Courtesy of Clutter Free PC:

Facebook leads the social networking field in malware

Since the introduction of social networking to the internet, teenagers, college students, baby boomers and even senior citizens have signed up. Unfortunately for all of them, cyber criminals have as well.

A recent study by Panda Security documented the protective standards of social networking and found 33 percent of small- and medium-sized businesses reported a malware infection through social networking for business use. The impact has worsened as well, as 35 percent of those businesses suffered a financial loss while trying to recover from a social media-based malware attack. The study, which investigated 315 SMBs in the United States, found the financial loss for more than one-third of businesses affected by malware exceeded $5,000. Because of the benefits of social networking for business purposes, the increased use puts more enterprise networks at risk for malicious software.

“Social media is now ubiquitous among SMBs because of its many obvious business benefits, yet these tools don’t come without serious risks,” said Sean-Paul Correll, threat researcher at Panda Security.

However, businesses have the resources to reduce the threat of social networking more easily than consumers can.  Companies like Clutter Free PC (www.clutterfreepc.com) and Ascentive, LLC, have been providing tools to businesses for over ten years.  Sadly, many consumers are still unaware that they need the same protection.

“In Panda’s first annual Social Media Risk Index, we set out to uncover the top SMB concerns about social media and draw a correlation to actual incidence of malware infection, privacy violations and hard financial losses,” Correll added. “While a relatively high number of SMBs have been infected by malware from social sites, we were pleased to see that the majority of companies already have formal governance and education programs in place. These types of policies combined with up-to-date network security solutions are required to minimize risk and ultimately prevent loss.”

For consumers, the threats of social networking still loom. Although Facebook has become popular among businesses, the leader in social networking is also the leader in malware threats, at 71.6 percent, and privacy violations, at 73.2 percent. The popular online video website YouTube was the second most dangerous social networking site, but was far behind Facebook with 41.2 percent of all social networking malware. Twitter showed a significant threat for privacy violations, following Facebook with a risk for 51 percent of all information leaks.

Malware and privacy threats have consistently increased as social networking has blossomed into its current state. However, internet users have still been drawn to social media, as Facebook currently touts more than 500 million registered users and Twitter has exceeded 200 million registrations. Even foursquare, a relatively young social networking site based in which users can share their favorite locations, has recently reached 3 million users.

A quick review of Clutter Free PC Stories shows us that internet users are still drawn to social media sites, despite the recent spike in security and privacy risk. Security experts advise them to install protective anti-malware software that could make for an enjoyable social networking experience without the risk of their computers contracting a virus.  Find out more about anti-malware software at Clutter Free PC.

 From the FinallyFast Help Desk:

HBGary Federal CEO Aaron Barr recently announced he is stepping down from his position following an embarrassing battle with the Anonymous hacking organization.

“I need to focus on taking care of my family and rebuilding my reputation,” Barr said in a phone interview with Kaspersky Labs’ Threatpost. “It’s been a challenge to do that and run a company. And, given that I’ve been the focus of much of bad press, I hope that, by leaving, HBGary and HBGary Federal can get away from some of that. I’m confident they’ll be able to weather this storm.”

Barr and HBGary Federal previously collaborated with the FBI on an investigation into the hacking organziation known as Anonymous. Barr claimed in an interview with the Financial Times that he obtained the identity of two members of Anonymous residing in the United States, and scheduled an address at this month’s RSA Security Conference in which he was expected to reveal these identities.

Before the conference began, Barr’s personal Twitter account was breached, through which a hacker posted a statement on Anonymous’ motives. Meanwhile, both domain names used for the HBGary Federal website were hijacked and the home page was replaced with a similar statement from Anonymous. Then, news broke that Anonymous stole 60,000 company emails and immediately began publishing them on the internet.

“Today we taught everyone a lesson. When we actually decide to bite back against those who try to bring us down, we bite hard,” the hackers posted from Barr’s Twitter account.

