New Way to Prevent Identity Theft
Few people know about it, but you can block access to your personal credit, releasing access only by calling the credit companies and providing them with a PIN code. The service is only available in two states, and will become available in two more next year. Most people who suspect their identity has been compromised choose to place a fraud alert on their credit, which works in some cases, but not all. The "freezing" service that requires a PIN costs $10 to implement, and then $8 to each of the three major credit bureaus when you want a temporary "thaw." Credit bureaus don't want to use this "freeze" system, but are required to by state law.

One Person Responsible for 70% of Virus Activity
One German teenager was responsible for 70% of the viruses seen so far in 2004, according to anti-virus firm Sophos. Though the boy, Sven Jaschan, was arrested in May, his viruses still continue to spread. Jaschan is the author of the NetSky and Sasser viruses, and may escape steep penalties because he is a minor.

GPS System Will Tell Parents When Kids Speed
A global positioning system chip in a cell phone can now tell a teen's parents when the teen is speeding. In addition, the company that makes the technology sells bumper stickers with a phone number for other drivers to call if the teen drives irresponsibly. Companies that have used the bumper stickers for their corporate drivers have had up to a 50% reduction in accidents. Teens who drive well under this program also receive awards, like CDs and XBox consoles. The bumper sticker notification service costs $9.99 per month, the GPS system costs $14.99 per month, and the combined service is $19.99. The number one cause of teen death is car crashes.

RFID Technology to Be Used in Prisons
The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (ODRH) is going to try using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags to track inmates at one of their jails. Inmates will wear watch-sized transmitters and wardens will wear the technology on their belts. The technology promises to track the location of everyone wearing a device, and will set off an alarm if anyone tries to remove their device.

Recording Industry Sends Unpopular CDs to Libraries as Part of Settlement
The Recording Industry is making reparations for price-fixing; they're sending CDs to libraries across the country. In Wisconsin, libraries have received more than 105,000 CDs. The quality of those CDs, however, is debatable. The Milwaukee Public Library received 1,235 copies of Whitney Houston's 1991 recording of "The Star-Spangled Banner" and 188 copies of Michael Bolton's "Timeless," for example. The state Assistant Attorney General said that there was a formula behind the CD giveaway, based on how long recording artists were on Billboard charts. It was supposed to prevent the Recording Industry from merely dumping inventory as a settlement in the suit.

Paypal Email is Legitimate
An email sent to Paypal users this week asked them to fill out an online form if they'd opened a PayPal account between October 1999 and January 2004. Though at first glance this email might have looked like a fake, it is legitimate, and users received it as part of a PayPal lawsuit settlement. The suit was filed by users who claimed their PayPal accounts were frozen unnecessarily, their money was inaccessible, and they had no recourse. Paypal mailed every customer it had, totaling 10s of millions of people.

Online Blackmailers Target British Companies
A gang that threatened companies with denial of service attacks on their web sites was caught by the British National Hi-Tech Crime Unit. The gang would ask the companies for money, threatening to bring down the companies' web sites during peak hours if they weren't paid. Though none of the companies paid the blackmailers, they did spend large sums of money to protect their sites.

Protect Yourself Against Identity Theft!

It is more important than ever to keep your computer free from pests, Adware, Trojans, and hacker to ols. Why? Because these pests are becoming increasing more sophisticated and dangerous and often stay under the radar of the average computer user. SurfSecret PestPatrol is designed to clean your system, protect your privacy, and make sure key loggers, Trojans, an d denial of service attacks don't leave you vulnerable. SurfSecret PestPatrol complements your existing antivirus software - and pre vents attacks that pass by conventional AV solutions.

Use SurfSecret PestPatrol to Clean Your system of spyware and Adware! - Download your free 30 day t rial now! For a limited time, we have discounted PestPatrol to $37.99 -
it will go back to its regular price of $49.99 soon. Act now!


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Force Windows Explorer to Start With the Folder You Want
You may have noticed that Windows Explorer always opens to the same folder. This folder is either C:\ or My Documents, depending on which Windows operating system you are running. To change this, you need to find the shortcut to Windows Explorer and right-click it to see its properties. You may go to Windows Explorer by choosing Start, All Programs, Accessories. Or, you may just want to create a shortcut on your desktop to save yourself some time (right-click an empty space on your desktop, right-click and choose New > Shortcut, type c:\windows\EXPLORER.EXE as the path, choose Next and Finish). Once you've found Windows Explorer or created your shortcut, right-click on it and choose Properties. In the Target field, type: c:\windows\EXPLORER.EXE /n, /e, c:\foldername (where c:\windows is your Windows directory, and c:\foldername is the directory where you want Explorer to start.) The next time you start Windows Explorer, it will display the directory you specif

More Keyboard Shortcuts

To open the Start Menu, use Ctrl+ESC.

To send your active window to the back of your other open windows, use Alt+ESC. This is a great shortcut when you need to hide something you don't want others to see you working on.

To expand all of the directories in a branch in Windows Explorer, select the branch you want, and press the asterisk key (*). If you select Desktop, all directories in all drives will expand.

In Windows Explorer, if you want to show the context menu (the same as right-clicking), focus on the level you want and press Shift+F10.

Protect Yourself Against Identity Theft!

It is more important than ever to keep your computer free from pests, Adware, Trojans, and hacker to ols. Why? Because these pests are becoming increasing more sophisticated and dangerous and often stay under the radar of the average computer user. SurfSecret PestPatrol is designed to clean your system, protect your privacy, and make sure key loggers, Trojans, an d denial of service attacks don't leave you vulnerable. SurfSecret PestPatrol complements your existing antivirus software - and pre vents attacks that pass by conventional AV solutions.

Use SurfSecret PestPatrol to Clean Your system of spyware and Adware! - Download your free 30 day t rial now! For a limited time, we have discounted PestPatrol to $37.99 -
it will go back to its regular price of $49.99 soon. Act now!


Download a Free Trial of PestPatrol!

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions regarding this newsletter, email suzanne@surfsecret.com.