We are long time subscribers to Discover magazine, and this morning there is a sidebar column chalked full of information useful to those of us using the internet – be it for fun or business. According to this analysis, written by Adam T. Hadhazy, here are some amazing facts (worth noting!):

Fact 1: Number of Bytes Transmitted Online

According to a University of Minnesota report, researchers estimate the volume of internet traffic is growing at an annual rate of 50 to 60 percent.

The number of bytes transmitted over the course of last year:

o A whopping 78,000,000,000,000,000,000

Fact 2: e-Commerce Spending

In 2008, the United States alone spent $214.4 BILLION online. These statistics come from comScore reports. They continue to draw the conclusion that online spending is increasing by 7 percent per year. However, this is down from previous years (before the huge financial mess the country and world has gotten itself into or had done to us by greedy s.o.b’s, which was growing at a rate of 20 percent per year). Time for those recovery plans to kick in!

Fact 3: Trojans, Worms, Viruses, etc.

Symantec reports a total of 5,060,187 bot-infected computers, the same computers that deliberately send out spam to the rest of us poor suckers, have produced 1,122,311 different trojans, worms, malicious code, etc.

To make matters even more critical, and to highly encourage you to PROTECT your computer (I recommend Kaspersky!), the Sophos internet security firm “discovered a new infected WEB PAGE every 4.5 seconds, on average).

NOTE: If you’re using nothing but the feeble Windows firewall to protect your computer, change NOW. It’s much better to get a real firewall/antivirus and malware protection system (again I recommend Kaspersky) that to trust to the fact that the folks at Microsoft 1) stay on top of things (they don’t) or 2) give a damn whether your system gets infected or not. BE SMART.

Fact 4: Number of Minutes We Are All Online

Viewing JUST the social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, internet users have racked up a whopping 34,916,000,000 minutes in the United States alone viewing just these sites. In fact, in January 2009 all by itself, the average user spent 10 percent of all of his/her minutes online in these network communities.

Fact 5: What State Ranks Highest for Adult Website Subscriptions?

That dubious honor goes to none other than… Utah. In fact 5.47 households out of 1,000 have adult-content site subscriptions. Montana comes in with the lowest rate, only 1.92 out of 1,000 households. And, just to round things out, 36% of all internet users spend time on at least one adult web site per month (reported again by comScore).

So what does this all mean to those of us using the net for say internet marketing?

o Online purchasing (e-Commerce) though lower than recent years, is once again on the rise.

o Facebook and MySpace may be very popular (duh) – and worth investigating – but also make us warn that you best have a truly unique approach to getting some of that traffic. Invest real time into building the community. You’ll get the traffic, but you still need to persuade them to choose you for the sale.

o Not protecting your computer, and not having a firewall warning system in place, has got to be the dumbest thing anyone owning a computer can manage not to do. There are those out there with, apparently, plenty of time on their hands to figure out ways to either ruin your computer or, at a minimum, make it necessary for that trip to say the Geek squad at Best Buy to fix it up. This can be very expensive, so why allow it to happen in the first place? Get the best program out there that covers everything from surfing to email to… And again I suggest Kaspersky.

o Maybe, just maybe, we all need a bit more fresh air. I know I am guilty of rarely stepping outside. While I have, and continue, to lose weight, really watch and upgrade my diet, and get a bit of strength training indoors, nothing beats stepping out your door. In fact, medically, to ensure you get enough Vitamin D, you need to spend from 5 to 20 minutes outside every day – during the critical 10 to 2 hours (high noon) WITHOUT sunscreen to absorb the Vitamin D your body needs. Step outside, do a bit of weeding, talk to your neighbors, walk the dog. But get some fresh air LOL!

o Well… the last being the adult websites, don’t know what to say about that, but the fact that it’s Utah (we live in Nevada) has us laughing our heads off.

Okay, there are enough stats to keep you busy and maybe planning some internet and marketing strategies and plans for your business, blog, website online.

PLEASE Don’t forget to COMMENT!

