Getting Along With Your Computer

Won’t Get Fooled Again By Cate Eales

Have you received an email warning of some dire computer-related event, describing a horrible illness or child abduction, or complaining about some unspeakable consequence of using a certain floor-cleaning product around pets?

We’ve talked before about preventing computer viruses (http://rlis.com/columns/column2.htm), but all the anti-virus, anti-spyware, and anti-malware programs in the world can’t prevent the arrival of annoying hoax email. How can we prevent this? Well, honestly, we can’t stop it from showing up. However, we can learn to recognize this nonsense for what it is, and we can refrain from forwarding it to everyone in our address books!

You can spot a hoax email, or at least be suspicious, by looking for one or more characteristics. First of all, these emails may use technical-sounding language. It’s often pure gibberish, but it sounds technical, so we get sucked into believing it. Next, the information in these emails is attributed to a credible-sounding, yet vague, source, like Microsoft, AOL, or “the manufacturer.” Finally, most include the plea to “…SEND THIS TO EVERYONE IN YOUR ADDRESS BOOK!”

When you receive an email asking you alert everyone on Planet Earth, just wait a minute before you click on that “Forward” button. The first thing to do is to slow down and ask yourself if this email makes any sense. Who at Microsoft or AOL or the manufacture said this? When was this child abducted (“two weeks ago” is not specific enough on the Internet!). Why would Microsoft or Sony or Disney be relying on us to email each other about product defects/refunds/security alerts instead of announcing this in the newspapers or on television or even on their own websites?

If you’re still not sure, there are several informative websites you can check to see if whatever is being described is likely to be true. My favourite is snopes.com. The folks there have categorized thousands of stories and indicated whether each one is true (some are), false, or debatable. You can browse by category (“Critters”), or search for a specific situation (Dogs and Swiffer WetJet”).

Sophos.com maintains a database of hoaxes (among other things they do over there). What’s amazing is how long these hoaxes survive. Some have several variations. Some are emailed around the world in more than one language. You can also see a list of the most recent hoaxes on my website (http://rlis.com/sophos.htm), courtesy of the folks at Sophos.

The Hoaxbusters website has been trying to help since 1995. (That’s a long time in Internet Years.) Besides chronicling hoaxes and those annoying chain letters, they explain more fully what a hoax is, and they discuss what makes people send these emails in the first place. Hoaxbusters is an excellent “Reality Check” source when you receive a suspicious email.

If all else fails, use Google to search on a significant phrase from the email. Searching on “Penny Brown”, the subject of one of the most frequently circulated hoax emails, returns about 40,300 hits, most of which indicate that this email is a hoax. That search took less than two seconds, and it saved someone else some aggravation.

Next time you receive an email that asks you to open your heart, open your wallet, or open your address book, think twice and you won’t get fooled again.

Cate Eales has been helping people make online computing safe, accessible and fun for over 20 years. She lives in Kelowna with her husband, Eric, and her dog, Sandy. Cate is a partner in Real Life Internet Solutions, helping individuals and small businesses with virus, spyware and malware eradication personal computer training and management digital image management music transfer and website design, hosting and management. Email Cate with your comments, suggestions, or questions. To browse the column archives, visit the Real Life Internet Solutions website.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.