Yahoo!7 Answers Blog Australia

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At the start of the year, many people often think about getting things in shape: their homes, their bodies, but they don’t stop to think about getting their computers in shape. While online safety and virus protection should be thought about year round, this is a great time to take a quick refresher course on some of the common online threats that you may (or may not) encounter while surfing the net.

Online and within the news you’ve likely heard of some of the most common terms (malware, spam, viruses, and Trojans), but may not have known what they are, or, how to protect yourself or your computer from them. We’ve pulled together a quick resource guide outlining the who’s who, and where to go for more information. But when online, some of the most important things to remember are:

• Don’t trust pop-ups; things pretending to be virus checkers may actually be viruses (more on that later)
• You don’t have to understand a lot about online security to protect against the most common online threats. Keep your computer up to date and be suspicious about the sites you visit- employ the same skills you do in real life as you do online: don’t give out your personal information to strangers, and don’t trust something because it “sort of” looks official. And remember to trust your instincts: if it doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t.

What’s malware?
Malware is software that does something you don’t want done, usually installed without your permission. It includes viruses, worms and Trojans.

What is spam?
Spam is/can be: the repeated postings of the same content; off topic banter/answers/comments; links to commercial sites or merchandise; in general, unsolicited, unwanted or irrelevant messages, links or postings. You may run into it in your inbox, on message boards, in comments sections, etc. Basically, anywhere that someone can enter or submit text is susceptible to spam.

What is phishing?
This is any attempt to steal your account information. Phishers set up fake web sites that look like those of trusted companies to trick you into disclosing your account information. These pages can look nearly identical to the real thing, so it can be hard to tell that you are on a phony site.

Most commonly, you’ll see these as emails asking for the password to your bank account, your Yahoo! email account (urging you to send your account information or else your account will be terminated), or your credit card information. If you run into a phishing email on Yahoo!, please do report it to us!

Remember to never click on links in emails, no matter how official they look. Use bookmarks or physically type the site name in.

To protect yourself further, set a sign-in seal and don’t give out your Yahoo! password on your computer unless you see your sign-in seal (for more information on this, go here. This helps you know when you’re on a phishing page, or when you’re on a legitimate Yahoo! login page.

Yahoo! Security Center

At http://security.yahoo.com/ you can assess your PC’s exposure to online threats, including malware, viruses, and an assortment of other online risks. Additionally, you can also learn about:

• Protecting your PC
• Protecting your online privacy
• Protecting your children online at Yahoo! Safely
• Getting rid of pop-ups, viruses, adware, or spyware
• And much more!

How to help protect your machine

Be sure that your computer has antivirus software installed and that its virus definitions are up-to-date- many computers do not, and this leaves them open to many malware attacks. Programs like Norton Anti-Virus or http://www.malwarebytes.org/ will help protect and prevent future attacks.

If you see a pop-up, close it promptly, without clicking on anything inside the window (buttons inside the window may download software, no matter what the label on them says, even if it’s “No”, or “Cancel”). Click the close button on the window frame (the “x” in the upper right on a Windows machine, the red button in the upper left on a Mac).

If that doesn’t work use “Ctrl + F4″ on Windows or “Shift + Cmd + W” on an Apple machine to close the window. Worst case, kill the browser with the Task Manager on Windows or Force Quit on a Mac, and if you can’t do that, reboot the machine. (Be sure to save your work in other programs!)

Then run a virus-scan using an anti-virus program to check for any malware remnants.

At the end of the day, it’s up to YOU to help keep your online experience safe—keep your software up-to-date and be cautious about giving out information, including passwords.

The team at Yahoo! Answers has just learned about the recent closure of MSN QnA.  No doubt there are many disappointed community members who have lots to share and nowhere to go.  So, we would like to extend a warm invitation to ex-QnAers to join our community.

We have a thriving community on Yahoo!7 Answers with users from all over the world asking and answering each other’s questions. We welcome new points of view and experiences that will add to our ever-growing database of knowledge.  I encourage you to both ask and answer questions on the site and hopefully to build meaningful connections with like-minded people.

If you have questions about Yahoo! Answers please don’t hesitate to leave a message below this post.

We look forward to seeing you on Yahoo!7 Answers.

Alana – Product Manager
Caitlin - Community Manager

Good News! We are happy to announce that Yahoo!7 recently launched an optimised version of Internet Explorer 8. All you web surfers can now enjoy:

• Better protection against online threats such as fraudulent sites and spyware
• Increased speed to help you browse the Web faster
• New tools that provide easier access to your favourite sites
• Built-in Yahoo!7 Homepage, Yahoo!7 Toolbar and Yahoo!7 Search

There are some great search features in the Yahoo!7 IE8 toolbar. Yahoo!7 Search Assist provides instant text suggestions to users so you can get further detail from your search.

Or you can customise it further and choose to search in Yahoo!7 videos, images or even on Answers, all from the toolbar.

Another nifty tool is the Answers button installed with the toolbar. When you’re logged in, you can click on the arrow then scroll through the suggestions. Options include going straight to Yahoo!7 Answers, going to the Ask a Question, Answer a Question or even to your own Q&As.

To experience all these goodies, download Yahoo!7 optimised version of Internet Explorer 8. Also, answer our question from the official IE8 account – How does internet safety impact your online browsing?

I admit it, I’ve become totally addicted to Twitter in the last few weeks. I originally dismissed Twitter as an extension of the Facebook status update, but then I realised it’s so much more…

Need a debrief on what Twitter actually is?

Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users’ updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length. Updates are displayed on the user’s profile page and delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. More

You see it’s more than just learning that your best friend had corn flakes for breakfast (although some are fascinated by that I’m sure). You can follow people you don’t know, which admittedly doesn’t sound that exciting, except when they’re people who have something to say. I’m talking about your favourite websites, companies and celebrities.

So why would celebrities want to be a part of twitter? According to Kristie:

It’s one way to communicate directly with their fans in a way that they know won’t be dispersed and misinterpreted by the press. The public are the reason they earn the mega bucks so they want to keep them happy. People like a celebrity who has the illusion of being open and friendly. More

Of course with celebrities you never know whether they’re the real deal or an impersonator. MrsKutcher for example?

As for websites, companies and politicians, it’s a brilliant way to find out updates from your favourite mediums. For example, you can keep up to date with the news from the people who are at the source, find out the latest stocks, get an update on what K-Rudd is doing then see what the girls at Famous Magazine have been up to.

And of course, you can sign up for our twitter feed – the YahooAnswersAU feed! You can find out the latest news from the Aussie Answers team as well as a few interesting things we stumble on along the way. Just go here and click follow. See you there!

Caitlin
Community Manager

We just got word of a creative mash-up using Yahoo! Pipes and the Yahoo!7 Answers API to help surface obscure open questions, so we asked the creator of this pipe to guest blog about his findings. Please welcome Patrick Hunt, Yahoo! Architect to the Answers-verse.
Take it away Patrick…

I don’t work on Answers, nor do I work on Pipes. I’m the lead for a project that integrates del.icio.us bookmarks directly into Firefox. While working on this project I became intimately familiar with the workings of Firefox and the types of problems people encounter. Most of the questions asked about Firefox on Answers are immediately answered – I’m continually amazed at how extremely quick and dynamic this community is. But some questions don’t get answers because they are too tough or not often seen by the community. These are the types of questions I find challenging and enjoy answering.

In order to find these nuggets, I use Answers Search. However my criteria (open, unanswered, Firefox-related questions) is not directly supported. I end up having to search for all open Firefox questions and then paging through the results looking for those with 0 answers. It’s slow going, especially when there are a large number of open questions (most of which have one or more answers already).

Then, I got wind of Yahoo! Pipes, a tool that allows you to take any RSS, massage the content in any number of ways, and look at the results in your favorite RSS reader. I thought, “Hey, maybe I can use Pipes to find these unanswered questions people are asking about Firefox!”

I first looked at the RSS feeds provided by the Answers site, but because of my complex criteria this wouldn’t work for me. Instead, I headed over to Yahoo! Developer Network, where Answers has an open search API that outputs RSS. Sweet! I created a new application id, figured out the parameters I wanted to input to the search API, and went over to the Pipes site where I created a pipe.

You’ll see that I set the pipe up to allow any query to be executed. You can search for Firefox, Yahoo, kittens, or whatever else piques your interest. The output provides a “Get as RSS” link. Add this to your favorite RSS reader such as MyYahoo!7 (you can click on the RSS link if you use Firefox) and you’re off to the races.

If you have an issue with Firefox, post a question and maybe I’ll answer it!

Patrick
Yahoo! Architect

Shigeru Miyamoto and one of his early creations – Zelda

There’s not many of us would be familiar with the name Shigeru Miyamoto, but since the late 1970s he has been responsible for bringing us hours of fun. Mr Miyamoto is the creator of the video games Super Mario Bros. Donkey Kong and Zelda that have brought us all so much joy… frustration… and distraction from homework and household chores over the years! As a child I always thought there would be a point where our generation outgrew video games, but the clever minds at the games companies have grown with us, constantly offering something new and exciting so that their consoles are as popular with adults as with children.

This week Shigeru Miyamoto joins Yahoo!7 Answers to ask – “How old were you when you first heard the term ‘Nintendo’, and what does the name mean to you now?” in the Video and Online Games Category.

It’s a great question and one to think about before posting your answer. And while you’re in the category – there are plenty of others to check out, whether they be about the new release Nintendo Wii or other popular forms of gaming such as the Xbox and Playstation. After having a look through it seems as though people who are into video games and the like get easily frustrated by The Sims! There are certainly a lot of questions on how to manoeuvre through that particular virtual reality game!

If you need help getting past a certain stage that you’ve been battling with all weekend, finding the key to the dragon forest or even getting the game to start in the first place there are always hundreds of keen gamers on Yahoo!7 Answers who are more than happy to help out!

Maybe someone can tell me how to get past that frog in the first level of Alex Kid in Miracle World. I was never able to get any further than that!!

Clea

This week we are featuring a question from well known Spanish pop star Alejandro Sanz. As a singer and musician Alejandro has had many international hits and won more than a dozen Latin Grammy awards and a Grammy award. He has collaborated with singer Shakira and Irish band The Corrs and has released ten albums since 1991.

Whether you are familiar with him or not, the issue Alejandro is asking a question about is one that should be of interest to every person who listens to music all over the world.

“If you were managing a record label how would you address the issue of piracy?”

Copying professionally produced music for commercial gain or transmitting it via the web without permission is against the law because it deprives the music industry as a whole of revenue. Not everyone who sings for a living is a millionaire – and there are plenty of behind the scenes producers who are putting in long hours and getting very little in return. These are the people who lose income as a result of music piracy as their jobs are first to go when profits drop.

If the whole world turned to piracy the music and movie industries would cease to exist! So if you have any thoughts on how to stop the problem post an answer to Alejandro Sanz’s question. And if you’re confused about piracy laws why not ask a question on Answers!

Have a great weekend!

Clea