Scam Alert: You CANT make money from home with GOOGLE (It’s a scam). It’s that simple

Today’s post concerning the “Make money from home with Google” pop-ups that seem to be more and more common while people are surfing online recently has 2 reasons behind it. (1) I have been asked by numerous people if its legit (its a SCAM and lets just say way more people than I ever would imaged have asked) and (2) I am running into this ad pop-up daily now, while I’m online and accessing major sites.

Here is a screenshot I took of one of these ad pop-ups that I got while accessing a Major National Newspaper site. You probably have seen this or something similar to this if you spend much of any time online. Let me say it one more time, before going on with this post “THIS IS A SCAM”.

(http://houstontribune NULL.net/business/work_from_home/)

Not only do you get the ad telling you that Google will pay you to work from home, but when you try and close it you get the following pop ups.

“Skeptical…..” Any ad that requires it to tell me that I shouldn’t be skeptical and that my financial security will only cost me $1 should be an instant alarm for everyone to not just walk away but run away as quickly as possible. (IMPORTANT NOTE: AT THIS POINT USE THE X ON THE TOP RIGHT, DO NOT USE THE OK BUTTON TO CLOSE IT)

“Are you sure” is the next window you will get, really people, if being told are you sure, then told are your really sure, about anything should be an alarm. (NOTE: AGAIN USE THE X ON THE TOP RIGHT, DONT CLICK EITHER OK OR CANCEL)

Oh and for good measure now you will get another pop-up ad that looks like a legit news site (I appears that it will say either from the “Houston Tribune News” or from “News8News”). The sites are very real looking as they use parts from actual websites (Note the Electronic Cigarette story that comes from News8, but that news 8 is actually WFAA which is an ABC TV station not the fake news8news that has nothing to do with any legit website.)

Part of the problem with these sites are that they are now finding ways to appear long side legit sites, and on top of that they refer to actual stories (like the WFAA story) or claim to be “As seen as” and use major legit news sites (There is a very legit . Additionally, the problem is that they use very similar names to actual sites, so that the average user gets confused.

ABC News did a story about this issue recently (A few Quotes from the ABC story)

“But the affiliations suggested by the site were questionable at best: It said that customers would earn cash "working from home with Google," even though Google says it does not endorse such work-from-home sites.

It also claimed that it had been featured by television news organizations, including ABC News and CNN.

Both organizations say they haven’t endorsed the site. The site’s only real connection to legitimate news organizations, experts say, seems to be through paid advertisements placed on those organizations’ Web sites.”

The complete ABC news story about this can be found at (LINK) http://abcnews.go.com/Business/work-home-google-scam/story?id=8438110&page=1 (http://abcnews NULL.go NULL.com/Business/work-home-google-scam/story?id=8438110&page=1)

So just remember a couple of Internet Golden Rules

– Even if its on the internet, it doesn’t mean that its true

– Even if it looks like the Tweet, Facebook link, Email, IM, or any other form of online communications looks like it came from someone you know, its possible that it wasn’t sent by them. Always be very careful when clicking on links.

– No job/job search or anything concerning “financial security” should cost you money to get. As soon as anyone says “Pay me X amount, and I’ll tell you how to be make money or be debt free”.

An additional resource to see if something is a scam is (LINK) snoops.com (http://snoops NULL.com). Snoops has more info on this fake work at home scam as well. (LINK: http://www.snopes.com/fraud/employment/google.asp (http://www NULL.snopes NULL.com/fraud/employment/google NULL.asp))

Software: Two must have’s for the NEW pc. PC Decrapifier and Ninite

With it being December 25th, many of you have received a new pc or laptop as a present. Here are 2 simple steps you should do to set up your pc or laptop before you do anything else on your machine.

Step#1 -

Visit The PC Decrapifier (LINK: http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/home (http://www NULL.pcdecrapifier NULL.com/home)), there you will find a download to help and simplify the removal of all the extra junk that came pre-installed on your pc. These days most builders load gigs worth of “Trials and Demos” or even their own version of software (Most often toolbars and vendor software). Have you seen the 60-day trial of Microsoft Office and the 90 day trial of Norton Internet Securities, or the Google toolbar or Yahoo toolbar, or the Dell URL assist (which will route you to pre-determined Dell selected sites if you type in a web address wrong) or …..well you get the idea.

