Received an email this week that looks like your typical spam and it comes with a DOC file attached to it. I included the md5 in the subject for ease of tagging and searching.

It is boring stuff, but it seems very familiar. I am sure this template of spam (if you will) has been sent to me before. Its subject says its from Ms. Cynthia Chalker (From Canada), but the reply to is a South African address, and it's using msn.com/hotmail.com as the method of delivery (apparently).

And like it says, I have a winning notification that I have won the South African...something. But I have won. Phone number to call to claim my winning prize, and a DOC file attachment.

Obviously I have not won anything. This could be a very simple attempt to get you to call and give information away, or for them to convince you to charge your credit card for processing fees I am not certain.

I saw this comment today on a malware site and I normally read them to see how folks troll malware sites looking for blame. Folks, malware is your problem, not anyone elses. I am constantly reminded how people fail to understand that its their actions and choices that cause the infections, and today social engineering is a big reason. Even Malware experts are not immune from falling victim to their tricks. Its been like this for years and outside of the increase in targetted attacks, its still the #1 reason.

What bugs me the most is how people feel like a innocent victim, when they should really understand that they are the Generals leading the charge. This letter below really sums up the problem with users in this regard.

NOTE: I am very sympathetic to anyone who gets infected (just ask my email box...) and over 80% of people who have infections get free assistance from me, even though I charge for my services. But people simply do not know and do not bother to find out what they do online is the cause of their problems.

If you had an opportunity to view your local newspapers job classifieds this weekend you may well find an ad like this one.

It looks like a highly sincere advertisement seeking folks who would like an opportunity like this. They obviously are seeking to appeal to anyone interested in a highly flexible and possibly rewarding (getting paid to shop) opportunity. The site seems to indicate a 4-12 hour work week on average and you are considered part time. This is all cool. However, what isn't so cool is the lack of ANY security features for the sites 'job application' forms.

In my eyes this is very troublesome that anyone would submit this much personal information without any measures at encrypting the data to the site. And it wants a LOT of data from you.

Microsoft has announced Windows 7 is now open for public download.

Are you one of the folks who has an Google email account? They are not hard to find, and very easy to get and many folks find it very handy. But for most Windows users, trying to adopt a webmail-like email such as GMAIL in place of typical clients like Outlook Express can have some problems.

Enter Google Notify. Its a great little tool that simply monitors calls to email and redirects them to your Gmail account. No more clicking on email links on web pages and getting outlook express popping up. Now the request generates a gmail compose message and seems to work very well. It will also tell you when you have new mail!

What if it doesn't work?