Have you received emails from total strangers before? Or have you seen unsolicited promotional emails from a certain online company offering you a trip to the Caribbean for two if you would only click on the link to their website? Or have you received that email stating that you have won a million dollars, and that you need to click on the link and sign-up on the company website to slowly claim the money?

While these may seem like mere daily annoyances to a user’s mailbox, did you know that millions of unsuspecting users have been fooled into giving out information to email spammers, and loosing thousands and millions of dollars. It’s no joke, but spamming has been one of the trite black-hat marketing practices that have caused more grievances than positive results to the online community. Take for example, the more common spam mails coming from virility-drug companies promoting Viagra or Cialis, going into the inbox of an unsuspecting 10 year old. Kids are getting more curious about the internet these days, and it shouldn’t be, that the first thing they learn about is how to use virility products. Spammers target ‘everyone’, irregardless of race, color, geographical location, gender and age. All they think about is how to spread their emails around, without minding the consequences of their activities. Why should they? Most spammers don’t get caught, since they utilize techniques and software to keep them from the reach of legal authorities. Not until recently, when the presence and aggressiveness of email spammers quadruple, did the online community take an effective stance at singling out IP addresses of suspected spammers and blocking them from the internet.

Email spamming is a great security concern that must be efficiently dealt with. Some free email account providers like Yahoo, AOL and GMail have stood in the forefront and have taken strides to install spam-detection tools on their networks to filter spam mails and locate the senders. Other companies have installed spam mail verification software on their mail servers to confirm if the senders of the emails are all legitimate. While other anti-spam organizations, possess the authority to temporarily or permanently deny internet service to those who are suspected of spamming, or are sending bulk emails more than what they are allowed to send.

While the battle rages on for spammers and anti-spammers, those who get between the crossfire, in the online community, are sure to experience a lot of changes to their security and internet experience, as tighter methods are enforced to boot out spammers once and for all.

Nowhere is a perfect place after all.

Probably one of the worst internet scams to hit the online gambling community, lottery scams offer nothing but an annoying link to a website seeking visitor traffic or popularity. Many people have been victimized by fraudsters who send out mails-of-fortune, telling users that they have won a sizeable amount of money from an online gambling website.

People who are hopeful for some quick bucks, or are trite gullible, easily fall prey to these schemes. But the lottery winnings never arrive. Cases have been reported by users who experienced getting redirected to porn sites and some getting viruses on their computers after opening the lottery emails. More serious scenarios were brought open by those who experienced paying a certain amount, through bank money transfers, to these phantom lottery agents, and then receiving nothing, not even a thank-you, for the money they have unwittingly lost to these fraudsters.

Online lottery scams offer no tangible proof that you will be able to claim anything from anyone at a given date. It’s merely a ploy to have you visit a site, or make a certain move, like sending money to someone, albeit you know it’s a total stranger.

Crackers often take advantage of many human factors like food, shelter, money, security and friendship, to trick people into believing that they are offering something worthwhile. But wealth is such a convincing temptation, and often times, people fall for scams that promise great fortune. Picture yourself receiving a million dollar lottery winning email in your mailbox. Wouldn’t you feel happy or even excited to be receiving that email? Yes, some would feel very happy and lucky to have received that email. But after reading for awhile, you get confused as to why the email should instruct you to open account and send money to a particular routing number and bank account.

You start to become suspicious, but greed gets the best of you, and you still send the payment. Weeks later, you find out that the email was a scam, and that there was no winning lottery ticket, there was no prize, there wasn’t even a contest, and that the only thing that was real was the routing number and the bank account, and the person who fooled you from the other side of the world. Imagine that scenario. What would you do if that happened to you?

When planning to travel to other countries or even just to a different state, car rental has always been a must especially for traveling business men who need to go to one place to another. However, is spite of whatever “status” they may have, business men as well as ordinary travelers still opt to find and avail of the most thrifty car rentals that they could find. Thrifty car rentals usually abound, whether it be on directories, the internet or wherever it is that you can find service advertisements. It really just a matter of choosing the best thrifty car rental for you and your needs.

Convenience is always a must whenever a person travels, this is pretty much while a lot of people opt to avail of thrifty car rentals, aside from having the convenience of being able to go whichever place they want without the hassle of hopping from one kind of mass transportation to another, they still get good value for their money.

