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Internet phishing or fraud is becoming a problem, but like any new technology there are always horror stories. When ATMs were introduced there were many stories about crimes associated theft of money out of people’s banks accounts. But stealing money from bank accounts actually was easier in the days of paper accounting. Banks and financial instructions have always factored in a loss from fraud into their business models. However, of late some banks are increasing making noises that the customer should be responsible for the loss if they have been negligent in their security, however, the ABA claims that does not support moves to hand responsibility for Internet fraud over to the customer. The Commonwealth Bank Group was even more direct, labeling the claims as "totally false." Electronic funds transfer and electronic storage of funds is still safer than storing the coins under the bed.

But in all honesty we must take responsibility for our internet security, so here is how you can protect your computer.

1). you should commit all passwords to memory having them written down somewhere in a recognizable for by others puts you at risk.
2). Never ever give out pin numbers, passwords or other personal information on the internet
3). Keep the amount of public information about yourself fairly limited. Eg don’t display birthdays, physicall addresses phone numbers or any other personal information that can be used to verify your identity.
4). Computer wise keep your machine clean from viruses by using a virus checker, remember free ones are ok but you really do get what you pay for. Also have a personal firewall and a spyware cleaner. Other options are keeping the machine clean from spyware or malware by having a spyware cleaner.
5). Use a browser other than internet explorer I recommend firefox, also make sure you keep your java run time up to date as they find wholes in the security they release new updates.
6). Run the latest windows updates via internet explorer by going to http://update.microsoft.com

Finally remember you can have all the locks and security devices on your doors and windows but they are no good if you keep leaving the key under the mat.

Microsoft is boasting a massive100 million plus installations on computers world wide since the release less than three months ago of its Internet Explorer 7 Web browser. Microsoft Claim that already 25% of people visiting their websites across the world were already running the new web browser release candidate at the time of release of the full commercial edition. However, Mozilla's Firefox web browser appears to continue to grow in popularity along with other open source web browsers.

Major storage manufacturer Seagate has announced that it will in its second wave of Savvio 2.5” hard drives speed up from 10,000 to 15,000 revolutions per minute.

However, it appears that the laptop environment may not yet be cool enough for the new drives. At this stage the 15K series is being billed for corperate use in RAID storage systems. Seagate says the new Savvios will run cooler than a typical datacenter installation, drawing 40% less power per drive while consuming about a third of the rack space, which is a plus for the air conditioning bills of many large cooperations. The company is already calling the 15K editions “the world’s fastest hard drive”. The new drives will ship in 36 GB and 73 GB capacities along with the existing 10K.2 editions supporting a 146 GB capacity. Many of the major computer manufacturers are raising their eyebrows at the new drives and hope to be testing them shortly.

In what is fast becoming the a major problem in the 21^st century a teenager has been sentenced to a 18 month good behavior bond and no Internet because he was stealing bandwidth from networks in his neighborhood. Garyl Tan Jia Luo, who reportedly suffered from an online gaming addiction, had his Internet connection confiscated by his parents when they became concerned about the amount time the young man was spending online. According to police reports, Mr Lou then started cycling around his neighborhood with his laptop trying to find an unsecured wireless network to successfully tap into. Mr Lou was confronted by a nieghbour who called the police and he was charged last November with illegally accessing an unsecured wireless network. The crime carries a maximum jail term of three years in Singapore, however, District Judge Bala Reddy imposed the $5000 18 month good behavior bond with no Internet and ordered treatment for the young man and recommended a more structured environment. In sentencing the judge also recommended that Mr Lou look into doing his national service as soon as possible.

The game World Of War Craft has a world wide 8 million strong fan base and last wednesday the 17^th saw the global release of the long awaited expansion pack for the game called “The Burning Crusade”. In Chatswood alone an estimated 450 people that lined up at EB Games fore the mid night sale. A dedicated group of fans either showed their passion or they don't get out enough by dressing up as their favourite World of Warcraft characters.

In what could be a landmark international legal case the Dell computer has been accused in a class action lawsuit of knowingly selling defective notebook computers. The Canadian lawsuit, lodged in the Ontario Superior Court, alleges that Dell Canada sold a range of Inspiron notebooks, knowing that they had defective motherboards. According to the lawsuit, the motherboards of Inspiron 1100, 1150, 5100, 5150, and 5160 notebooks sold by Dell were susceptible to overheating, which caused them to fail prematurely, often not long after the standard one-year warranty had expired.

2006 had not been a good year for the computer giant, when several laptop computers suffered explosive failures which saw the company recall 4.1 million notebooks with defective Sony Lithium Ion batteries. Pictures of the failed laptops and the damage caused were widely circulated across the internet.

The Apple Computer company is said to be hot under the collar because a group of several computer coders have developed iPhone "skins" that work with most smartphones based on the Windows Mobile and Palm operating systems.

The down loadable skins apparently don't add new functionality to the smart phones, however, gives the phone the look and feel of apples user interface complete with using the iPhone's copyrighted icons

Apple and its lawyers have been writing to websites displaying screen shots and down loadable code for smart phone demanding they remove such items from their websites. However, this move to have the files removed from the web have only given the skins greater publicity and popularity among the information technology savy community.