HBGary Federal proceeded in light of the data breach, with Barr still scheduled to speak at the RSA Security conference. However, after the first two days at RSA brought hecklers to the HBGary Federal showcase tent and death threats against Barr and his family, the company vacated the conference. Shortly after, in place of an HBGary Federal sign explaining its sudden departure, a large white sign claiming victory in the name of Anonymous was found in the place where HBGary Federal’s tent was set up.

Now, after Barr announced he is stepping down, a Twitter account by the name of Topiary, which claims to be an “online activist” and “supporter of anonymous operations, WikiLeaks and maintaining freedom on the internet” declared “victory” in a Tweet with the link to news about Barr’s departure attached.

Anonymous has grown into one of the world’s most influential hacking organizations in a short time. The group emerged shortly after the international persecution of WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange, defending both by lashing out at the organizations that condemned either. Anonymous has claimed responsibility for distributed denial-of-service attacks that have successfully brought down the MasterCard website, as well as targeted online payment service PayPal and Visa, after each declared they would stop processing donations to WikiLeaks.

From the FinallyFast Help Desk:

A survey recently conducted by Information Solutions Group found large increases in overall usage and frequency of mobile game playing among U.S. and U.K. adults. The survey also found that among mobile phone gamers, the mobile phone is now the primary gaming device of choice, leapfrogging video game consoles and personal computers in less than two years. Further, “smartphone” owners (the fastest-growing mobile segment) are by far the most avid consumers of mobile phone games. These and other purchase and consumption trends identified in the survey suggest significant growth in the mobile games sector will continue for the foreseeable future.

Overall, more than half (52%) of the 2,425 survey respondents said they had played a game on a mobile phone at some time in the past; 73% of U.K. respondents said they had played a mobile phone game at least once, compared to 44% of U.S. residents surveyed. A portion of those U.K. respondents appear to have been one-time users, as most other usage data found similar activity and trends across the countries. 33.6% of all adults in America and the United Kingdom have played a game on their mobile phone handset in the past month, qualifying them as “mobile phone gamers” for the purposes of the survey, and nearly a quarter (24.6%) have played in the past week, qualifying them as “avid mobile phone gamers.” Fully 83% of mobile phone gamers who own a smartphone said they’d played in the past week.

Among the other survey findings,
• 84% of all mobile phone gamers, and 97% of avid mobile phone gamers say they play games on their phone at least once a week; 92% of smartphone owners who play mobile games say they play at least once a week, and 45% say they play daily (compared to 35% of all mobile phone gamers). In the 2009 survey, only 13% of mobile phone gamers said they played daily, and 40% said they played weekly or more often.
• Among all mobile phone gamers, 50% said that the amount of time they spend playing games on their handset has increased over the past year, and among smartphone owners the figure climbs to 63%; in the 2009 survey, only 20% of mobile gamers indicated their consumption of mobile games had increased.
• Among all mobile phone gamers, 78% indicated that playing mobile phone games had become a regular part of their weekly activities, and more than half (59%) indicated that they saw such games as a regular part of their daily activities; for smartphone owners the figures were 84% and 68%, respectively.
• When asked which gaming-capable device they play games on most often, 44% of mobile phone gamers chose their phones, catapulting handsets past video game consoles (21%) and computers (30%) to the top of the list. 51% of avid mobile gamers and 55% of those mobile gamers who own smartphones indicated they played games most often on their phones. This compares to just 17% of mobile gamers who chose their handset as their most frequently used gaming device in the 2009 survey.
• 43% of all mobile gamers, and 49% of smartphone gamers, said they had upgraded a free trial game to the full (paid) version in the past year; more than a quarter (27%) of all mobile gamers, and a third (34%) of smartphone gamers, said they had paid for additional content for an originally free game in the past year.
• Among mobile phone gamers, the average smartphone owner purchased nearly twice as many games as those with other types of phones (5.4 games vs. 2.9 games) in 2010, and spent almost $10 more ($25.57 vs. $15.70) on phone games.
• 19% of all mobile phone gamers said they played one or more social networking games via their phone daily, and more than a third (37%) said they play a social networking game via their phone at least once a week.
• Among all mobile phone gamers, 23% of all mobile phone device usage time (excluding phone calls) is spent playing games.