A good example of a reputable thrifty car rental service company in the country is the Alamo car rental company. A lot of people actually recommend availing its thrifty car rental service, because of aside from being practical, they provide good and efficient service to their customers. From providing their customers with a wide range of vehicles to choose from, cars, RVs, basically just whatever type of vehicle that you may need for you travels. They also have various travel programs that you can choose from, this thrifty car rental has actually created various customer programs to suit each and every one’s needs and demands. From corporate programs to government contractor programs, thrifty car rentals surely is their line of expertise.

Another good reason for choosing the Alamo car rental service as your thrifty car rental option, is their strict adherence to quality of service, they’ve really made a name fro themselves by making sure that their customers needs are always kept and they’ve made it a point to keep their good customer feedback by assuring their customers (as well as those who are just browsing) that they provide quality, yet thrifty car rentals.

Thrifty car rentals should never really be a hassle to your traveling needs (or demands), it is pretty easy to land on a huge list of companies that are able to provide quality yet thrifty car rentals. Just be sure to keep a keen eye on the companies that you are choosing from, unfortunately, is spite of a lot of thrifty car rentals who really do try to make an honest living by providing good, quality service to its customers, some sleazy thrifty car rentals still circulate in the market. Be sure to be cautious still when choosing, some may offer really low rates but their cars may be not of real good quality, simply put, the reason why they’re offering thrifty car rentals may be because of their defective cars.

Look out for “signs” when you’re choosing. Ask around, from your family, friends, colleagues and especially your travel agent in which of these thrifty car rentals would they actually recommend. Weigh out your options based on your needs, wants and most importantly, you budget. Of course, having a limited budget shouldn’t really just force you to end up settling with just any thrifty car rental service, shelling out a little more may not really hurt you. In the end, when it comes to looking for thrifty car rentals, it really is more of the quality of service that they provide which should matter to you.

Knowing the strength of the enemy weakens it.

A possible scenario….

You start to think that you might have done something wrong after receiving an email from Microsoft or the FBI. The email subject is serious, and the source is official. You open the email and you browse through the contents. You find out that you have to run a particular program to check and see if the copy of the operating system you are using is original or pirated, and if you are taking measures to help stop piracy. A few minutes later your computer starts to slow down tremendously, and your programs start to hang up. A few more hours later you see some new links to porn websites on your PC, and how it got there remains a mystery. Several days later, your computer starts loosing some of the important files you saved inside it - bank account details, private information, list of websites and online accounts. Soon, you discover yourself loosing some money and incurring lots of bills to pay for. If this has happened to you, then you are most likely a victim of a powerful virus or Trojan.

This is a real scenario which has happened to many people before. Trojans and Viruses can infiltrate your home or work PC if you accept and open almost anything that arrives through your email. It’s better to go through your emails, and scan them for viruses. You never know what might be lurking inside your mailbox. A virus or two would be enough to cause some damage, if not some lingering headache over the loss of your important files.

Billions have been lost before from the controversial ‘I love you’ bug which swept through the hearts and PC’s of millions of people, on hundreds of servers across the globe. The power of a virus causing widespread damage is real. And it can happen anytime.

Many viruses are being created everyday. Some have the potential for stealing important information from several computers. Anti-viruses are being updated daily, but not in record time to stop the genesis of new and more powerful viruses.

What is needed is a more vigilant and more informed online community over the threat and effects of email viruses, and ways to prevent them from spreading everywhere. The initial key to slowing down and beating these viruses from spreading is to create a secured approach over how you perform your day to day operations, and over how you manage your online files. The use of anti-viruses and encryption systems could greatly help online users in the fight against email viruses and Trojans.

The National Car Rental is one of the oldest and the pioneer in the car rental business. In 56 years of business, the National Car Rental has pioneered amongst its most famous, the one way rental feature, for those people who’d want to rent a car in one town and leave it in another, which makes it more convenient for the renter.

National Car rental was also the first car rental company to computerize its reservation operations. With the introduction of “Telemax” computers to their system, reservation process ahs improved moving to a faster and more hassle free renting.

And since the airline industry deregulation in 1976, causing increase in airline travel costs, national car rental gave flat rates for car renters, who chose renting cars rather than flying.

