No I’m not having problems on the site with security.  I turned on the Captcha recently and the number of ‘people’ signing up dropped considerably.  When I look in the logs I can see that it’s because of the failure to put in the correct captcha.

Which is why you use one, stops automated sign-ups cold.  I have also blocked a couple of members because of the domain name their email address pointed me to.  I will not tolerate spamming or porn period.

I am not a prude or one of the religious right, moral majority or any of that but none of that, spamming or porn, is suitable content for this site and I will stop it everytime I come across it.

I am expecting to do a purge in the next couple of months and clean out all of those ‘people’ I suspect are automated sign-ups.  If I get it wrong then I’ll apologise and reinsate you but I am not expecting much of that.

One more thing, I have a program running within this site which monitors everything which is being posted.  If any of it look a bit like spam or other nasties it will either block you or query you.  Currently it’s working wonderfully well and blocking 98%+ of the junk which all web sites have to deal with these days.

For the rest of you who are reading this site and wish to contribute please be confident that I will support your right to be active here, I will do everything I can to encourage a diverse community with active discussion without anger or bad feeling.

If you have a problem, or even think you have a problem, let me know.  There is a contact form here and I do check my emails daily.  I aso check all the content, all the new users, all the comments every day.

In my inbox from a different account I got a Facebook email, well that’s what is claimed to be.  It said that Facebook had changed my password for security reasons.  Really? I was very suspicious about that.  It also said that my new password was attached.  I looked at the attachment and inside the zip file was an exe file.

This should be shouting WARNING WARNING to you all about now.  Do not ever, ever, ever open any exe file which has been sent to you unsolicited.  I suspect that if I did launch this program my Facebook account would be seriously compromised.

No reputable company will send you an email asking you to click a link to input your password or any other personal details.  They may send you an email asking you to log in to your account.  No matter how legitimate the email looks, only ever log into your accounts after you have typed the URL into your browser yourself or using one of your own favourite or bookmark links on your computer.

For your protection you should be using a secure, modern browser like Firefox, Opera or Safari.  Why not Internet Explorer?  Think of it this way.  The hackers and spammers are not stupid but they will always get the maximum bang for their buck.  For that reason alone they target Microsoft products and operating systems.  A simple first line of protection is to not use Microsoft products.

Now I appreciate that most of you will want to continue with your Microsoft operating system because it’s easy and you don’t want to buy a Mac or install Linux.  You can tighten the security of your PC byt switching browser, changing your email program from Outlook to Thunderbird or almost any of the others except Incredimail.

Add a personal firewall, I use the free version of Zone Alarm on all of my Windows based computers because the built in Microsoft one automatically allows any Microsoft product to access the Internet.  All a hacker has to do is provide a program which identifies itself as a Microsoft product and it’s home free.  Not a good plan.  I have used Zone Alarm and recommended it to almost anyone who would listen for at least the last 12 years.

The one other critically important tool is a good anti-virus program.  No, the legitimate companies do not write viruses to catch and to sell their product.  The best one I have found and again I have used it for at least 10 years is NOD32.  I used to have some dealings with an anti-virus company called Vet.  Their software was brilliant.  The company was bought out by Computer Associates and the product is still being sold.  I haven’t used it lately so I don’t know for sure but I would be very surprised if it isn’t still very good.

Notice I don’t have any links here.  These are my best recommendations and I could easily provide affiliate links but I would prefer that you just accept that I will make no money from my suggestions.

These are the basics and they will keep you way safer than doing what you are currently doing (I’m guessing here but most people have little or no security).  If you use a Mac or Linux you are pretty safe but still take precautions when you are on the Internet.

If you want more PC and Internet security information all you have to do is let me know.