The results are based on 2,425 online surveys completed by members of the world’s largest online ePanel (Toluna) in the United States and United Kingdom between January 25 and January 31, 2011.

From the FinallyFast Help Desk:

Swedish music service Spotify announced Tuesday that they have reached one million paid subscribers.

Currently trying to break into the American music market, Spotify is a lightweight software application that allows instant listening to specific tracks or albums with virtually no buffering delay. To operate Spotify, users download the software client and log onto their service to enable on-demand music steaming. The service offers unlimited streaming of selected music from a number of major and independent record labels including Sony, EMI, Warner Music Group, and Universal. Spotify is presently only available in certain parts of Europe (mostly Western European countries), with paid subscribers being restricted to people with credit, debit cards or Paypal accounts registered in certain countries. Spotify is currently negotiating with the major record labels for distribution in the United States.

Spotify’s software currently runs on desktops using Microsoft Windows OS, MAC OSX, and Linux, and mobile devices using iOS, Google Android, Symbian, Windows Mobile, and Palm HP’s webOS. Music can be browsed by artist, album, record label, genre or playlist as well as by direct searches. On desktop clients a link allows the listener to purchase selected material via partner retailers. Users can register either for free accounts supported by visual and radio-style advertising or for paid subscriptions (about $15 a month) without ads and with a range of extra features such as higher bitrate streams and offline access to music (a premium account is required to use Spotify on mobile devices).

Daniel Elk, one of Spotify’s founders, announced the news in a company blog post. Spotify’s current subscription base is actually the biggest subscription base for any digital music service, and a substantial increase from the 750,000 paid users Spotify said it had accumulated at the end of last year. Spotify also said it had a total of 10 million users late last year, counting both free and paid versions.

Founded in 2008, Spotify is raising $100 million from private equity firms to foster its break into the US music market according to reports in the news media that the company has not yet confirmed. Spotify is also know for its most famous investor, “business artist” Sean Parker, the creator of Napster who was recently portrayed by Justin Timberlake in the film “The Social Network.” Parker is a managing partner at the Founders Fund, which invested in Spotify, and joined Spotify’s board in 2000. In an interview with the Daily Beast, Parker said in regards to Spotify’s streaming service and listener convenience, “You have no choice. We’ve got you by the balls, you’ll have to become a subscriber.” Parker owns 5% of the music service. Other investors in Spotify include Creandum, Northzone Ventures, Li Ka-shing, and Wellington Partners.

From the FinallyFast help desk:

According to a report by Bloomberg Monday, Microsoft will cease to releases new version of the Zune music and video player due to insufficient demand. Although Micorsoft will continue to sell existing versions of the Zune, the company will not release new versions, instead allocating those resources to other devices and endeavors.

One of these subsequent directives will be to concentrate on putting their Zune software on other devices, according to a source at Microsoft, such as PCs and laptops running Microsoft’s Windows operating system. Zune software currently allows users to purchase songs and movies, in addition to streaming unlimited music for a monthly fee. Positioned as an “entertainment hub,” Microsoft says their Zune software provides users with a place to use and store their entertainment media.

The lack of interest in the Zune is no doubt a result of Apple’s iPod, which led the market with 77% percent of unit sales in 2010 (according to NPD Group, Inc.). In comparison, Microsoft’s Zune was unable to reach the top five in their market.

In addition to adding Zune features to Windows OS, Microsoft will implement Zune in their Windows Phone 7 software in hopes of gaining a foothold in the mobile phone market, which is currently led by Apple and Google.

“We have nothing to announce about another Zune device — but most recently have introduced Zune HD to Canada via the Zune Originals store and remain committed to supporting our devices in North America,” Microsoft stated in an email statement. “We are thrilled by the consumer excitement for Zune across many platforms, including Windows Phone 7 and Xbox 360. Our long-term strategy focuses on the strength of the entire Zune ecosystem across Microsoft platforms.”

