If your family computer runs on Windows (and you're still using the Explorer browser to surf), get this brand-new patch for that Explorer problem we featured last week. That patch page at Microsoft has instructions for home users right near the top. The Explorer flaw "allows online thieves to steal computer passwords and private data such as bank account numbers," the Washington Post reports, … [Read more...] about Patch that Windows PC!
Spyware & an 8-year-old
We keep hearing about this thing called "spyware" - Congress is certainly confronting it (see Reuters report) - but many parents aren't exactly sure what it means. Well, a recent commentary in The Register literally brings the issue home.... "One of my friends called me in a panic the other day. It seems his eight-year-old daughter was surfing the Internet, searching for Barbie dolls ... when … [Read more...] about Spyware & an 8-year-old
Cell phone injures teen
It wasn't a serious injury but something parents might want to know about. The 16-year-old in California, who'd had the phone in her back pocket, was treated for second-degree burns and shortly thereafter released from the hospital. A fire investigator said the phone in question, whose battery reportedly caused "fist-size flames," was a Kyocera Wireless 2325, CNET reports. The US Consumer Product … [Read more...] about Cell phone injures teen
New family PC risk: Web sites!
As if family computer use wasn't enough of a minefield already, two new risks have recently emerged - ones that kids can easily encounter. This week we'll look at the first one: Web sites! (Next week: multiplayer games.) These are Web sites that put malicious code or spyware on the PCs of average surfers who simply click to them. At least one professional techie was telling his family late last … [Read more...] about New family PC risk: Web sites!
‘Camera phone backlash’ already
To teens who snap and email on-the-fly photos of themselves and friends, they're just fun. But concerns about everything from children's privacy to industrial espionage are now being raised wherever "phone snappers" flock, and they're certainly not just kids. "Worldwide, more camera phones were sold last year than digital cameras - a first," the BBC reports, adding that "sales went up almost … [Read more...] about ‘Camera phone backlash’ already