A few libraries across the U.S. are actually BANNING the book from their shelves – in Wisconsin, Georgia, and Florida so far, and more may follow. The reasons stem not only from concerns that the book is too racy, but that it is poorly written as well. Really? Public libraries are now telling us what is too erotic to read, and also judging the quality of said writing too? Are we talking “Mommy Porn” here (not that there’s anything wrong with that.) Or is there? Some people claim the steamy book is enhancing the sex lives of the ladies who read it. Personally, I’ve read even steamier books. Maybe I’m jaded, but think putting the “Mommy Porn” label on it is ridiculous.

If you are not familiar with the book yet (where have you been girl?) Fifty Shades is about a college woman who falls for a very handsome, very wealthy, and very powerful man who just happens to be into bondage and other goodies. The author E.L. James first self-published the book as an e-reader, and after it gained a huge following, it was published traditionally and the second and third books quickly followed. Many women (myself included) downloaded the e-reader version. I only read on my Kindle these days, but many people feel more comfortable reading a novel like this with a little more privacy. I did purchase the paperback for a friend’s birthday, and got a lot of unsolicited comments from the Target cashier! Good thing I’m not shy, and my kids were not with me.

I can’t see that banning these books can do any major harm to the already immensely popular trilogy, although it may be harder for some people without e-readers to get access it if they don’t want to buy the paperbacks. If anything, it’s just drawing attention to them and making them even more popular. For the e-reader-less, it will probably be like Judy Blume’s book “Forever”. One dog-eared copy made its way through to every one of my friends in grade school, and that book was banned plenty.

So if you got that Kindle you wanted for Mother’s Day – download it from Amazon and you are all set to decide for yourself. Just don’t count on it being available at your local library. Even if it is – you’re going to wait a while for it!

Have you read Fifty Shades of Grey yet? Do you think it’s Mommy Porn?

When Facebook just got going for me and my friends, we were all happily married (or just getting married) and most of us had babies already (or were just starting to have babies) —  and we all got a little carried away with the accepting-all-sorts-of-friend-requests-we-probably-should-not-have.

Here’s a rough list of people you can probably consider deleting, if their mere presence keeps you from wanting to share things or if you just don’t connect with them.

Old school “friends”. At first, it’s fun to see what some people from high school and college are up to. But if you didn’t stay in touch after school, you probably won’t have a lot in common on Facebook either, so be careful who you accept friend requests from. While we are at it, stop looking up your old boyfriends too. If you must — just peek at their profile picture and move on.

Old co-workers. I must have friended 30 or so people I used to work with. Out of that amount, I say only 10 are considered friends and that I interact with in real life or Facebook. Why am I keeping the others around?

Toxic family members. If they drive you crazy on national holidays, they’ll drive you crazy on Facebook too. Delete them if you felt like you had to request them. If you can’t quite go that far, make sure you don’t include them on your status updates…go to your privacy options to set that up. I do that all the time and no one is the wiser.

People from that boot camp place you went to over three years ago. Yeah…and never went back when the month from hell was over. Delete!

Anyone over-zealous about the upcoming election. Or at the very least – hide them from your news feed! No one can take that from now until November.

How does your list look? Delete, delete, delete.

1. You usually find the cyber criminals yourself – not vice versa. Cyber criminals generally don’t attack people who have security measures installed because either they can’t, or it’s too much work to do so. Here’s how they do find you: you come to them. They utilize malicious links hoping you will click on them – and when you do, that one click can release all sorts of malware into your computer.

2. You probably wouldn’t notice if your computer was infected. Often – but not always – it can be difficult to detect spyware or other malicious software that is installed by others. This is exactly what hackers want, so they can go about hacking your accounts in peace! By the time you notice, major damage can be done to your computer and/or your personal information can be stolen.

3. You can spread malicious software to others. If your PC becomes infected with malware, not only can it do a number on your own computer, but it can also spread the damage along to other machines. Cyber criminals can rummage through your e-mail contacts, sending them e-mails with infected links to keep the scam growing. It can be pretty successful too – because it looks like a legitimate e-mail coming from a trusted friend (you). If it is your Facebook account that is hacked into, the hackers can use your Status Update to spread links on your Wall or through Messages, and again — it will come across as you sending it, and that it can be trusted.

Running a good anti-malware program like Chica PC-Shield™ makes it very hard for the cyber criminals to get to you. The free version of Chica PC-Shield™ will tell you if your computer is already infected, quarantines any malware it finds, then destroys it. Even better is the full version – it prevents you from clicking on suspicious links in the first place, and provides you with continuous updates so you are protected, even from the most recent malware release. That’s peace of mind.

All you need to do is put up an image and a link, and your visitors do the rest.  It’s easy, and we’re here to help you every step of the way. And best of all, there is no investment on your part — just a bit of your time.

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No of course Justin isn’t naked…but it is yet another attempt to get people to click on the link just to be sure…and then instead of seeing Justin all nude-and-pookie, you get a nice dose of malware in your computer. Ouch. Pinterest is becoming a growing target for cyber criminals, mainly because it is so popular and people haven’t caught on to their cyber shenanigans yet. Here’s what IT-Crime says is going on:

“In this case if you click on the picture, you will be redirected to a Facebook page, which will then try to lead you through a maze of questionnaires. It’s called social engineering. The general objective of social engineering is the same as with “ordinary” hacking, which is to gain unauthorized access to information.”

