Last night Mike (my friend) called me up and shared his dismal experience. His personal email account has been hacked and the password has been changed. There are many computer users like Mike who become the victim of identity theft. It is not only annoying but also costly and poses serious risks. Criminals employ phishing scams, lottery scams, hoaxes, or other scams to access to your online accounts and important information such as social security number, account name, or password. How to cope with this issue? Well, first you should recognize online scams and then take steps to save your computer and yourself from them.

Let’s have a look at the following tips to reduce the risk of online fraud :

1. Install the latest security updates of the OS of your PC and turn on automatic updating as well. In addition, turn on the firewall.
2. You should not open e-mail attachments or click instant message download links if it is sent by an unknown sender.
3. It is always suggested not to disclose your personal or financial information online. Never fill out forms in e-mail messages where you are asked to provide your personal or financial information.
4. Creating strong passwords is one of the most important tasks for protecting your accounts and online identity. Remember a strong password must contain upper case and lower case letters, symbols and numbers.
5. You should also use the latest version of the browser. You can use IE, Mozilla, and Google Chrome for browsing internet. If you are using IE, turn on SmartScreen Filter for detecting unsafe and potentially unsafe websites.
6. To protect your computer from hackers, you should install antivirus and antispyware software and update them regularly. There are many renowned antivirus software programs available online.
7. Don’t use public computers to pay bills, bank, shop, or conduct other financial transactions. Even it is also recommended not to do the same over a public wireless network.

By following above mentioned tips, you can certainly reduce the risk of online fraud. For further tech support, consult a computer repair company or call MTSS @ 1.866.515.9918.

Is your computer working very slow? Or are you having problems surfing internet? If the answer is yes, you should clean Windows system cache memory. It is very simple and easy. In fact, if you clean the temporary internet files and clear the DNS cache of your computer, you will find significent improvement in your PC’s performance. Let’s have a look at the following steps and learn how to clean the cashe memory.

♣ Step 1: Click the “Start” button.

♣ Step 2: Open “Control Panel.”

♣ Step 3: Double-click the “Internet Options” to open it.

♣ Step 4: Under “Temporary Internet Files,” click “Delete files.

♣ Step 5: Click “Close.”

♣ Step 6: Click “OK” at the bottom to close the Internet Properties Window.

♣ Step 7: Exit Control Panel.

Now, you need to clear the cashe of your internet browser. If you are using Mozilla Firefox, Select “Tools” and then “Options” from the Firefox menu. Go to Advanced option. Click the “Network” tab and then Click the “Clear Now” button in the “Offline Storage” section. Click “Ok” to confirm.

Let’s have a look at the steps to clear the DNS cashe.

♣ Step 1: Click the “Start” button and select “Run” from the menu.

♣ Step 2: Type “cmd” in the Run dialogue box.

♣ Step 3: At the command prompt, type “ipconfig /flushdns.” Once the process is done successfully, you will get a message.

♣ Step 4: Type “exit.”

If yo need technical support to optimize your PC performance, dial 1.866.515.9918.