Throughout the year, and typically always around holiday seasons, your inbox (like ours) fills up with true and utter junk. However, recently I had a conversation with a client who did not know it was possible to check the origins of any given email before opening it up.

So this post is intended to help anyone unfamiliar with safeguarding their privacy and their computer. I want to be sure that anyone receiving any email from any source (whether you think you know them or not) knows how to check that email before opening it.

We have a current situation that makes this post even more important… a few of our own emails from several of our own domains are currently circulating the net AS IF we were emailing people. We’re not of course. The only time you’d hear from us would be via either Getresponse or Aweber – both double opt in email programs.

However, of late, we’re getting the following notorious-type emails – each appearing as if we are stupid enough to mail something from us to ourselves. We then thought a, “Let’s cover some basics” post was in order.

Many times we get suspicious looking emails. If you’re running a great anti-virus detection program (our preference is Kaspersky), it catches a lot of spam and suspicious emails.

But what about those emails that don’t trigger alerts, the ones that look like they are coming from someone you know. Only when you open it up do you get a clue that hey this might not be from who you thought it was. It’s either crass material, a link to a questionable website, or is filled with gibberish.

Has your friend or business associate suddenly gone mad?

The answer most likely is no. And there is a way to tell:

1. First, highlight (one click) but do NOT open the email

2. If you are using Outlook Express choose Properties, then Details and look in the box labeled Internet headers for the underlying code of the message that isp servers read.

a. The ReturnPath may give you a clue as to who really sent this

b. If X-Original-To and Delivered-To are the same, the chances are very good that this is not from the person you thought was emailing you. The odds of it being legitimate would be minuscule.

3. If you use Outlook, choose Options – look in the box labeled Internet Headers

a. Deeper into the code, [SPF failed… is a sure sign someone has hijacked the email address and is using it without permission and/or the owner’s knowledge.

b. Here’s a little something I found upon close investigation down near the bottom of this Internet Header: “Delivered to trusted network by a host with no rDNS” – another tip off. The domain (in this case one of ours) is legitimate, but the mailing itself originated from a “no rDNS.” A sure indication it’s not from who you think it’s from…

Both #2 and #3 will show you much more information, much of it meaningless to the average internet user, but close observation should be enough to decide whether #6 (below) is in order without opening and reading it.

4. Any email you receive that is using YOUR own domain name, where the From and To are the same address, means that your email account has been hijacked by some idiot. They collect these email addresses from forms on your site or exposed email addresses you kindly provide as clickable links to your visitors. (We get some really weird ones… Sigh).

Chances are you’ll never be able to trace them, but you should report these to your domain hosting support team since they involve your own website domain. Let them know someone is using your email address for spam purposes. Better safe than sorry. When you report it, make it clear this is not you doing it but someone else using your domain. Don’t overlook this step, it could mean the difference between them allowing you to continue hosting or them closing your access (sometimes without notice).

5. Along with a bit of private eye work of your own, we also feel the need to state the obvious; never click on a link in a suspect email. We even go so far as to highly advocate that if you really want to know what the url is (if you’ve chosen to open the email), then copy and paste said url into our browser versus clicking out from the email itself.

6. When in doubt, it’s just better and safer to delete the suspect email regardless.

If you’re thinking of protecting your website’s precious email information, numerous scripts have been invented to try to thwart these criminals, however, very little time passes before these same criminals find a way around them. A good suggestion would be to eliminate the email altogether. Create an image with your email address embedded as a picture and do not make it click-able.

For those using forms, etc., unfortunately you might have to just bite the bullet and keep a close eye on your accounts. The only way to know is when you receive one of this infamous emails from yourself to yourself.

For those just receiving email, do use the steps above if anything looks suspect.

For those with the same troubles above AND you are the domain owner being abused, be sure to follow all the steps, too, and report the issue immediately.

We cannot stress the importance of not believing or opening every piece of mail that comes your way. This past year alone, we know of at least four individuals whose identity was stolen because they really believed the email they received was legitimate.

Here’s to a safe and Happy Holiday season, and awareness as we start a brand New Year.

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