What PC Decrapifier does is in a simple way help you remove all the “crap” from your pc, that you don’t want. What is great about PC Decrapifier is that it will let you pick the items from their list that you want removed, so it is specific to your wishes. You can get rid of all of it or just 1 item you don’t want. PC Decrapifier has a list on its site if you would like to see all that it can remove (LINK: http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/apps (http://www NULL.pcdecrapifier NULL.com/apps)).

How it Works (From the PC Decrapifier site)

Simply download (http://www NULL.pcdecrapifier NULL.com/download) the file and run the EXE. There is no installer. If you have anti-virus software installed, it may complain about this program because it is written with a scripting language. These warnings can be safely ignored. Please see the FAQ (http://www NULL.pcdecrapifier NULL.com/faq) for more details.

Running the Program

After you run the EXE you will be guided through the process with a "wizard" style series of questions. You will have the choice to pick and choose what you want to remove. It will not begin removing anything without prompting you first!

Click the images below to see a screen shot of various parts of the process.

Welcome

Create a Restore Point

Select Items

That’s all there is to it. With that you can clean your machine of all those things that you don’t want.

Now for Step #2 -

There is now a way you can speed up the process of installing programs you do want and eliminate most of the work as well. If you visit Ninite (LINK: http://ninite.com/ (http://ninite NULL.com/)) you will be able to make the installation of some of the most common programs a simple 1 step process.

The following is from the Ninite site showing the programs you can choose from (as of 11/24/09)

All you need to do is pick all the programs that you would like to install, then click at the bottom where it says Get Installer. You will get a single file to download. Once you have it downloaded, double click it and the remaining work will be taken care of for you.

-Ninite installs apps with default settings and says "no" to browser toolbars and other junk*.

-Ninite checks your PC’s language and 64-bit support to install the latest, best version of each app.

-Ninite runs on Windows XP/Vista/7 and works in the background 100% hands-free.

-All Ninite does is install the apps you choose.

(*The only thing to keep in mind is that the installer will install to your C:\ drive, I point that out to those with more than one drive, in case you prefer to install to another drive.)

With those simple 2 steps, you can get your pc cleaned and configured to your liking very easily.

Here is the list of programs from Ninite** that TechGeekandMore uses –

Browser – Firefox

Messaging – Skype (without the web service http://techgeekandmore.com/2009/12/12/software-skype-extension-for-firefox-causing-slow-firefox-with-some-websites-post-from-www-techandlife-com/ (http://techgeekandmore NULL.com/2009/12/12/software-skype-extension-for-firefox-causing-slow-firefox-with-some-websites-post-from-www-techandlife-com/) and http://techgeekandmore.com/2009/12/12/software-skype-error-skype-plug-in-causes-browser-crash/ (http://techgeekandmore NULL.com/2009/12/12/software-skype-error-skype-plug-in-causes-browser-crash/))

Messaging – Windows Live Messenger

Messaging – Yahoo Messenger

Media – Hulu

Media – VLC

Imaging – Paint.NET

Documents – Foxit Reader (For opening PDF / Acrobat files)

Security – Microsoft
Essentials (For Anti-Virus – Make sure you uninstall an existing AV program before installing this.)

Runtimes – Flash and Flash (IE) (you may not be using IE but for security you want to keep it up to date)

Runtimes – Java

Runtimes – .NET

Runtimes – Sliverlight

Utilities – ImgBurn

**This isn’t anything against any of the other programs on the Ninite list that are not listed here, however, this list is just the list of programs used daily at TGM.

Happy Holidays from TechGeekandMore

To All who have visited TechGeekandMore in 2009, Thank you.

May you have a wonderful Holiday season and enjoy whatever celebration you follow this Holiday Season.

Software: Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Reader – Can be used to infect your pc

Adobe has sent out an alert (LINK: http://www.adobe.com/support/security/advisories/apsa09-07.html (http://www NULL.adobe NULL.com/support/security/advisories/apsa09-07 NULL.html)) concerning all versions of Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Acrobat Reader (v9.2 and earlier) advising that Acrobat and Acrobat Reader can be used to “Crash and potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system”. "There are reports that this vulnerability is being actively exploited in the wild”.

What does this mean to you-

- As of now if you have either Acrobat Reader or Adobe Acrobat installed, you could get your computer infected by clicking on specifically designed pdf document that you receive via email. It’s also likely that the email you receive would appear to be from someone you know, who would have opened the email and clicked on the pdf, infecting themselves and forwarding it to everyone in their email lists.

