What is a V-Portal adapter? Or is it simply the thing that makes the phone work?

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April 6th, 2009 - Posted by Joe

The following post in our Reader Question series is an actual user submitted question. To maintain the integrity of the original question, we do not edit or change reader questions in any way.

Q: What is a V-Portal adapter? Or is it simply the thing that makes the phone work?

A: A V-Portal adapter is the device provided by Vonage which allows you to use any standard telephone to make calls through your high speed Internet connection. The V-Portal is easy to set-up, is totally portable and also enables lots of advanced features. Here is the description of the V-Portal adapter directly from Vonage's website:

The Vonage V-Portal can connect up to 2 Vonage lines through your pre-existing high-speed Cable or DSL Internet connection and includes a networking router. It's great for all your phone and routing needs. Just plug it into your existing broadband connection and use the two standard telephone jacks to connect your existing phones or fax machine. The Vonage V-Portal has a user friendly LCD display with caller ID and call timer, call logs (missed/received/dialed) with up to 50 entries each, language selection, and built-in upstream bandwidth tester. The Vonage V-Portal allows you to use your Internet connection for your computer and your phones at the same time and because it's Vonage, you get clear digital phone sound quality.

You can learn more about Vonage by visiting our VoIP service reviews and comparison.

If I install Identity Guard, will it automatically uninstall Norton?

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April 6th, 2009 - Posted by Joe

The following post in our Reader Question series is an actual user submitted question. To maintain the integrity of the original question, we do not edit or change reader questions in any way.

Q: I have Norton security on my computer,if I want to download Identity Guard total ptotection in place of Norton will the Identity Guard program automaticaly remove the Norton program and install it self?

A: Identity Guard's Internet security software, which is powered by ZoneAlarm, will not automatically remove your existing anti-virus protection program. We would recommend installing the Identity Guard provided ZoneAlarm software first and then manually removing your Norton Internet security software once you have confirmed that the ZoneAlarm software was properly installed. This will ensure that your PC is never without Internet security protection.

We would suggest following the removal instructions provided by Norton when removing that software from your PC since the process can vary based off of your operating system and the version of the software you are running. That being said, the standard process to manually uninstall a software program from a Windows PC is as follows:

• Click on the "Start" button in the lower right hand of your screen and select "Control Panel" from the menu.
• Double click on "Add or Remove Programs".
• Find the specific software product you would like to uninstall and click on the "Remove" button.
• Follow the on-screen instructions provided by the software provider.
• After you have completed the uninstall process, you will be prompted to restart your computer.
• After restarting your PC, the uninstalled software should be completely removed from your system.

New 25% Off McAfee Promotion Code For McAfee VirusScan Plus

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April 3rd, 2009 - Posted by Erik

We've got a new, exclusive 25% off promotion code for McAfee VirusScan Plus. Just click here to go to McAfee's site and enter promo code "Next25" at checkout. Note that McAfee is currently offering 25% off this product already and that our discount will be on top of that, so you will get it for 50% off with our McAfee coupon code! That makes it just $19.99.

McAfee is still offering 50% off  the more full-featured McAfee Total Protection when you click on the link from our review.  We recommend Total Protection over VirusScan because it has everything VirusScan does plus more advance features like identity protection, anti-spam, parental controls, network monitoring and link checking.  We think it's worth the extra money for all the protection you get.  You don't need any promotion code for Total Protection, just use the link from our review and the 50% will automatically be applied.

Identity theft expert states, "The Conficker virus is alive and well."

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April 3rd, 2009 - Posted by Robert Siciliano

Robert Siciliano is a NextAdvisor.com Expert Guest Blogger

Just when you thought it was over, it isn't. Far from it.

Conficker's rise and fall and the passing activity of the worm on April 1st has allowed researchers and anti-virus companies to better understand the virus and its impact. While April Fools was supposed to be the day of reckoning for Conficker, it wasn't and still isn't a joke.

Viruses often come with a trigger date, as pointed out by CNET. And while many fail to meet the media hype, they still can and often do cause millions or billions in damage.

The media does what it does and reports on the news. While they or even I may not always get the facts straight, the impetus is still there.

In a "Conficker Postmortem," CNET examines the media frenzy and points to a humorous spoof that Wired ran, a fake live blog from the "Conficker Worm War Room." CNET also points out that, "The New York Times called it an 'unthinkable disaster' in the making. CBS's 60 Minutes said the worm could 'disrupt the entire internet,' and The Guardian warned that it might be a 'deadly threat'."

The positive result of this media hype is that it brings attention to an ongoing problem for an audience that never considered themselves vulnerable to these issues. In my world, even Facebook friends and Twitter followers who had never reacted to previous posts on a plethora of IT and personal security issues are finally starting to ask the right questions.

