Understanding Facebook

When Facebook first launched, I signed up for an account under the advice I was getting from a business mentor at the time.  Social networking sites (like Facebook) are good business tools for various reasons.  But after signing up for the account, I hardly ever touched it.  Social networking was not my thing (and in many ways, still isn't).
 
Then one day, a friend told me about a game on Facebook and I decided to check it out because it was different ... and next thing I know, I'm really liking this game.  And while I was quickly becoming addicted to this game, I noticed that a lot more of my old friends I hadn't seen in a while were on Facebook and we started reconnecting.  Next thing I know, I'm hooked on Facebook and found myself visiting it everyday.

Yesterday I helped a 90-year old grandpa get started on Facebook so that he could surprise his grandkids.  How cool is that?  This gentleman had heard that his grandkids were on Facebook (often abbreviated, FB) ... he wanted to surprise them by showing up there himself.  And what a surprise it was.  Within minutes of setting up the account, he had made friends with his grandkids and was the talk of the town (so to speak).  His grandkids spent the rest of the day bragging how proud they were of their grandpa being on Facebook and finding them!

I get a lot of questions from clients about Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc. 
These are all social networking sites (and there are many more), where folks can congregate on the internet to chat, play games, read news and other interesting stories, etc.  Many of the questions I get deal with the dangers of using such sites and the folks asking are concerned about their kids and grandkids.  Naturally they want to protect them from internet dangers and so want to know more about how these sites work and what kind of dangers exist with them.

While the games and friends played a role in my getting more involved in Facebook, one of the primary reasons was so I could better answer these questions.   Those who really know me, know that I'm not comfortable disclosing information about myself and prefer to stay under the radar.  With Facebook, this is nearly impossible.  But in an effort to better serve my clients, I decided to put myself out on that limb in order to better understand the flow of information on Facebook.

So I will be posting several different articles on this blog about Facebook.  I hope that these articles will help answer all of your questions from "getting started" to "knowing the dangers".   Anytime you want to know something about Facebook, you can type "Facebook" in the search box above the posts and click the "Search this blog" button.  Every post I've written about Facebook will show up on the page.

So let's begin by talking about what Facebook is.  Click here to learn more.

Beware of Messages Saying You Have Trojans

This morning a friend of mine was playing a game on Facebook and noticed popup messages saying she had 6 Trojan viruses on her computer and Windows needed to remove them right away. The messages appeared be from "Windows Security" and even had the little Microsoft shield on them. Although the messages stressed urgency in letting Windows Security remove them, my friend stopped everything and called me (lucky she did!).

If she had accepted the messages, she would have installed one of the worst malware, rogue programs currently circulating on the internet.

This rogue program is known by many names, but it's best known as Windows AntiVirus - and it's a really bad program to have on your computer. It literally holds your computer hostage for money - and even after you pay, it continues to ask for more.

Here's where it gets tricky. Even when the program hasn't been installed yet on your computer, it's difficult to close the warning messages which are trying to trick you into installing the program. When you hit the red "x" to close the window, a new popup appears advising you to remove the viruses before closing windows and your choices on that window are "OK" and "CANCEL". Clicking OK is the WORST THING YOU CAN DO (as it will install the program). But clicking CANCEL just brings up new popup messages stressing urgency to remove the program. The goal is to fluster you into clicking OK.

The only way to close the windows at this point is to do a CNTRL-ALT-DEL on the keyboard to bring up the task manager. Then click the Applications tab, highlight each program listed and click END TASK. Be sure to click END NOW also on any subsequent popup messages. This will close out everything you had open (including email and your internet browser), but it will keep you safe.

The next step is to update your antivirus software and run a full scan just to be sure you don't have any viruses on your computer.

If you do notice more popup windows on your computer (while not connected to the internet) telling you have you have trjoans (especially if the program has a windows shield on it), chances are your computer is infected with the malware program. If that's the case, click here for removal instructions.

Are You Protected from the Facebook Virus?

Computer viruses are typically designed to target popular programs ... and as such, there is now one targeting Facebook users. This virus was first discovered in August 2008 and is known by its technical name, "W32.Koobface.A" (and W32.Koob.face.worm, and Boface.A).

The best way to protect yourself against this worm is to make sure your antivirus software is up to date.

If you don't have an Antivirus program on your computer, I highly recommend Norton Internet Security (not Norton 360).

For more information about other viruses found on facebook, click here.