When you buy an Android app from the Google app store, they give the app maker your full name, email address and the neighborhood where you live. This occurs without clear warning every single time you buy an app. <a title="Watch how you get Scroogled by the Google app store" href="http://www.bing...

So, you may be asking yourself: why is the EFTPS contacting me? And who the heck is EFTPS? It's likely a phishing atempt. The EFPTS is a service offered free by the U.S. Department of the Treasury to help business and individual taxpayers conveniently pay all their federal taxes electronically...

I was asked today… I received a message in my email on behalf of Microsoft from the National Lottery International [stating] "A certificate of winning and other certificates including your winning cheque of Four Hundred and Fifty Thousand Great Britain Pound Sterlings has been sent to us by the...

As I Tweeted today, over the weekend I read Paul Cooke's Windows Security Blog post on Windows 7 Vulnerability Claims. (I've added a few links if the terms are unfamiliar to you.) "…most people don't knowingly have and run known malware on their system. Malware typically makes it onto a system through...

As I recommended today, friends don't let friends download bad things from peer to peer . So wait until the official downloads to the Release Candidate (RC) of Windows 7 are available. As noted online today, the Windows 7 RC posted today (April 30th) for TechNet and MSDN subscribers. Materials provided...

There's a new article and interview up on Microsoft PressPass with my friend and fellow Canuck Peter Cullen from Microsoft on Data Privacy Day & online privacy. (Also available at http://tinyurl.com/pcullen013009 .)  The kids are in school today… did I miss a bank holiday somewhere? When asked...

It's that time of year again when fake online greeting cards increase in the daily Outlook mailbox and in web based mail as well). A common give away? The sender is often listed only by first name – no last name – and includes links to various e-card sites: this was from Michelle offering "Happy...

That e-mail from the IRS? It’s not from the IRS... so says local reporter Herb Weisbaum, an MSNBC contributor, on MSNBC (and the IRS warns taxpayers of the scams in a press release here ).... "The Internal Revenue Service is trying to be more customer-friendly, but it’s not going to...

Informationweek has an article this week that gives "a quick scan of recent events, which have roiled the privacy waters at AOL, at the FBI, and in Europe. Here's a quick collection of some recent reportage on data breaches, customer-data concerns, and privacy surveys you should know about." Study...

Of interest is this item on Lifehacker.com, just in time for the holidays, "Geek to Live: A meaty Thanksgiving download." In a 17MB download, it promises that they will "save you the trouble of chasing down half a dozen PC fix-it tools in the midst of your post-turkey coma. Instead we've put together...

Last year, Microsoft teamed up with the FTC in the “Don’t Get Tricked on Halloween” campaign to crack down on illegal methods used by spammers to distribute unsolicited e-mail. As October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month , only fitting that I replay this blast from the past... Timed to...

From the news: "Parents everywhere are concerned with children's access to inappropriate media content. Microsoft, along with our friends at Best Buy and Boys & Girls Clubs of America, is leading an education campaign to provide parents with tools to help them make the right entertainment choices...

Today the Seattle PI Seattle PI Newspaper has an article that includes a few words of wisdon from our own Peter Cullen , our Chief Privacy Strategist. The article provides some insight from a recent lunch in Seattle where people gathered to hear feedback from a few industry execs and luminaries on questions...

I'm clearing out the email that I missed this week due to a number of big reviews and meetings (apologies), and one was from a reader and associate who noted that my entry on creating strong passwords (and passphrases) was quickly followed by a couple of similar stories in the press. Or was it that I...

Once again, here's today's installment on some of the different ways Microsoft is working on improving your experience with your computer, with blog bits spent on OneCare , Windows Defender , spam , Windows Live Safety Center , and last on phishing . Today it's about screen scraping and Trojan horses...

Often when meet and talk with our customers and partners, I hear some of the same concerns that impact their satisfaction with our products and services: PC security, quality and reliability of our products, and issues with email around spam and phsihing. Starting this weekend I am posting more info...