The biggest problem with e-gold is that if somebody steals funds from your account, it is almost impossible to recover them! If somebody gets access to your e-gold account then they can empty it immediately, load your money onto an anonymous ATM card and have your money in their hands within minutes. No matter how computer savvy you might be please read this article - many of my computer-savvy friends have fallen victim to e-gold theft.



I'll list some of the least obvious tips first because I hope that veteran computer users will realize early in the article that they might not have done everything they could do. Major users of e-gold are people involved in the Autosurf / HYIP industry so I've written this article with them in mind. If you use e-gold for other reasons this article is still highly relevant.

Tip # 1: DON'T TRUST ANY AUTOSURF / HYIP OWNERS!

Nowadays there are many fly-by-night autosurfs, and many of you will no doubt put a few dollars into them. Unfortunately it is extremely easy for anybody to set up an autosurf or HYIP company, to get a few dollars in from excited new members and then vanish. This article isn't about how to select autosurf sites that are credible but I want you to be aware that when you join any autosurf you are giving the webmaster your email address, e-gold number and a password to login with.

ALWAYS use a unique email address for every autosurf you join with. If you don't, then a dishonest autosurf webmaster might see if your username and password are useable in other autosurfs, they might test it out with your e-gold account, or maybe they might try to get into your emails, eBay or amazon.com account.

Tip # 2: DON'T TRUST INTERNET EXPLORER OR ANY VIRUS CHECKER!

I've got nothing against the software itself. Internet Explorer might be the best program in the world but the problem lies with it being the most popular. This means that every thief who tries to attack your computer will be trying to find weaknesses in Internet Explorer's security. Firefox is an alternative web browser and not only is it less open to virus attacks but it is also a very reliable and feature-packed program.

Any page you view when autosurfing may contain a virus or similar. If you are like me, you probably view the first sites in the rotation and then leave your computer to surf without you. Imagine the damage this could do if one or more viruses infects your computer during this time.

Virus checkers give people a false sense of security. Certainly they have a lot of uses but it is still possible that you will get a virus that is not recognized by the checkers. Sometimes programs that record your keystrokes aren't technically viruses and they may slip through the net.

Despite my warnings about virus checkers it is still a very good idea to have one. Do regular scans and try to have the virus checker turned on at all times. Just don't fall in to the trap of assuming you can never have a problem because you have a virus checker already.

Tip # 3: USE COMPLEX PASSWORDS

Unless you are a high profile celebrity or government high-flyer it's not likely that a determined group of thieves will take much time to guess your password. That said, it's no extra effort to make your password a little more complicated.

Don't use a complete word as a password. Force yourself to use a password with both numbers and letters in it. The practice of this will mean that your password will be harder for somebody to guess. Make sure you avoid the most obvious passwords of your pet names, mother's maiden name or company name.

Tip # 4: USE DIFFERENT PASSWORDS

It's not possible to know who lies behind every website you visit. I know of a number of instances where a person has set up a website as a way of collecting usernames and passwords from its members and then trying the same usernames and passwords in popular websites such as eBay, PayPal and Hotmail.

One clever method that I've found is to create a formula that can create a different but easy-to-remember password for every site I visit. You could create a simple formula like this.:

abc + [number of letters in the websites name] +[last 2 letters of the websites name] + XYZ

so if we used this formula for Hotmail PayPal and eBay we'd have these passwords:

abc7ilXYZ for hotmail abc6alXYZ for paypal abc4ayXYZ for eBay

If you have a secret formula just for you, then you will always be able to work out what password you have used for every website. Anybody who sees the one password you use on a site will not be able to guess how the formula works elsewhere.

Tip # 5: AVOID ENTERING PASSWORDS FROM YOUR KEYBOARD

This is the mistake Paul made. Without knowing it, and without the virus checkers spotting it Paul had a ?keylogger? program hidden on his computer. Every key press Paul made was recorded and sent to the thief. When he entered his username and password for Gmail, the thief was alerted to it immediately.

So how is it possible to stop this happening?

There are a few options for you here:

You can install a ?Password Manager? Program for your computer. The two best programs are AI Roboform (for the PC) and 1Passwd (for the Apple Mac). What these programs do is they store your passwords securely and paste them into your web browser when you need to. Both program are also excellent for storing your personal information and for filling in all manner of online forms. AI Roboform is extremely useful when traveling as it can be stored securely on a USB drive and used securely from internet cafes and shared computers.

If you need to type the password in then enter the letters in the wrong order. To do this lets assume your password is 123456 ( a stupid password for sure, but its good for this example). First we just enter ?234? in the ?password box?. Using your mouse, click back to the beginning of the field and type in ?1? and finally click to the end of the field with your mouse and enter ?56?. The reason for doing this is because if a secret program is recording your key presses it will not know that you have used your mouse to enter letters in the wrong order. The keylogger will get a record of you entering ?234156? which is obviously far from what your password is.

Tip # 6 DON'T KEEP YOUR WELCOME EMAILS ONLINE

This tip would have saved my friend Paul a lot of headaches. He used Gmail and every time he joined a new website he'd receive an email which welcomed him to the site and reminded him of his username and password. Paul kept all of these emails in his Gmail account for reference. When the thief managed to get Paul's Gmail password he must have been delighted to find all that information. He certainly made a lot of use out of it.

If you receive these kinds of emails, (and you probably do) get them off the internet! Print them out and store them in your safe, or use AI Roboform or 1Passwd to keep them securely stored on your computer. I hope that this article has been of value to you. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Copyright 2006 Martin Pavion