Games

Popular Email Scams

When snail mail was popular, it was not uncommon to find a letter or two asking for money for an unknown company or product. Now with advances in technology and email replacing snail mail, it is not uncommon to open your email to find several scam emails sitting there waiting for you to reply to them.

Over the years, some email scams have become timeless and extremely popular. Here’s a look at the top scam emails.

Death of a Relative

The most popular email scam is one that claims a relative or friend in a remote area of the world has passed away and left you money. All you have to do is reply to the email and send X amount of money in order to receive the millions of dollars the relative or friend left you.

Stranded Friend in a Foreign Country

Another popular email scam is one that sends a letter to all people on your email contact list. It tells you a story about how your friend is in a foreign country, has been mugged and robbed and now can’t get home. It goes on to ask you to Western Union money to them so they can get home.

Winning a Lottery or Prize

Emails that claim that you won millions or even billions in a lottery from another country are another popular email scam. The email will show an official looking ticket and tell you that you won the lottery and have to claim the prize by a certain date. It asks for personal information such as social security number, address and other information so they can send you your prize.

These three email scams are the most popular but as technology grows the list of popular email scams is sure to grow even longer.

Filed Under: Games, Hacks Tagged With: Confidence trick, Email, Fraud

How to Avoid Phishing Email Scams

Image by Ronald Heft via Flickr

Chances are you’ve received an email from a bank that you’ve never used asking you to log into your account and update your information. While this might seem a bit strange, this type of email is actually called a phishing scam.

A phishing scam is an elaborate email system that works to try and collect personal information from unsuspecting Internet users by pretending to be real companies requesting the information. When people provide the information on the website, it actually goes to someone who uses it to steal your identity.

If you are worried about falling victim to one of these email scams, here’s a look at some things you can do to make sure you avoid them.

Don’t Provide Personal Information Over the Internet

If you get an email that asks you to update your personal information at a bank or website, don’t do it. Instead, call the actual bank or website and ask if they sent the email. Chances are they didn’t and it’s a phishing scam. Most companies and websites will not email you asking for your personal information.

Watch What Links You Click

Many phishing scams look like real emails but when you click on the link to update your information it takes you to a different website from the company’s real website. You can see what website a link will take you to by hovering over the link and seeing what address it shows you at the bottom of the screen. If it looks suspicious don’t click on it and delete the email right away.

Phishing scams are becoming more and more popular. However, by using common sense you can avoid falling victim to them and protect your personal identity.

Filed Under: Games, Hacks Tagged With: Confidence trick, IdentityTheft, phish

Keeping Your Computer Virus Free

Image by angrykeyboarder via Flickr

Whether you are a graphic designer or a casual Internet user you know how bad it can be if you accidently download a virus onto your computer. A computer virus can completely destroy data, documents and potentially rend a computer useless. Luckily, there are a few things you can do to make sure that you keep your computer virus free and working properly.

Don’t Download Unknown Items

Most viruses get onto your computer by accidently downloading them. This can be done by downloading a program that looks safe but really isn’t. The best way to avoid getting a virus onto your computer is to avoid downloading any software or programs that you are not 100% sure is safe.

Only Visit Trusted Sites

Another common ways viruses get onto your computer is by visiting an infected website where the virus is downloaded onto your computer. Try to only visit websites that you know are safe and virus free. This can be hard as sometimes websites can be safe but are attacked by hackers or viruses and infect your computer.

Run a Regular Virus Scan

Even though you may use caution while surfing the Internet, you will still need to make sure there are no viruses on your computer. To make sure your computer is virus free you will want to run a virus scan at least once a month. This will make sure your system is free and clear, and fix any viruses that may have found their way onto your computer.

Filed Under: Games, Hacks Tagged With: Anti-Virus, Computer virus, Virus

Laptop Computers for Dedicated Gamers

There are some people for whom computer games are so much a part of their lives that they play every chance they get. In order to be able to do that, many dedicated gamers have purchased gaming laptops that are designed specifically for game playing.

Not only do they purchase the laptops for the specific purpose of playing games, but they may also do this so that they can keep work and personal information separate from their gaming files. This can provide an added measure of security, for both the gaming laptops and the regular ones.

Features of Laptops for Gaming

If you are considering purchasing a laptop for strictly gaming purposes, you want to choose one that meets your needs and will make playing your games enjoyable rather than frustrating. For this reason, you want to look for the following features:

Plenty of RAM (random access memory). Many games require a lot of computer space so you want to make sure you have enough so that the games will download successfully and function well.

A good graphics card. It’s no fun to have gaming laptops if you are constantly having to put up with delays and lags in the action, as well as trying to look at an inferior display. Make sure you choose a graphics card that is compatible with your laptop and is of a good quality.

Other things to look for are sound cards, USB ports, access ports for headphones and other accessories, and the ability to switch from battery to alternate power sources. All of these will ensure that you have a gaming computer that will help you enjoy your gaming time.

Filed Under: Games Tagged With: Video card