I've just read a post over at Search Engine Journal about statistics from Hitwise UK suggesting British users are increasingly using browser toolbars to search for domains they know already like tesco.com rather than typing them directly into their browser address bar.

I use this technique a lot because I frequently misspell a domain name or get the wrong domain extension for a website. When this happens more-often-than-not you get a holding page, cyber-squatter site, or worst still a site that attempts to mimic the intended destination in order to "phish" log-in details.
When you use a search toolbar to navigate to a domain the top search result is most likely going to to be the real domain.

When I read about the new Google Adsense feature "Allowed Sites" a couple of weeks ago, I thought I'd set it up on my account just to make sure no sites were displaying my Adsense code on their own sites, which could end up getting my account banned or flagged as suspicious due to factors outside my control.
Let's face it, if they're displaying my Adsense code, they've probably scraped or copied my site content without my consent, so who knows what else they may be up to!

Anyway I logged into Adsense recently and decided to check out the Allowed Sites page, and this is what I read...

There are unauthorized sites that have displayed ads using your AdSense publisher ID within the last week. Please click here to view them.

So I did click here, but all I got were some IP addresses:

A little intrigued to what these IP addresses were, I decided to investigate further by issuing a trace route command to glean some more information.

C:\Documents and Settings\Nik>tracert 64.233.183.104

The trace route results resolved the IP addresses all to Google. I'm guessing that these are in my list because of people viewing my sites in Google's cached pages; So panic over!
Would be good if Google could filter out it's own IP addresses from the list though, so I don't have to check out each IP individually.

Social networking sites are being used by criminals to steal peoples' identity. Once enough information has been gathered, credit cards and other services are set-up in the name of the person being targeted.
There are various sources on the Internet where thieves can collate information about a potential victim, such as the Land Registry information and the electoral register. However adding too much personal information to social networking sites like Facebook can facilitate thieves and make you an easy target.

So what can you do to minimise the possibility of online identity theft?

• Make your Facebook profile only viewable by your friends.
• Don't disclose your full date of birth, address and current employer, job title and other personal data.
• Don't let Facebook allow search engines access to your page.
• Use different passwords for each site and don't use easy to guess names like your pets name or 'password' 'abc' etc.
• Don't add friend requests of people you don't know.
• Install anti-spyware and anti-virus software on your computer, keep it up-to-date and scan your machine regularly.
• Install an anti-phishing toolbar on your web browser, such as NetCraft and don't click on links in emails that purport to come from legitimate sources such as banks or other merchants like eBay. Instead type the URL into your web browser.

For the first time in the UK two people have been cautioned by police for accessing wireless broadband connections without permission. Both cases were detected by suspicious behaviour in cars parked in the vicinity and not through electronic means.
Both people were warned for dishonestly obtaining electronic telecoms with intent to avoid payment.

Most wireless routers come without Wi-Fi encryption turned on by default, leaving unsavvy users open to this kind of abuse.
Most broadband ISP terms and conditions state that you cannot share your broadband connection with your neighbours etc, therefore all related activity on your connection is connected with you.
Due to recent laws, ISPs have to keep records of your Internet activity for a number of years. If authorised people are accessing your connection and using it for illegal practices then how would you prove your innocence?

Recently news has come out that anti-piracy companies are monitoring P2P traffic, using a modified version of Shareaza they are automatically sending your IP to your ISP demanding your details if it detects that pirated material is being downloaded. Some people have questioned whether an IP is enough evidence to connect a person with a crime, especially considering these cases of drive-by Wi-Fi hacking.

After a recent security flaw surrounding Google's Desktop Search Beta discovered by Scientists at Rice University, how do you make sure Googles fix has been applied to your machine?

After reading Google's Blog it seems all you need to do is check for the Beta release version on the 'About' page since the fix should have been applied automatically. You can find a link to this page from the main Desktop Search home page (You can reach this via right-clicking the icon in your taskbar or via the shortcut on your desktop). The version with the applied fix should be 'Beta 121004'.