Although Microsoft has not officially denied the hardware’s demise, it’s doubtful the company will continue to support the Zune as they have until now. Since Microsoft’s introduction in 2006, the Zune has failed to be a leader in the portable music player market. Although the 2009 Zune HD fared well in reviews, it couldn’t compete with Apple’s iPod and App Store.

Microsoft’s stock has fallen 8% this year.

It’s also rumored that the move to stop releasing new editions of the Zune may be the first step in a complete overhaul and rebranding of the Zune platform under the name “Ventura.” Microsoft is currently staffing up for a cloud-based multimedia media product known as “Ventura Media Services” directed at PCs, TVs and mobile devices, according to a series of job posting that date back to the middle of last year. The job posting call for software engineers in Beijing and Redmond who are familiar with the Microsoft Azure cloud platform. The postings note that this is “large scale” project.

In today’s economy people are more reluctant to spend their money than ever before. This means that your business has to fight harder than ever in order to compete during the recession. But how exactly do you make your business’s product or service stand out from your competitors? Here are five ways to give your business an edge in your market.

Network
Although customers are the lifeblood of your business, your industry peers can be just as important. The right business-to-business relationship with an industry peer can lead to better suppliers, outsourcers, and marketers. Try out LinkedIn, Facebook, and MeetUp for buusiness-to-business networking needs.

Loss Leaders
A loss leader is a product that you lose money on in order to generate sales of other products and services in your catalog. You price loss leaders at cost or below in order to attract customers to your store, at which point the customers will buy more products and services then they originally expected. Another way to use loss leaders is to sell your loss leaders bundled with another product or service that is actually profitable in a special offer.

Position Your Product as Unique
Marketing your product or service as unique will help to make you stand out in a sea of competitors. Play up the characteristics of your business in your advertising that make it stand out, and reinforce those characteristics in your messaging. Make those special characteristics a part of your marketing, a mantra to be repeated in and outside of your store.

Seek Out Government Contracts
Acquiring a contract to supply the Government with your product is a surefire way to maintain business. Check out The US Small Business Administration to learn what Government agencies are purchasing and how to be noticed by them.

Research & Design
In the unpredictable times that we live in, one has to do what research they can to develop products and techniques that they can use for their businesses in the future. The only way to afford such R&D is to save wherever you can in other aspects of your business. Try out alternative telecom solutions like Skype to help keep your overhead low.

From Finally Fast:

The key to Search Engine Optimization is proper keyword density. To ensure that you have proper keyword density, you must integrate a substantial amount of keyword phrases within your meta tags and web copy (for example, the articles on a blog.)

Keyword Density is the ratio of a keyword or keyphrase to the total number of words on a web page (often referred to as “depth”). This is the most critical aspect of Search Engine Optimization. Your keyword density must not be too high or too low if you want to improve your search engine rankings. A good keyword density for your pages would be anywhere from 1% to 7%. In order to have a keyword density of 1%, you must insert your keyword or keyphrase once into every hundred words of text. Inserting your keywords less frequently results in a diluted keyword density. However, be aware that stuffing all your keywords together separated by commas is a bad idea, too. When you stuff keywords into your copy, you run the risk of search engines interpreting your copy as spam and penalizing your search engine rankings.

The best approach to getting great rankings with search engines is actually to research the your keywords or keyword phrases related to your web copy before you build your website. But if your site is already on the net, read over your copy and review your keyword density to ensure that it’s adequate.

1) Use Google’s Keyword Tool to research keywords. The tool will report how may times a particular keyword or keyphrase was searched per month. Try to find keywords that have over a million hits if possible.

2) Narrow down your list of popular keywords to those keywords or keyphrases that have a high number of searches, but a low number of competing websites.

3) Use two or three of these keywords or keyphrases related to the subject of your website and use them five times for every hundred words of web copy. Avoid using popular words not related to your site, as it will turn off your visitors.

4) Incorporate these keywords or keyword phrases in your title, meta tags, meta descriptions, alt tags (tags that describe your images), comment tags, and blog post headlines. Search engines like Google will spider the heading tags in your web copy first because headings stand out from your main text.

5) Write at least 250 words of copy for each of your web pages. Search engines tend to spider the text near the top of the page, so be sure to include your keywords in the first 250 words of copy.