National car rentals is also one of the earliest companies to start corporate account business back in the 70’s. Through this program, National has focused on the corporate traveler more so than any other company. It was also the first in the rental industry to start a frequent renter program. It was also the first to use paperless car rentals and use computers to make dealings faster; they called this the “Emerald Club” and the “Paperless Express Rental Agreement”. The “Emerald Aisle” program enables customers to select the cars that they want, with paperless ease, bypassing the rental counter, and getting them on their way faster and more efficiently. The “Choice Rental Process” in addition enabled customers to choose the exact car that they want, and “QuickRent” that gives non Emerald Club members to skip the rental counter when they complete the deal online.

National car rental is now affiliated with many different companies, all to improve the customers renting experience. These companies include, Air Canada, Air Miles, Air France, Alaska Airlines, Alitalia, America West airlines, American Airlines, ATA airlines, Delta Airlines, Continental Airlines, Frontier Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, Iberia airlines, Midwest airlines, Lanchile, United Airlines and Northwest airlines all having frequent flyer and miles/kilometer programs that can be applied to car rentals as well, some of these airlines even consider national car rental miles, for air miles.

Other affiliates include Coast Hotels and Resorts, which give lower rates for national customers that stay in their Hotels, Hilton Family of Hotels, which let you ear 250 HHonors form their Hilton Honors Points and miles, for every rent from national car rental, as well as American Express who lets you earn points when you’ve enrolled for their program for national car rental.

Aside from all the discounts a features that you will acquire through their affiliates, National Car rentals offer a wide range of vehicles for you to choose from, the classes of cars that you could possibly rent form national cars are endless, the types of vehicles that you’ll be able to rent are classified as subcompact, compact, intermediate, full-size, premium, luxury, sports utility, Mini van and convertible.

National Car rentals also have special offers for their customers, one of which is the “Last minute specials to go” which offers different specials every week at different locations. The other special, the “Great internet rates - Book ahead special’ gives discounts fro those that reserve their cars early in the internet. The weekend value Rates – Book ahead special offers lower weekend rates. National car also offers internet only discounts also a book ahead special, which applies to mini vans and SUVs.

Many of you might have seen banner announcements on several search engines, like Yahoo and MSN, showing updates on tighter information channels, as brought about by the growing security concern of the online community on Phishing. Like its homonym, Phishing entails the use of baits to lure unsuspecting users to sign-up or divulge private information like credit card numbers, bank PIN codes, and other valuable identification details. Phishing is one proven social engineering (the use of person-to-person communication) method, crackers employ to steal information online, and has become one of the top threats to online security.

It all starts with someone dropping you a line or two, probably an email or a chat message saying that you have won a million dollars, or a message from the bank saying you need to input your credit card information for confirmation about some bank transactions. Then situations bloom, and turn bloody, as the cracker starts to infiltrate your most private information by asking you, in subtle ways, about your investments, your deposits, even your liabilities - all your personal information, while leading you into an illusion that the inquiries are official, and far from being malicious.

The second Phishing stage is quite complex and most crackers use this if the above technique does not provide positive results. The crackers will begin with targeted information-crawling from your closest friends, or visit some of your favorite websites and snoop out some of your online trail, such as website membership information or your own personal details that you wholeheartedly publish on websites. Some crackers would even go as far as creating an exact replica of your favorite website, and spoof you into believing you have accessed the website, when all the while, you’ve been only redirected to another URL, where the cracker waits for you to input your vital financial details. This might seem very complicated and time consuming, but crackers are well known for their patience, if not, for their uncanny ability to dig up information.

If the cracker is successful in gathering pieces of vital information from you, and when the cracker can pass the security identity tests given by the websites, your online bank for example, then you’re sure to loose a lot of sleep, thinking about how your funds left the bank, without you knowing it, and with all evidences showing you did it.

The threat is real, and billions have already been lost due to Phishing or other forms of information and identity theft. The only consistent counter-strategy so far? Vigilance.

