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Issue 5
Text Box:
VoIP
3Facts
Text Box: VoIP Technology-His Dream and Where it is Going Jeff Pulver has a dream: That his invention a decade ago of making phone calls using the Internet will eventually be used by everyone and traditional phone networks and copper wires will be a thing of the past “Whether that will happen in my lifetime is another story but my hope is to basically enable people to be free -- to have the freedom to define what their communications experience is," Pulver said in an interview. Pulver is a pioneer of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology and is a co-founder of fast growing VoIP provider, Vonage, as well as founder of a half-dozen other VoIP firms. As a result, Pulver estimates there are some 9 million paying VoIP customers around the world -- 6 million of them in Asia -- and millions more with Skype, the Web site that allows for phone calls around the world for free to and from computers. Pulver believes the industry is at a crossroads, with so much room for growth but a host of regulatory and financial issues confronting it. "The challenge is regulation and how it is adopted by governments protecting (telecom) incumbents," Pulver said. Text Box: 3 Critical Facts Every Computer User Must Know About Keeping Their Personal and Financial Information Safe Online If you own a computer that is connected to the Internet without proper firewall and security measures set up, it’s only a matter of time before a worm, virus, hacker, or spyware takes over your computer. Threat #1: Hackers Small business owners and home users tend to think that because they are “just a small business” or “just a home user” no one would waste time trying to hack in to their computer. Nothing could be further from the truth. The best protection from a hacker is a good firewall. When properly set up, a firewall will make your computer invisible to the scanners and prevent hackers from accessing your computer. Threat #2: Viruses, Worms, and Other Malicious Software A virus is a freeloading program designed to install itself onto your computer without your knowledge or permission. Once installed, the virus attaches itself to files with the intent of taking over your computer’s programs. A worm is a parasitic program designed to replicate itself on your computer and then spread to other computers via email or a chat program. Both of these programs are considered “malware”, which is short for malicious software. That is why you should NEVER open any email attachment from someone you don’t know, or that looks suspicious. The most important thing you can do to protect your PC from viruses is to install and regularly update your virus protection software. Many software programs offer an automatic update feature that will make it far easier to keep your PC safe. Threat #3: Spyware Spyware is Internet jargon for hidden, undetected programs advertisers install on your PC to gather and report information about you and your online activities. This program is usually installed without the user’s knowledge by piggybacking on another program or file being downloaded. While some spyware is harmless, there can be serious consequences of unidentified spyware which include spam, identity theft, corruption and slowing of your PC, and annoying pop-up ads. Of course you can use Spybot or Ad-Aware as a first attempt at cleaning your machine; however, if you continue to notice that your computer runs slow, if you continue to get crippling pop ups, or any other of the tell-tale signs discussed earlier, you will need to give us a call immediately before this malicious program does more damage to you and your friends, colleagues, and clients.