MSN Messenger is a popular Instant Messaging programs that are now being used more and more across the world. With millions of people registered, it is no surprise that viruses and other forms of malware get passed back and forth without the knowledge of users. Recently there has been a large increase with malware passing through programs just like MSN. Even so, there are many simple steps to take to protect you from any harmful content.
Contacts
For the most part, the people you talk to on MSN Messenger are people that you know in real life. Conversations with people that you know in real life are almost always safe and you do not have to have any precautions with them. When a contact adds you on MSN, you will receive a box notifying you. By looking at the email that comes along with the box, you should be able to tell if you
know this person in real life or not. Unfortunately, some emails do not reveal the name of the owner of that address. When this happens, if you are at all suspicious about the email address that has added you, uncheck the box that says “Add this person to my contact list”. After doing this, you will not be able to see each other’ display picture and you will not be able to see their nick name.
Until you can be sure who the person is, keep them off your contact list and thereby prevent them from seeing some of your information. If you find out that the contact is really someone you know in real life, you can add them to your contact list by clicking “Add to contact list” button towards to the top of the conversation window.
Some email addresses are easy to spot and you can immediately block them. MSN staff won’t ever add you as a contact on MSN. They will email you instead through Hotmail. Addresses such as updater@hotmail.de are called phishing scams. By pretending to be an administrator or a staff of some sort, this scam will try to direct you to a harmful site or make you tell them information about yourself. You can block these kinds of email immediately and ensure your safety.
Emoticons
Emoticons can be very fun and you are even allowed to create your own emoticons to show to friends. Unfortunately, some people have developed a way to store malware on emoticons. When an emoticon is sent to you, you have to download the picture to see it just like any other. If malware were attached to that picture, you may be effectively ‘downloading’ a virus without knowing it. By following these steps you prevent custom emoticons from being shown.
- Click tools
- Go under options
- Go under the tab Messages
- Towards the right, uncheck the box saying ‘Show custom emoticons’
- Click ok
Now you can no longer send or receive custom emoticons. Though you may not be able to see a friend’s new emoticon, you make yourself much safer.
- Add Site to related directory categories: Internet Security, Internet Software
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