Europe, a continent filled with so much culture and history. A lot of people actually flock to Europe year after year to visit its sights and experience its rich culture. The modern yet still quite laid-back lifestyle that Europeans have been known for has always fascinated tourists, from being true-blue sophisticates who are very much adept to fashion, literature, history, culture and the arts, this is why a lot of people have been drawn to Europe’s simple yet elegant charm time and time again. Of course, traveling around Europe will be really much of a hassle if you don’t have the proper transportation to quickly and conveniently take you from one spectacular tourist destination to another. The most probable solution to this dilemma is a car, ever ready, you’re sure to get to where you want to go at your leisure. Europe car rental however may be quite tricky to some. Let’s face it, a lot of the countries in the European continent isn’t really comprised of English-speaking people and if they do speak a little English, it’s still highly likely that you won’t be able to understand what he/she is saying, it really is best, especially when it comes to Europe car rental, to book everything in advance. Even before your plane lands in the airport tarmac, make all the necessary arrangements that you need to have.

To help you get started on your Europe car rental quest, try to coordinate it with your trip. Which country/countries are you actually going to? Which one/ones will actually really need for you to rent a car (please be reminded that there are some European cities where it’s more favorable to walk instead of taking mass/private transportations)? How much will you actually need to spare for your Europe car rental fees? Is it worth it? Also, try to map out the places that you’re already planning to visit, calculate the distances that you’ll need to travel from one place to the next and if it’ll really be a lot easier (and cheaper) for you to rent a car than take mass transport then by all means, go check out the various Europe car rental agencies available in your area. You need to have everything fixed and taken care of before you embark on your great European adventure.
There are a lot of available Europe car rental agencies who are willing to lend you their services at really affordable prices – well to some extent. From small, typical European cars to luxury cars and RVs, you’re bound to get the vehicle of your choice since there are numerous Europe car rental agencies in the market.

Try to start your search for the ultimate Europe car rental agency by asking your travel agent on which Europe car rental agencies he/she can recommend. Also, if you have friends or relatives who’ve been to Europe, try asking them on which Europe car rental agency they prefer and if it really is a lot more convenient (and worth it) to rent around car for your grand European vacation. Also, help educate your self more with regards to Europe car rental by browsing through the internet. Surely, the internet really is best-known for easy-access research and it really is quite definite that you’ll land your self on a reputable Europe car rental service that will hopefully be able to cater to your needs, wants and budget. Plus, all the necessary transactions can even be done through the internet. So the hassles of trying to find a good enough Europe car rental specialist and booking their services, will clearly be not something that you have to go through anymore.

Discount car rentals are so hard to come by, and in recent times, discount car rentals simply mean you pay less for something less, and lets face it, sometimes when you pay less for a car rental, you end up with something that looks more like a farmer’s truck than a car. It’s hard to come up with a budget friendly rental, so how do you get a discount car rental these days? Well here are a few tips to boost the value of your money, car rental wise.

1.A good way to essentially, get a discount car rental is to, once you return the car, fill the tank with the cheapest no-name gas you could find, not for revenge or anything, but because car rental companies, require customers to fill the gas tank before returning it, and it you don’t they’ll fill it for you with the company pump but at a higher price, now we don’t want that, so be sure to fill your tank before you return the car.

2.To get the discount off of discount car rental, make early reservations, some car rental companies give discounts or free upgrades for customers who reserve their cars early.

3.When you’re planning to use your rental car for more than five days, or longer, ask the rental car company if you can get discount car rentals for a weekly rate, most companies offer discounts for the sixth and seventh day for weekly rentals.

4.Ask your travel agency if you could get discount car rentals if you acquire packages like fly-stay-drive or fly-drive. Most travel agencies as well as hotels offer these programs at a discounted price, what’s good about this is that you get a discount and you shoot two to three birds with one stone.

5.When you go to a car rental company, ask them if you could get a discount car rental in exchange for your frequent flyer miles, this is good for those miles that are about to expire, so instead of throwing them away you’d get one last use for them.

6.One way to get a discount car rental or maybe just the best deal for your money is to look for sites or rental car firms that accepts a pre-determined budget. This is when you indicate the money you’re willing to spend for the car rental, most rental car companies will give you the program that has the biggest discount car rental and the best deal for you, of course it pays to know if the company has a history of fraud, in this day and age, you can’t really trust people that much with your money, check out the car before you reserve.

7.Ask the rental company for discount car rentals when you frequently rent a car at their firm, they’re most likely to give discounts or free upgrades if you always rent with them.

8.Get discount car rentals by reserving your car through the internet. Most rental firms have internet only discounts that can save you a lot of money, look up the rental firm that has the greatest discount for the same value.

