suggest you to do two things.
1)
Get
an up-to-date virus scanner and keep it updated!
McAffee
Virus Scan, F-prot Anti-Virus
2) Get
a personal firewall and keep it running!
ZoneAlarm,
WinRoute
Pro
For more information,
visit:
Macro
Viruses FAQ
McAffee
Virus Scan
F-prot
Anti-Virus
International
Computer Security Association
Anonymizer
WinRoute
Pro firewall system
ZoneAlarm
personal firewall
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