.:: Earth Care Initiatives - Quiz Cause ::.

.:: Earth Care Initiatives - Quiz Cause ::.

How to keep yourself safe on the internet

If we follow a few golden rules we can easily protect our personal information and greatly reduce the possibility of fraud. Here are some of them:

Security suites

Outpost Security Suite: This is the only free security suite that offers antivirus, firewall and anti malware in a single package. It even offers email and web surfing security for online protection and monitors application behavior to keep a check on malicious infections. Being free, it does have some limitations — only one auto update is allowed in a day. Others need to be manually done. Also, it does not include identity theft protection or technical support.

Norton 360 (v 6.0): As an all-in-one suite, Norton 360 (Rs 1,649) is pretty complete. Apart from protecting against local threats, it has a set of tools for online identity theft protection, to tune up your PC, Email and instant message monitoring as well as browser plugins to warn you of harmful websites & downloads. It even has parental controls to track Internet usage and keep kids safe from online threats. Finally, the price includes 2GB cloud storage. Norton 360 can automatically take a regular backup of important files to the cloud.

Firewalls

Comodo: The free Comodo firewall uses cloud-based data to to protect your computer against online threats and programs. It is capable of detecting most trojans, worms, hacker attacks and even has a sandbox mode where new programs can be run in a protected, virtual environment to make sure that they are not harmful. In 'game mode', Comodo works silently in the background — useful if you don't want to be disturbed while playing a game or watching a movie. Finally, a built in 'TrustConnect' Wi-Fi feature encrypts and safeguards data transfers when connected to a public network.

ZoneAlarm Pro: The Pro version of ZoneAlarm's Firewall (US$ 30/year) protects your computer against hackers and makes it invisible online by hiding your information. It has a built-in anti-phishing tool that stops fake/infected websites from opening on your system and it even authenticates websites to show you which ones are secure and which are not. If an active download is infected, the firewall automatically suspends the download for protection. It even gives you 2GB online storage where the program uploads and backs up important data that can be restored if required.

Mobile

Avast for Android: Avast's free app provides real time antivirus protection and even offers a firewall that can stop any app from accessing the Internet. It even offers SMS/call filtering, an app task manager and can show access rights of each app installed to detect any data stealing. The app has a strong set of anti-theft features that include lost notification on the phone, SIM lock, SIM change notifications, remote restart, remote wipe as well as the option to remotely locate your phone using GPS. The only thing that this free app skips out on is any sort of data backup service.

VirusBarrier for iOS: This $2.99 app can do on-demand scans of content downloaded on to your iOS device. The program scans for malware, adware and hacker tools on the iOS device which might get transferred and then infect the computer (Windows/MAC/Unix) when the device is connected to it. It can scan through zip files, email attachments, files stored online inDropbox or on FTP severs and can also scan websites for phishing links or other online threats.

More options for advanced users

Stay safe while downloading: Using Torrents is not illegal - sharing of copyrighted information is. Having said that, if you are a torrent user and are fed up of internet service providers clamping down on torrent speeds or are wary about your privacy being compromised (because of over-zealous media industry watchdogs), you should consider services like www.peerblock.com and www.btguard. com.

BTGuard's paid service completely hides your computer's IP address and provides a secure, encrypted route for your torrent data. PeerBlock is open source and works in conjunction with www.iblocklist.com. It essentially blocks your computer's communication with advertising orspyware oriented servers, computers monitoring torrents or computers which have been 'hacked' ( botnets).

Safeguard your property: Normally, there's not a very good chance that a stolen/lost laptop will be returned to you. Unless you install Prey first, that is. Head to www.preyproject.com to create and account and get started - it is free and available for Windows, Mac & Linux/Ubuntu. Prey installs in stealth mode - you won't find it anywhere on your computer - not in the hard drive and there's no mention of it in the start menu. Instead, you control it using an online control panel which you log into from any web browser on any machine.

Prey sits idle unless it receives a signal from you that the laptop has been stolen. Then onwards, as soon as the machine is connected to a network, it's exact location is relayed back you to. You can also choose to take a screenshot of what the thief is doing, use the webcam to take a photo, hide your passwords and data or do a complete data wipe. The point is, you stay in control and because you can continuously track the computer, chances of recovery are good. Prey is also available for smartphones running Android and iOS (download them from the respective app stores).

iSpy CCTV: Head to www.ispyconnect.com and you can download free software for Windows that converts your existing webcam into a surveillance device, complete with features like video recording, motion detection, face detection, audio feeds and automatic YouTube uploading. Advanced features like remote access (login to the website to monitor your cameras), access from mobile devices and automatic SMS/MMS/Twitter alerts cost upwards of $7.95 per month.

Today before you complain about…

Today before you think of saying an unkind word - Think of someone who can't speak.

Today before you complain about the taste of your food - Think of someone who has nothing to eat.

Today before you complain about life - Think of someone who went too early to heaven.

Today before you argue about your dirty house, someone didn't clean or sweep - Think of the people who are living in the streets.

Today before whining about the distance you drive - Think of someone who walks the same distance with their feet.

Today before you are tired and complain about your job - Think of the unemployed, the disabled and those who wished they had your job.

Today before you think of pointing the finger or condemning another - Remember that not one of us are without sin.

