It is not your fault and it is easy to do, but getting you identity stolen via a fake email is a serious issue. Unfortunately, we live in a world where their people are evil and prey upon the good and unsuspecting. Most people may know by now but if you have not heard, you can get fake or spoofed emails from a spammer that leads to a fake financial institution or some other scheme in an attempt to steal your personal information or gain access to your bank account. To help prevent yourself from getting your identity stolen, I have compiled a simple list of rules to follow.

• Assume all from anyone you don’t know is bogus and fake
• Assume all email from any financial institution is fake
• Do not click any links in email

On another note, you should turn off the html preview in email so you don’t get a virus but that is a story for another day.

If you receive an email from you bank or financial institution, it could be real but there is a good chance it is fake. Usually, they will say your account is about to be canceled and to click a link to fix or update your information. The email will look just like it was from you bank and the link will take you to a site that looks just like you bank but it is not. when you log in, they phishing is done. You just gave your username and password to your bank and now they are free to drain your account. Some really bad and obvious links will ask you to update your information while asking for your name, address, drivers license number, birthday, and social. Sadly, do not trust anything of this nature from your email. If there is a problem with your bank, go directly to their web site by typing the web address in your browser. Obviously, if there is a problem, your financial institution will tell you.

If you think you are a victim of identity theft, here are some steps as they are found on the ftc.gov website.

• Try to document and make a record of as much as you can regarding the theft.
• Place a fraud alert on your credit report. Get the info below.
• Notify the companies who own the accounts that have been compromised. If your American Express info was stolen, call American Express immediately
• Close the accounts that have been compromised
• File a complain with the Federal Trade Commission. Use the online complaint form or call 877-ID-THEFT
• File a report with your local police department (in the place that the theft took place)

Equifax: 1-800-525-6285; www.equifax.com; P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374-0241

Experian: 1-888-EXPERIAN (397-3742); www.experian.com; P.O. Box 9532, Allen, TX 75013

TransUnion: 1-800-680-7289; www.transunion.com; Fraud Victim Assistance Division, P.O. Box 6790, Fullerton, CA 92834-6790

Again the steps and more details are from the ftc.gov web site found here

I just want to warn people who are using Windows on their MacBooks with OSX and BootCamp. Don’t use the sleep feature! I have not tried this with XP and please confirm if you have but I have tried this with Vista. Make sure you shut down your computer…

Normally I hit shut down but I recently hit the sleep button, you know the one that looks like the power button in my MacBook Pro and my Vista MacBook went to sleep. Well everything did what it was supposed to do.. Everything went off and the computer turned on to Vista when I  hit the power button.

The only problem was, I could have fried an egg on it! This makes sense to me now since the boot configuration in BootCamp needs to run. So the computer does not really shut off but the fans apparently do.

If anyone has had similar circumstances, please let me know. If I am doing something wrong, please let me know.

If you need at a minimum, weekly dose of tech news and commentary, please tune in to KFI am 640 talk radio on the weekends from 11 am to 2 pm for Leo Laporte The Tech Guy. If you cant tune in your radio, you get the stream from KFI at KFI640.com, or twit.tv/live which will soon be twitlive.tv.

Leo is amazing at helping people learn and solve everyday technical problems an average user might have. The show may sometimes get geeky, but is made for an audience that may or may not know anything about tech. Leo has been a source of inspiration for me and I hope for you too.

Leo also creates too many to count, podcasts that release just about every day. Check out twit.tv for getting any of his shows delivered to you via RSS or iTunes.

There are many reasons that your tech guy might need to reformat your computer but it is important to know what is going to happen to your computer after he or she does it. Some argue to reformat once a year, your computer may have had files deleted, wont start, or infested with spyware but when it comes time to do it, you need to be ready.

The main thing to remember when reformatting your computer is that it is going to put back into the same state as when you bought your computer. It will work fast and new but every single peace of software you installed and every file you created will be gone. It is extremely important to backup your data and be prepared to install software that you added after your computer was purchased. If you no longer have the software, you will have to buy it again or steal it again if you are a creep with no morals. You will have to reset your settings, like bookmarks, desktop background etc. Basically, anything that has changed since you purchased your computer will be gone. So be prepared! The last and very important issue is the fact that your computer will be behind in critical security patches from both either Microsoft or Apple if you are using a Mac and they need to be downloaded and installed before you do anything. Again! Backup data! Re-Install Software! Update Security Patches!