Thankfully Pinterest is working on a solution to make it harder for cyber criminals to get to you, In the meantime, make sure to protect yourself. If you fell for it or accidently clicked on the link – do damage control immediately. Run a free scan of Chica PC-Shield™ – it will quickly tell you if there is any malware on your PC, then will help you get rid of it. Sometimes you don’t even know your computer is infected until it starts doing odd things – and by then, you could have serious damage. Even better – get the full version and be automatically blocked from entering malicious sites in the first place, and you’ll get continuous updates of even the latest malware releases.

Have you seen this scam on Pinterest yet?

What happens if you download a fake version? It looks like it’s running the game, but it’s also downloading more and more malware into your device, eventually rendering it into a botnet — taking over your device completely. According to Sophos, the malware is a Trojan horse Andr/KongFu-L, which “appears to be a fully-function version of the popular smartphone game, but uses the GingerBreak exploit to gain root access to the device, and install malicious code. The Trojan communicates with a remote website in an attempt to download and install further malware”.

How can you protect yourself? Make sure you are downloading apps directly from the Play store, and download only the official version of the game. It’s never a good idea to trust third-party apps stores. Even better — download VIRUSfighter for Android devices from SPAMfighter. It’s an application that scans every app you download for malware. A little added peace of mind – and it’s free. Try it now.

That being said, sometimes my own laptop seems to be working against me, slowing me down. At any given time, I have a million windows open, or I’m busy Skyping and checking multiple e-mail accounts and adding to blogs. I don’t have the time to wait and I hate being slowed down! Here are a couple of things I do to get my laptop working faster, so I can too.

Clean Up Your Computer. Run a quick scan of ChicaPC-Fix, and in minutes it will scan your PC and tell you just what is slowing it down, whether it’s duplicate files, empty registry keys, program shortcuts or any other weird computer error – then it will fix them for you in seconds. I run a scan weekly and I’m always surprised at how many computer errors pop up – even after just a week!

Use password management software. If you have so many logins and passwords you can’t remember them all (and who doesn’t?) get help. Chica Password Manager will allow you to create un-hackable, long and strong passwords and then store them for you in the encrypted database with just one Master Password to remember. It will automatically securely log you in to any password-protected site you use, and even fills in online forms for you with one-click. Not only are you more secure online, but you don’t have to spend your day typing in — and trying to remember — a million passwords.

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My computer takes forever to boot up, and then runs so slow I’m going crazy. If you can go for a run and get back before your computer boots up, it’s full of clutter that is slowing it down. The brain of your computer – the Registry – becomes overloaded over time with duplicate files, unneeded and large files, and computer errors. Running a free scan of ChicaPC-Fix will tell you in minutes exactly what is slowing your computer down with a detailed report. Then it will fix the first 25 errors for free. Even better? The full version will fix unlimited errors. Running ChicaPC-Fix weekly will ensure your Registry won’t become bogged down again with all those unnecessary files.

My computer is acting weird. If your computer is doing some odd things, it may have picked up a virus or another bit of malware somewhere. Run a free scan of ChicaPC-Shield, and it will quickly find any hidden malware lurking on your computer, then quarantine and destroy it. Go a step further with the full version, and automatically be blocked from malicious sites and get continuous updates.

Remember to take the time to update Windows. Even though it’s a pain to reboot at the end, it’s an important of your computer maintenance. Everything from security patches to new software updates are included in these Updates, and you will want to have the latest version of everything running on your machine. Don’t forget to uninstall any programs you don’t use too – don’t let unnecessary items take up valuable space.

Mere minutes a week will keep your computer – and yourself – happy!

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Nomophobia gets its name from No Mobile Phobia. SecurEnvoy recently conducted a study and found that 67% of those participating were afraid of being without or losing their mobile phones, up from 53% four years ago. Women are more afraid than men to be without their device (70% vs. 61%), and younger users have the most issues (18-24 year olds).

Sounds serious, doesn’t it? Like there should be treatment protocols? Actually there are…but I’m not how effective they would be. Most seem to revolve around trying to do certain activities without taking your phone along, and taking deep cleansing breaths. I’m not sure it is that practical to go without a device that has become so engrained in most of our lives.

Let’s think about this: is it really imperative that we try to wean ourselves off our mobile phones? I have two children in school and if they are sick, the school needs to get in touch with me immediately. When I’m out for the evening, the sitter needs to be able to reach me at all times. If I’m on the road and have car trouble, I’ve got my mobile phone to call for assistance. I need to check work e-mails on the run, and take calls from my mobile office. Landlines are becoming a thing of the past – I haven’t had one for more than three years, and I don’t miss it at all. My mobile is my main connection to the world.

Perhaps our “addiction” really only gets out of control when we exercise bad manners while using our mobile phones, say, talking on it in the middle of a nice restaurant, talking too loudly anywhere and disturbing all those around you, or ignoring all things around you because you are so absorbed in your phone. Or Facebooking during the PTA meeting (oops). As long as you are able to take a step back when you find yourself being rude with your mobile phone, you’ll probably be able to forgo the therapy.

Do you panic if you are without your mobile phone?