WORD PORTRAIT : Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee

WORD PORTRAIT : Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee

THE POET : Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee

THE POET : Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Ease off your expectations a little!

Life just isn’t neat and trouble-free. We all have bad days. Sometimes people are rude or insensitive. Phone lines and computers occasionally break down.

When I met Anuj, he worked for a software development company. He described it as his first “real job.” He was young and had exceptionally high expectations. The problem was, many of his expectations weren’t being met. He wasn’t being treated with the degree of respect he wanted (or expected), and his ideas weren’t being taken seriously. He felt under-appreciated and taken for granted. He was frustrated and burned-out.

I suggested he lower his expectations and consider thinking of his job in a new way. I asked him to see his job as a stepping stone to bigger and better things later on. He took the suggestion to heart, and his world began to change for the better.

Make room in your heart for bad moods, mistakes, errors, and glitches. Instead of spending so much time being annoyed about the way things unfold, take most of them in stride. This will conserve your energy and, ultimately, make you more productive.

No matter how hard you try, life still isn’t always going to go as planned. One of the best ways to deal with this inevitability is to stop expecting it to be otherwise. So ease off your expectations a little. Then you won’t be easily disappointed.

Never Give Up!

Its madness -

To hate all roses, because you got scratched by one thorn.

To give up all your dreams, because one did not come true.

To lose faith in prayers, because one was not answered.

To give up on your efforts, because one of them failed.

To condemn all your friends, because one of them betrayed.

Not to believe anyone, because someone was unfaithful.

Remember that, another chance may come up.

Never give up!

Do not be aggressive during confrontation !

It’s hard to imagine people working together without at least some degree of confrontation. After all, we live in a world of conflicting interests, desires, and preferences. We have different standards and expectations. There are so many issues and people to deal with, that an occasional confrontation seems inevitable. At times, you may have to confront someone in order to achieve a desired result, shake someone up or make things happen.

While confrontation may be inevitable, they don’t necessarily have to seem like a war or lead to hurt or angry feelings, stress, or disappointment. Instead, it’s possible to confront someone (or be confronted) in a gentle, effective way that leads not only to your desired result, but also in a way that brings the two of you closer together personally or professionally.

It seems to me that most people are too aggressive and defensive during confrontations. They lose their humanity and their humility. They approach the issue in hostile way, as if they are right and the other person is wrong. It’s “me against you,” or “I’m going to teach you.” The assumption seems to be that confrontations are by definition confrontational, and that being aggressive is the best approach.

If you’re too aggressive, however, you’re going to seem adversarial to others, thus encouraging them to become defensive. The people you confront will see you as difficult, as if you are the enemy. When people are defensive, they become poor listeners, incredibly stubborn, and seldom change their point of view or see their contribution to a problem.

They don’t feel respected and they lose their respect for you. So, if you are confronting someone in an aggressive way, chances are you’re going to run into a brick wall

Reactive v/s Proactive person

As human beings, we are responsible for our own lives. Look at the word responsibility -- "response-ability" -- the ability to choose your response. Highly proactive people recognize that responsibility. They do not blame circumstances, conditions, or conditioning for their behavior. Their behavior is a product of their own conscious choice, rather than a product of their conditions, based on feeling.

Reactive people are often affected by their physical environment. If the weather is good, they feel good. If it isn't, it affects their attitude and their performance. Proactive people can carry their own weather with them. Whether it rains or shines makes no difference to them. They are value driven; and if their value is to produce good quality work, it isn't a function of whether the weather is conducive to it or not.

Reactive people are also affected by their social environment, by the "social weather." When people treat them well, they feel well; when people don't, they become defensive or protective. Reactive people build their emotional lives around the behavior of others, empowering the weaknesses of other people to control them.

Reactive people are driven by feelings, by circumstances, by conditions, by their environment. Proactive people are driven by values -- carefully thought about, selected and internalized values.

As Eleanor Roosevelt observed, "No one can hurt you without your consent. They cannot take away our self respect if we do not give it to them."

It is our willing permission, our consent to what happens to us, that hurts us far more than what happens to us in the first place.

Recognize the truth of the old adage & Recover quickly from your mistakes

There will be times when you make mistakes, sometimes big ones. There will be times when you overreact, offend someone, overlook the obvious, say something you shouldn’t have, and so forth. I’ve yet to meet a person who is exempt from these oh-so human facts of life. So, perhaps the most important question isn’t so much whether or not you will mess up, but rather how quickly you can recover when you do.

We can turn a relatively minor setback or mistake into a much bigger deal by overanalyzing our actions (or someone else’s), or being too hard on ourselves Or we say something wrong and can’t let go of it, or we become defensive of our actions and refuse to apologize.

When I’m able to see my mistakes, admit them, and move on – I recover quickly. The result seems to be that when someone I’m working with offers a suggestion, or some type of constructive criticism, rather than feeling defensive or struggling to point out how I’m right and they are wrong, I try to keep an open mind and remain receptive to growth.

In most cases, the person making the suggestion has at very least a grain of truth or some wisdom in their suggestion. The trick seems to be the willingness to forgive yourself – and others—for being human and for making mistakes.

Once you recognize the truth of the old adage, “To err is human, to forgive is divine,” you create the emotional climate to recover from practically any mistake and move on.