If you own a MacBook or MacBook Pro with an Intel Processor, you know how hot it gets. Seriously, sometimes I think I could fry an egg on my MacBook Pro. I could hold my hand over the keyboard and feel the heat without even touching the laptop!

I really hate carrying around extra equipment but the other day I decided to get a dual fan notebook cooler from Coolmax. I have always known a notebook cooler would help but I literally keep checking and felt very little heat after using this device.

If you own a MacBook or MacBook Pro, I suggest you get one of these because unfortunately MacBooks get too hot. That thin form factor has it’s price. I hope the new 45nm processors found in the new notebooks are cooler. You can buy the Coolmax cooler I bought here.

Have you ever burned a CD only to find it does not work or part of it is missing? If so, the fact that the CD does not work is generally not your fault. The problem is with Buffer! Most burning software these days like Nero and Roxio automatically set to burn full speed which may be spitting data too fast at either the disc or filling up the buffer and causing errors. One problem this could be is using CD’s rated at a lower speed than your burner is burning at.

To fix this, don’t go out and buy new DVD’s or CD’s just set the setting to burn slower. Generally, you can set the speed just before you hit the burn button in most programs.

If you are in a household with many computers all with their own iTunes libraries, there is a great way to share the music from one computer to another. ITunes now allows you to share your library over your network. Once configured, you will see the library available in the shared section of the left hand panel in iTunes.

Here is how to set it up:

From iTunes, select "Edit" and then "Preferences." Once the Preferences windows opens, select the "sharing" tab, and finally "Share my library on my local network." You are able to select various types of music, videos, and much more. At the bottom, you can also require a password.

All music should stream fine over a 54G wireless connection but you will want a physical connection for video.

Microsoft is competing for more online email users for their free email service so they are adding some cool features to their "Live" services. One feature, called SkyDrive, allows you to store up to 5Gb of files that you can store privately, share with the world, or share with select friends. This is a great way to ensure you don’t forget a file you are working on at home when you go to work. Forget homework assignments, try storing copies of your homework on SkyDrive. Oh and the best part, SkyDrive is free! Once in beta, SkyDrive looks like it is official and here to stay. If you would like to try SkyDrive out for yourself, go to: http://skydrive.live.com/

Do you have a collection of CD’s and need to rip them into iTunes to fill up your new ipod? There is a hard way and an easy way. The hard way is not changing anything in iTune’s settings and ripping music the way it is set to. The easy way is to change settings in iTunes so that you can pop in a CD anythime and have iTunes rip your music automatically.

First, click edit on the upper left part of iTunes and click preferences. A windows will pop up and you need to click the advances tab at the top of the window and then click importing on a new set of tabs within the advanced tab. The next part is key. You need to select "Import CD and eject" in the drop down menu where it says "On CD Insert." After the first CD is inserted in your computer when iTunes is open, iTunes will automatically rip the CD and then eject the CD tray when finished. This is important because you don’t have to stay at your computer, just look over at your computer and insert a new disc anytime you see the CD tray open.

There are other very useful options that you can use here too. You can decide what format you want your music to be imported with which can save space or make your music work with more devices. Next, pay attention to the quality settings because it is not worth doing all this if the music sounds horrible afterwards. It is also probably important to uncheck the option to play songs while importing music. Another important setting to check is "Automatically retrieve CD track names from Internet." This feature is really nice because you don’t have to create the names of the tracks saving time and making file management much better. Also make sure "Create filenames with track number."

Computers are made to make your life easy, it is time to make them do it. You can also do this in Windows Media player with similar options.

Here is a really cool tip! Ever been looking at something small on your Mac and needed the ability to zoom in? All you need to do is hold down the "ctrl" key and scroll up or down with your mouse.

If you have a MacBook, you need a mouse with scroll. If anyone knows how to do this with a keyboard shortcut so you don’t need a mouse, please let me know.