Holiday Online Shopping Safety Tips

We (finally) had our first notable frost yesterday morning. I couldn't resist snapping a picture of one of the dwarf barberry bushes. The frost and cold reminded me that it will soon be Thanksgiving in the U.S., which tends to mark the start of the Holiday shopping season.

I was reminded further when I received an E-mail from Amazon.com announcing "Free Shipping on the Season's Best Toys". Highlighted was a section on "Black Friday Deals". Black Friday in the U.S. is the day after Thanksgiving and the biggest shopping day of the season. That is followed closely by "Cyber Monday" when people return to work following the long weekend and take advantage of their company's high-speed internet connection or shop from work because they do not have a connection at home. (I suppose there are still homes without an internet connection.)

With this blog post in mind, I bookmarked the article, "Best Practices for Online Shopping" that Microsoft MVP Harry Waldron reproduced in August from Net World. You can find a link to that article as well as some additional safety tips in the references at the end of this post.

It seems that Nellie2 and I are on the same wave-length (again) as she also recalled Harry Waldron's post from last year on Cyber Monday. In fact, as I looked back to last year, I see that I had also quoted Harry's post when I wrote "First Black Friday, Then Cyber Monday".

Don't be a victim. If you are planning on doing on-line shopping for Holiday gifts, stick to the sites you know to be safe and check out the tips in the linked references below.

References:

• Best Practices for Online Shopping

• Don't Be Fooled by Web Fraud This Season

• How to shop online more safely

• Protect your privacy with online payment services

Remember - "A day without laughter is a day wasted."
May the wind sing to you and the sun rise in your heart...

Lest We Forget

Last year my friend Canuk posted this in honor of Veteran's Day. Five months ago today, he left us. As a result, his words have even greater meaning to me today.

LEST WE FORGET

We Shall Keep the Faith by Moira Michael, November 1918 Oh! you who sleep in Flanders Fields, Sleep sweet - to rise anew! We caught the torch you threw And holding high, we keep the Faith With All who died. We cherish, too, the poppy red That grows on fields where valor led; It seems to signal to the skies That blood of heroes never dies, But lends a lustre to the red Of the flower that blooms above the dead In Flanders Fields. And now the Torch and Poppy Red We wear in honor of our dead. Fear not that ye have died for naught; We'll teach the lesson that ye wrought In Flanders Fields. Flags courtesy of3DFlags.com

Comments on "

LEST WE FORGET"

Corrine said ... (12:38 PM) :

Beautifully done, my friend!

Since I couldn't do better, you'll find you've been reposted at Security Garden, Freedomlist and LandzDown.

mitch said ... (1:04 PM) :

maybe someday there will be no more wars and we can reflect on the waste of life that they do?

but today i will remember my friends who never had a full life and consider myself lucky

canuk said ... (8:01 PM) :

Thank you so much Corrine, and Mitch my friend, I too "will remember your friends who never had a full life", while thanking you and your comrades who have served with pride, honesty and honour.

Despite anyone's thoughts of the current conflict in Iraq - opposition or agreement, we must always remember that these brave young men and women are fighting for a cause they also may or may not agree with. The huge difference between them and us is that they are putting their lives on the line 24/7 while we sit in our homes in comfort, using the freedom of speech previous warriors won for us, and for that they deserve our love, respect, and support.

Corrine said ... (9:49 AM) :

Corrine wipes the tears from her eyes and adds that quote to her blog entry to preserve it.

Little did I know when writing the above comment how true that would be.

Remember - "A day without laughter is a day wasted."
May the wind sing to you and the sun rise in your heart...

Microsoft Security Bulletin - November 2007

On 13 November 2007 Microsoft is planning to release two new security bulletins.

• Critical
  Impact of Vulnerability: Remote Code Execution
  Detection: MBSA can detect whether your computer system requires this update.
  Restart Requirement: The update will require a restart.
  Affected Software: Windows. For more information, see the Affected Software section of the Advance Notification page at the link below.
• Important
  Impact of Vulnerability: Spoofing
  Detection: MBSA can detect whether your computer system requires this update.
  Restart Requirement: The update will require a restart, except in certain situations.
  Affected Software: Windows. For more information, see the Affected Software section of the Advance Notification page at the link below.
  

Although Microsoft does not anticipate any changes, the number of bulletins, products affected, restart information and severities are subject to change until released.

References:

• Technet
• MSRC Blog

Remember - "A day without laughter is a day wasted."
May the wind sing to you and the sun rise in your heart...