Finally, make sure your web copy is compelling, In addition to being SEO-friendly, inspiring viewers to hang around and actually read it, and split the copy into paragraphs of three sentences or use bullets for easy reading.

Business ideas from FinallyFast:

Although the challenge of increasing sales may seem overwhelming, a standardized approach can be used to achieved a substantial increase in sales, no matter how big or small your business may be. Simply put, increasing your sales starts with increasing your number of qualified sales leads. So in order to increase your sales, you have to increase the number of prospects you contact that will purchase your product or service.

The Sales Pyramid

For starters, picture the entire sales cycle as an upside-down pyramid. At each stage in the sales cycle, prospects will drop from your list of sales leads, tapering your sales pyramid. An initial list of five hundred leads may be whittled down to a list of fifty qualified leads, which may in turn result in five sales, the lowest point of your sales pyramid.

In order to increase your sales, you need to figure out how your own pyramid narrows as your list of leases makes its way along the sales cycle, down the pyramid. The best way to do this is to track your leads list through a single cycle, and work out your pyramid. Then increase the initial number of qualified leads proportionately in order to achieve the sales that you want. For example, if your list of five hundred leads yields five sales, and your goal is actually ten sales, you probably need to start off with a thousand leads.

Qualifying Leads

Qualifying leads is arguably the most important step in the sales cycle. To be an effective sales person you need to become skilled in the art of identifying qualified leads whom to sell to, which is a process of research and list refinement according to the traits of the prospects.

Once you have your list of qualified leads, contact your prospect through a cold call, email, or direct mail. Review your calls and emails as you perform them as to avoid a cold, robotic delivery.

If the prospect expresses reasons for not purchasing your product or service, simply counter their reasons with your product or service’s features. And if the prospect explains that they can’t make the purchase due to being in a contract with another provider, ask them when the contract expires so you can return to them later.

Prioritizing Premium Prospects

Among your list of qualified leads, be sure to give the premium prospects the most attention you possibly can. You only have so much time to make your sales, and it’s more practical to spend that time selling your most expensive product or service. Also be sure to keep an eye out for prospects that will definitely buy more than one of your products, increasing your sales and saving you time.

Business Ideas from Finally Fast

Every entrepreneur wants to improve his or her business in some way. Who wouldn’t want their business to make more money, or be valuable enough to sell off completely? Improving your business starts with a change of mind. A simple change in your perspective then gets fleshed out and articulated in to form of a business strategy, and finally executed in the form of an implantation plan. Here are three proven strategies to improve your business.

1) Kick your Cash Cow over the Moon

It’s easy for a business for focus on one or two important clients in the early phases of its growth. The client is happy with the service that your business provides, and slowly hands over more and more of their business to you. Before you know it, you’ve assigned more and more of your resources to your contract with this client. They’ve become your cash cow. Unfortunately, the problem with a cash cow is that you find yourself in big trouble if the client ever stops doing business with you. You find yourself with a big company on your hands and no way to sustain it. What you want to do is spread your bandwidth and resources over a number of clients, so that each client is responsible for no more that 10% of your income. That way your business will survive in the event of a breakup.

2) Sell Less to Sell More

Another problem with focusing on the your early customers is that your business will often evolve to better cater to their needs, increasing the range of services that you offer to suit them. The problem with this tendency is that your business develops a wider range, but your brand becomes too generalized. Your business needs to be known for being great at doing something, not merely okay at doing several things. To turn this tendency around, reduce your offering to a few core products, backed up by the same services and customer policies.

3) Redefine Your Business

How others perceive your business starts with you. How you describe your business to others – through word of mouth, print, and the web – is ultimately how they perceive it, essentially boiled down to a kernel of information. So you have to redefine your business in a way that’s not only soundbite-friendly, but also valuable. Valuable to them. When you define your business to others, emphasize the thing that both makes your business stand out among your competitors, and also makes you valuable to your customers. Whether it is a lifetime guarantee, free estimates, or 24-hour customer support, emphasize your business’s special trait for a strong brand and maximum impact.