If you think that the spam industry (I’m not talking about Hormel) is also experiencing a slowdown brought about by the global economic crunch, then you’ve guessed wrongly. A recent report from MessageLabs reveals that spam levels rose by 4.9 percent last month to 74.6 percent.

To give you a clue as to how significant the increase is, the Mega-D (Ozdoc) botnet sent billions of spam in January at an obnoxious rate of 26 million annoying and fraudulent emails per minute!

While e-mail service providers have hired security firms, such as Symantec, to scan mails and attachments, spammers are reinventing their pernicious creations in such a way that they could easily pass off as legitimate correspondences.

Many have complained in recent months that they’ve been fooled into signing up for stocks and other financial services by e-mails that purportedly come from banks and other known financial institutions. Distinguishing legitimate Web sites from fake ones have become more and more difficult in view of the cunning ways by which hackers make them.

Do not immediately trust the e-mails that you receive, especially if it’s an advertisement of some product or service. Scrutinize it thoroughly. If it contains an attachment, have it checked by your antivirus software first. If the source seems dubious, don’t even bother opening it. Delete it immediately.

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Would an entry about Apple’s latest mobile phone be out of place in this blog?

Everybody knows that most, if not all, of my ranting on this page are about computers. Even the cartoons that are occasionally posted here deal with the everyday goofs and frustrations that one might have had or is continuously having with his PC. So why feature something that has a different feather?

Not Just the Birds

Every electronic gadget wants to mirror the functions of a PC. As almost every human activity is assisted or dictated by Information Technology, it’s only natural for consumers to choose devices that would save them from being tied to their computer. Thus, mobile phones of today are not only made for placing and receiving calls. In fact, those two functions seem to be last things that cellular phone makers have in mind whenever they are revising or coming up with new designs.

An excellent example would be the iPhone. The only thing that makes it primarily a mobile phone instead of a miniature PC is its name. Nomenclature aside, one might need a few guesses before he realizes that it’s a cell phone. While Apple is billing it as such, 85% of its manual deals with its computer-like features. Nothing much has been documented about its call functions.

Consumer Demand

The evolution of the mobile phone to a mini PC is the result of the growing demand to be always connected to the Internet. While many saw laptops as the solution or answer for such desire, its bulky architecture has turned off a sizeable number of users who wants their e-mails to be accessible at just a touch of a button. You can’t do that even with an 11-inch notebook. The boot up process just takes too much time. On the other hand, handheld devices, such as smart phones and PDAs, can conveniently connect the user to the Internet in just a few seconds without impeding mobility.

It’s Still What It Is

Despite the fact that many of the mobile phones in the market today pack PC-like functions, its limitations as a miniature computer makes its bid to be an alternative computing device quite ambitious. iPhone’s graphics may be stunning, but it certainly cannot process heavy multimedia tasks that requires extensive video power. Its size also prevents it from using today’s latest processors which are needed in various computing activities. If you’ll analyze it closely, what you actually have is a mobile phone-cum-Web browser. It’s quite erroneous to claim that it’s a computer in the strictest sense of the word.

Foreboding

While I may not agree with the N95’s slogan: “It’s what computers have become,” I do agree that the mobile phones of today will shape the ultimate form of the PC in the next 10 years. Time will come when you’ll be buying anti-spyware programs or registry cleaners not just for your desktop, but for your mobile phone as well. It’s what computers will become.

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These guys really have no respect for anybody or anything at all.

Security experts revealed that hackers are taking advantage of the Virginia Tech incident in order to lure unsuspecting people to their malware-ridden Web sites. The bait comes in the form of e-mails with supposed links to pages that contain videos, pictures, or news about the massacre.

The infection is swift. All the unwary has to do is to click on the link and a screensaver, called “TERROR_EM_VIRGINIA.SCR,” will automatically install in his system. This Trojan horse gathers banking and other financial details.

This scheme is expected to persist and intensify as millions of people are still curious as to what really happened in Virginia Tech. Experts also expect the same trend or ploy to be applied in future incidents which would capture the interest of many people around the globe.

In order to avoid being infected, make sure that you get your news or videos only from reputable sources. Spurn e-mails with dubious attachments, especially if they come from somebody you don’t know. One should always be on his toes whenever roaming around cyberspace. Although I’m sure your registry cleaner, antivirus, or other system tool could spare you from your recklessness while surfing the Web, prevention is still the best remedy against malware attacks.

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