9.To get a discount car rental upgrade, try going to pick up your car just as the shop is opening, there’ll be a shortage in the economy cars, and you’ll probably get a free upgrade when they can’t give you the car you reserved.

Another critical security concern that has puzzled and agitated millions of internet users around the world is Spoofing - a form of online deception that incorporates data-packet modification or man-in-the-middle attacks to intercept information between two parties. It is common knowledge that information travel from one point to another, using online fragmented mediums called packets. These packets often move from secure and unsecured locations. And more often than not, packets get lost along the way, or in more serious situations, get infiltrated by crackers, or web thieves.

Man-in-the-middle attacks are often regarded the more technical of the various spoofing methods, since it requires a working knowledge of various internet protocols, ports and software. Imagine yourself chatting with someone and pouring much information about your life and your work. While at the other end of the line, your good friend happily responds to your messages. And in between the two of you, a malicious cracker is taking a laugh, at peeping through your conversation, or in more cases than one, modifying the messages into more private discussions, that benefits only the cracker.

Another type is the URL spoofing or more commonly known as Phishing. One popular website can expect visitors ranging from hundreds to millions per day. That means, millions of information waiting to be intercepted. Crackers often take advantage of the several key vulnerabilities in the internet to create a sort of temporary loop hole in the packets that users send and receive from websites, masking their own made website, into the appearance of the one that users are currently visiting, and taking advantage of the disguise to steal important information.

Information online is never 100% secure, and is always one way or another, vulnerable to being accessed by someone who possesses the tools and the right technical-background on the type of system that a particular group of people use.

Security providers often suggest the use of certain levels of encryption on private files or data being shared on the internet. While this can greatly help, it is not a perfect solution to data-spoofing. Users must take it upon themselves to practice some sort of security measure, to ensure that their computers are free from prying eyes. One sure method which I would like to share is by filtering downloads on your computer. Users often love to download practically everything they see or like on the internet. Some of these files might contain malicious codes, which could help crackers take information from your computers. So, if I were you, I’d keep an extra vigilant eye over what is downloaded into your computer. You never know, what bug would hit you.

Dear Stacy,

We have received a sale inquiry from Versaces, NY regarding the clothes you’ve ordered. We would like to confirm the sale. Please input your credit card number, and give us 24 hours to process the sale, and then the items will be delivered right at your doorstep.

Thank you for your time,

Paul

Online Sales

Versaces, NY

The letter is just a figment of this writer’s imagination, but the scenario is real. People, posing as agents of popular companies or government agencies start emailing you or come knocking on your doorstep to inquire about a sale you’ve recently made, or a common tax investigation. They will boldly ask you about your credit card number, or other vital financial information, saying how it can help you clear out everything.

Of course, these people are only after one thing, and it’s not your wellbeing. They’re practically after your money, or any vital information which could give them access to your assets. One of the most common fraud problems on the internet is credit card scam. More often than not, people who fall prey for this type of fraudulent activity are either misinformed, ignorant or are very gullible about online scams. These types of people tend to accept every chat message or email they receive from total strangers at face value. And that’s where the problem begins.

Fraudsters will do anything to take your money. They would lie, cheat, steal and even play dead just to get you to soften up, and draw down your armor. While doing this, they reap you of important information to scurry away with the loot in the end.

Here are some good tips on how to handle email and phone call fraudsters:

* When you receive the email or call, the person who wrote the email or sent you the call will more often than not sound as if he’s/she’s in a hurry or of particular authority. These serve two basic purposes.

1. They want you to immediately draw your guard down in connection to the situations at hand. During these times, you should maintain a calm state, and never be played into accepting the current situation. Never believe what the person is writing or calling you about. If you believe their story immediately, then it’s easier for them to manipulate them into believing other lies that they say

* Do not make hasty decisions. Think or perceive how the person will react if you mention contacting the office which he or she represents. Always remember that you’re in an advantageous situation. Fraudsters can never push you to accept something or not, so it’s harder for them to set circumstances into a certain order to make you agree to them.

* After receiving an email or phone call from the fraudsters, make it a point to verify their stories. Check the websites which they represent or search Yahoo or Google about the information they’re giving out to you. Never accept anything at face value, especially for transactions which involve money or other forms of asset.