- As of now, the infection rate for this is still considered to be low but as with any other vulnerability that is known and “in the wild” (meaning that bad guys can go online and find out details on how to use this), it is expected that within time, you will see this vulnerability used in more ways by the bad guys.

- “Adobe plans to make available an update to Adobe Reader and Acrobat by January 12, 2010 to resolve the issue”

- In the mean time you have a couple of options

Option #1) Using the recommended steps by Adobe

disabling JavaScript in Adobe Reader and Acrobat using the instructions below:
1. Launch Acrobat or Adobe Reader.
2. Select Edit>Preferences
3. Select the JavaScript Category
4. Uncheck the ‘Enable Acrobat JavaScript’ option
5. Click OK

Option #2) You can go to Add/Remove Programs (Control Panel –> Add/remove programs or Programs and features depending on your version of Windows) and uninstall Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Acrobat Reader and then install one of the many PDF alternatives. TechGeekandMore recommends the Foxit Reader (LINK: http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/reader/reader-interstitial.html (http://www NULL.foxitsoftware NULL.com/pdf/reader/reader-interstitial NULL.html)) which is not currently affected by this vulnerability.

- Additionally, it is also recommended as always, to make sure your Anti-Virus, Anti-Malware software is current and updated to protect your pc.

Software: Skype error – Skype plug-in causes browser crash

One of the things I have been seeing a lot of recently involve errors that say Skype add-on for Internet Explorer has stopped working properly.

(*Windows 7 version of message used)

For those who are not familiar with Skype, it is (From the Skype Wiki LINK: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skype (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Skype))

“Skype (pronounced /ˈskaip/) is a software application that allows users to make voice calls over the Internet. Calls to other users of the service and, in some countries, to free-of-charge numbers, are free, while calls to other landlines and mobile phones can be made for a fee. Additional features include instant messaging, file transfer and video conferencing.”

During the install process (if you use the default settings to install), Skype installs what is referred to as the Skype web feature. What this feature provides is a short cut from your browser to Skype, with all phone numbers shown during your browsing appearing like this , which allows you to click on the link and then your browser will automatically start Skype and make the phone call for you thru Skype.

In a posting on the Skype support site (LINK:http://share.skype.com/sites/devzone/2007/06/the_skype_addin_for_internet_e.html (http://share NULL.skype NULL.com/sites/devzone/2007/06/the_skype_addin_for_internet_e NULL.html)) they claim that the issue is resolved in newer versions of Skype

In fact, most likely we already have a fixed version for you to start using now! If you have a Skype version is lower than 4.1.0.141, there is an updated version available with many improvements. You can download the latest version here: www.skype.com (http://www NULL.skype NULL.com). You can check your Skype version number under the Help menu in the About dialog.

However, most of the pc’s that I have dealt with this are running Windows Vista or Windows 7 and are using the latest version of Skype. The only solution that I have found works is in Windows go to control panel –> Programs and Features and uninstall the Skype web features.

Keep in mind that by uninstalling the web features you loose the Skype highlighted phone numbers in your browser.

Software: Skype extension for Firefox causing slow Firefox with some websites (Post from www.techandlife.com)

The following post comes from TechandLife.com (LINK: http://www.techandlife.com/2009/08/skype-extension-for-firefox-causing-slow-firefox-with-some-websites/ (http://www NULL.techandlife NULL.com/2009/08/skype-extension-for-firefox-causing-slow-firefox-with-some-websites/)). TGM would like to say Thank you to TechandLife for allowing us to share this with TGM readers.

I posted recently on trying the Google Chrome browser (http://www NULL.techandlife NULL.com/2009/08/google-chrome-a-worthy-alternative-browser/) after Google Reader and Google Mail suddenly slowed to a crawl in Firefox. It turned out that the latest Skype extension for Firefox was causing the problem. I had upgraded Skype to version 4.1.0.141 and elected to install the Skype extension for Firefox during the Skype upgrade. Others have also reported this problem recently (http://support NULL.mozilla NULL.com/tiki-view_forum_thread NULL.php?locale=it&forumId=1&comments_parentId=409074).

So if you’re experiencing problems with Firefox suddenly being a lot slower than usual, particularly when viewing Google Reader, Google Mail and Facebook and you’ve recently upgraded Skype and installed the Skype extension for Firefox, uninstall it and things should improve. Doubtless Skype will fix this buggy extension in a later release. Thanks to Scotian who posted in the comments of the Chrome post and resolved this problem.

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Monthly Archives: December 2009