Helpdesk

Ways to stay safe Online

Its important that you do all you can to stay safe online and here are some easy and practical steps you can take to protect the security of your computer and your personal information.

Hoax E-mails

Hoax E-mails are frequently sent in the same manner as Spam messages and usually have subject headings like "Security Alert" or "Account maintenance". Basically these are fake emails designed to get you to log into a bogus website so that important personal details (e.g. banking user names and passwords) can be harvested - this type of cyber-crime is called "phishing".

If you receive a suspicious message it is important you do not reply, open any attachments or click on any links contained in the message. You should also report this message to your ISP so that they can investigate the matter.

Anti-virus software

Scan your computer with up-to-date anti-virus software at least every 30 days. The software detects and eliminates computer viruses.

You must also scan downloaded files and attachments before opening them.

New viruses are appearing all the time, so you should regularly download updates to your anti-virus software from your software supplier or set your computer to automatically update your anti-virus software. 

Anti-spyware software

In addition you should scan your computer with up-to-date anti-spyware software at least every 30 days.

Spyware secretly gathers information from your computer and passes it on to advertisers or other parties. It can even capture details such as your password and user name.

Spyware can be installed without you knowing as a result of visiting a website or through clicking on an option in a deceptive pop-up window. It can also be carried in viruses or installed along with other free software downloaded from the internet.

Again, new spyware appears all the time, which means you should regularly download updates to your anti-spyware software from your software supplier or set your computer to automatically update your anti-spyware software.

For more information on anti-spyware software, go to Spybot Search and Destroy at http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/ or Lavasoft AdAware at www.lavasoftusa.com. 

Firewall hardware/software

You should ensure you have up-to-date firewall hardware or software installed and it should be set up to work on incoming and outgoing traffic.

A firewall controls your connection to the internet by filtering the information that is passed to and from your computer.

You should regularly download updates to your firewall software from your software supplier or set your computer to automatically update your firewall software.

For more information on firewall software, go to Symantec and Norton Personal Firewall at www.symantec.co.nz or McAfee Personal Firewall at www.mcafee.com.au or Zone Alarm Firewall at www.zonelabs.com. 

Operating system security updates

Software suppliers will often issue updates to fix problems found in operating systems and browsers. So its a good idea to regularly check for updates to your operating system and browser.

If you have a Windows operating system use the built in update tool to keep Windows up-to-date.

Alternately if you have an Apple computer running OS X, run the Software Update tool regularly.

To watch a video about Protecting your PC click here www.microsoft.com/nz/athome/security

Make sure you're at the correct site

Check you're on Quantum Computers's website before logging in to My Quantum Computers

You can check you have connected directly to the official My Quantum Computers site by checking if there is a SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) connection symbol. It looks like this . It will either be on the bottom status bar of your browser or to the right of the address bar if you're using Internet Explorer Version 7.0. When you click on this symbol you will see something like the following:

Use caution when using public or shared computers

Computers at public places like cybercafes & libraries may not be as safe as your personal computer. In general, if you're unsure that the computer has the required firewall & virus detection then it will pay to wait and do your work on a computer you're confident has the necessary protection.

Tips for Password safety

Keep your password safe
Memorise your password and then destroy any record of it
Take extra care when entering your Password to make sure that no one else can see it
You should use different passwords for different electronic banking services
Dont choose a Password that would be easy to guess or discover
Dont use parts of phone numbers, birthdays, names, addresses,series of numbers or letters such as 5678 or abcd or parts of anyother numbers or personal information that people could easily get holdof for you Password

Dont tell anyone else your Password
Dont leave your computer unattended while logged on to internet banking

How to set up email in Outlook 2007
Follow the steps below to configure Outlook 2007

1. Open Outlook
2. From the Tools menu, choose Account Settings
3. Click the New button.
4. Tick the Manually configure server settings or additional server types option and click Next.
5.  Select Internet E-mail and click Next.
6.  Click the Finish button. Outlook 2007 is now setup for use with your Actrix E-mail address.

More email setup instructions coming soon..

Setting Up Your POP or IMAP Email Address in Microsoft Outlook

This tutorial shows you how to set up Microsoft Outlook 2003® to work with your e-mail account. This tutorial focuses on setting up Microsoft Outlook 2003, but these settings are similar in other versions of Microsoft Outlook. You can set up previous versions of Microsoft Outlook by using the settings in this tutorial

To Set Up Your E-mail Account in Microsoft Outlook

In Microsoft Outlook, from the E-mail Accounts menu, select Tools.