"Your mom's virus," as we knew it, has become a part of popular culture. In a sense, this is a good thing, because it's now water cooler talk with the same level of buzz as Britney Spears going nutty. We in the security community couldn't ask for more and better attention, that may potentially enlist an army of security moms. Thank you, Conficker!

Still, Conficker is the most sophisticated virus to date and is still waiting to strike, which can very well lead to major data breaches and identity theft. As the virus continues to call home for the yet to be delivered update, researchers have determined an estimated 3.5 to 4 million PCs are infected on the Conficker botnet, which is the most powerful and dangerous aspect of Conficker.

Overall totals of infected computers may still be between 10 and 15 million. Many of those have a dormant virus that has the capability to wreak havoc, or that may have already been rendered impotent by anti-virus providers and IT administrators who have taken advantage of numerous solutions by McAfee and others.

What the public needs to understand is this infection is anything but over. The virus phones home every day looking for its next set of updates, which could still have catastrophic results if the virus ever reaches its full potential.

The risk here is that a virus of this kind has technology that can disable anti-virus software and that prevents access to numerous websites which provide automatic security updates, including Windows.

Today, Brian Krebs from the Washington Post points out the similarity's to Y2K potential bug, just as I did last week. "In one sense, the response to Conficker could be compared to that of Y2K: A great deal of smart people threw a whole lot of resources and energy at a fairly complex problem and managed to turn a potentially very ugly situation into a relative non-event."

The attention that Conficker brought upon itself has rallied security professionals to be on their highest guard, which is exactly where they should be.

See Robert Siciliano, identity theft speaker, discussing hacking for dollars.

Robert Siciliano is CEO of IDTheftSecurity.com , an identity theft expert, professional speaker, security analyst, published author and television news correspondent. Siciliano works with Fortune 1000 companies and startups as an advisor on product launches, branding, messaging, representation, SEO and media. Siciliano's thoughts and advice on all these matters appear often in both the televised and print news media including CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, FOX, Forbes and USA Today. He has 25 years of security training as a member of the American Society of Industrial Security. He is the author of 2 books, including The Safety Minute: Living on High Alert; How to take control of your personal security and prevent fraud. He's also partnered with Uni-Ball to help raise awareness about the growing threat of identity theft and to provide tips on how you can protect yourself.

I don't know if my tax return was complete.

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April 1st, 2009 - Posted by Caitlin

The following post in our Reader Question series is an actual user submitted question. To maintain the integrity of the original question, we do not edit or change reader questions in any way.

Q: I don't know if my tax return was complete. [E-File Tax Returns] never asked me for payment. I gave it my account information for direct deposit… Will it be taken out of my account?

A: If you are entitled to a refund, most online tax preparation services will give you the option of paying for their service with a portion of that refund. In this case, you would not need to enter credit card information. However, it is impossible for NextAdvisor.com to confirm whether your tax return was completed successfully with E-File Tax Returns. If you have a service issue with any of the various services reviewed on NextAdvisor.com, you should contact the company directly for assistance. You can follow this link to contact E-File Tax Returns.

To learn more about online tax preparation services, see our reviews and comparison chart.

Conficker pings its servers

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April 1st, 2009 - Posted by Robert Siciliano

Robert Siciliano is a NextAdvisor.com Expert Guest Blogger

The day has arrived and the world is watching. Conficker has reached out but has yet to deliver any new malware.

Computer World reports, "We have observed that Conficker is reaching out, but so far none of the servers they are trying to reach are serving any new malware or any new commands," said Toralv Dirro, a security strategist at McAfee Avert Labs, in Germany.

The sense is that Conficker's developers know that IT security professionals are watching closely, and are waiting for the noise to die down before making their next update.

A virus of this kind has enough juice to wait around for the white hats to drop their guard, and then strike.

However, there are cures to Conficker. The longer they wait, the more PCs will be cured.

Microsoft has posted more information about Conficker and its symptoms.

McAfee has detailed instructions on how to remove Conficker.

You may need an IT administrator to do the dirty work, as it's a bit complicated in some cases.

See Robert Siciliano, identity theft speaker, discuss viruses.

Robert Siciliano is CEO of IDTheftSecurity.com , an identity theft expert, professional speaker, security analyst, published author and television news correspondent. Siciliano works with Fortune 1000 companies and startups as an advisor on product launches, branding, messaging, representation, SEO and media. Siciliano's thoughts and advice on all these matters appear often in both the televised and print news media including CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, FOX, Forbes and USA Today. He has 25 years of security training as a member of the American Society of Industrial Security. He is the author of 2 books, including The Safety Minute: Living on High Alert; How to take control of your personal security and prevent fraud. He's also partnered with Uni-Ball to help raise awareness about the growing threat of identity theft and to provide tips on how you can protect yourself.