On the E-mail Accounts wizard window, select Add a new e-mail account, and then click Next. 

For your server type, select POP3 or IMAP, and then click Next.

On the Internet E-mail Settings (POP3/IMAP) window, enter your information as follows:
Your Name
Your first and last name.
E-mail Address
Your email address.
User Name
Your email address, again.
Password
Your email account password.
Incoming mail server (POP3)
POP, Pop.secureserver.net or IMAP, imap.secureserver.net.
Outgoing mail server (SMTP)
Smtpout.secureserver.net
Click More Settings.

NOTE: "smtpout.secureserver.net" is an SMTP relay server. In order to use this server to send e-mails, you must first activate SMTP relay on your e-mail account. Log on to your Manage Email Accounts page to set up SMTP relay. If you do not have SMTP relay set up and your Internet Service Provider (ISP) allows it, you can use the outgoing mail server for your Internet Service Provider. Contact your Internet Service Provider to get this setting.


On the Internet E-mail Settings window, go to the Outgoing Server tab.
Select My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication.
If you did not change the SMTP relay section, select Use same settings as my incoming mail server. If you changed the user name and password in the SMTP relay section of your Manage Email Accounts page, select Log on using and enter the user name and password. The following example assumes you did not change your SMTP relay section in your Manage Email Accounts page. 

Go to the Advanced tab, and then change the Outgoing server (SMTP) port to 80 or 3535.
Click OK.

Click Next. 

Click Finish. 

NOTE: As a courtesy, we provide information about how to use certain third-party products, but we do not endorse or directly support third-party products and we are not responsible for the functions or reliability of such products. Outlook 2003® is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All rights reserved.

Setting Up Your POP or IMAP Email Address with Mozilla Thunderbird

This tutorial will help you set up the Mozilla Thunderbird™ e-mail client to work with your e-mail account. To Set Up Your E-mail Account in Mozilla Thunderbird

	1.	In Mozilla Thunderbird, from the Tools menu select Account Settings.

	2.	Select Email account, and then click Next. 

	3.	Enter your name and e-mail address. 

	4.	Select POP or IMAP as the type of incoming server you are using. Your incoming server is pop.secureserver.net for POP, or imap.secureserver.net for IMAP. Click Next. 

	5.	Enter your e-mail address for the Incoming User Name, and Outgoing User Name. Click Next.
	6.	Enter a name for your email account and click Next. 

	7.	Verify your account information and click Finish.
	8.	In the Account Settings window, select Outgoing Server listed below your new account.

	9.	Type smtpout.secureserver.net for the Server Name and change the Port setting to 80.
	10.	NOTE: "smtpout.secureserver.net" is an SMTP relay server. In order to use this server to send e-mails, you must first activate SMTP relay on your e-mail account. Log on to your Manage Email Accounts page to set up SMTP relay. If you do not have SMTP relay set up and your Internet Service Provider (ISP) allows it, you can use the outgoing mail server for your Internet Service Provider. Contact your Internet Service Provider to get this setting.
	11.	Select Use name and password and enter your e-mail address. Thunderbird will ask you for your password the first time you try to send mail. Click OK.

NOTE: As a courtesy, we provide information about how to use certain third-party products, but we do not endorse or directly support third-party products and we are not responsible for the functions or reliability of such products. Thunderbird™ is a trademark of the Mozilla Foundation in the United States and/or other countries. All rights reserved.

Quantum Computers scan your e-mail for viruses as they arrive at our server. This will protect you against known e-mail viruses before they reach your machine. However Quantum Computers CyberScan will only be able to detect incoming E-mail viruses, so you will need a virus scanner on your home computer as well to protect you against internet, disk based and file sharing viruses.

If you have a virus scanner on your machine such as AVG, Norton Antivirus, PC-Cillin or similar make sure you have run the update feature to get the latest virus information. If you haven't run the updates for some time it is advisable to run the update a few times to ensure all the available software upgrades have been downloaded.

It is important also to ensure that your version of Windows is as up to date as possible - visit http://www.windowsupdate.com  to have your computer scanned for updates and download any patches or upgrades to Windows. These also help prevent exploits in Microsoft code from being executed.

There are many good free alternatives to commercial virus scanners - if you don't have a virus scanner it would be worthwhile installing one of either:

http://www.grisoft.com 

http://www.avast.com

Both these are available for free download from the internet and require regular updates as you would with a normal commercial Antivirus Solution.

http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/vinfodb.html

If you believe your computer may be infected with a virus or you would like more information on virus protection please contact the Quantum Computers helpdesk.