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Cyprus police have arrested three employees of a firm owned by a former Israeli intelligence officer over suspicions they used a high-tech surveillance van to intercept communications.

The latest case follows mounting concern over the operations of Israeli spyware and surveillance companies across the globe who have been implicated in a series of high-profile scandals, including targeting Harvey Weinsteins accusers and selling spyware allegedly used to hack the phones of human rights activists.

The arrests in Cyprus involve a Cypriot-registered company called WiSpear, owned by Tal Dilian, an Israeli described in local media as a former intelligence officer with customers in Africa, the Gulf and far east.

In a bizarre twist, Dilian had been interviewed by Forbes magazine on Cyprus this year boasting of the surveillance capabilities of the vehicle involved, a former GMC ambulance fitted out with about $9m worth of equipment, which he claimed could intercept phones and social messaging apps including WhatsApp from a distance of a kilometre.

A Forbes video, showing the blacked-out van packed with equipment, provoked a media frenzy in Cyprus after it went viral last month provoking calls for an investigation into its activities. The arrests on Thursday follow the seizure of the van last month.

The issue has been pursued by the leader of Cypruss main opposition Akel party, Andros Kyprianou, who has suggested that his party has information that the vehicle was actively involved in spying on the island.

We know a great deal, far more than what we say in public. The information coming to us is extremely alarming, about who is implicated in this process, or what contacts took place during the last years, he added.

When a vehicle with equipment worth $9m [6.9] is out on the streets, and Cyprus being the small place that it is, our suspicions are roused as to what it was doing and how it operated. We expect the government to provide convincing answers.

The Cypriot suspects working for the company, two men and a woman, face 13 charges related to violation of privacy laws, processing private data, falsely obtaining documents and breaking the islands radio communication law.

In an earlier statement police had said their investigation related to data privacy violations. Claims of any wrongdoing are denied by Dilian and WiSpear who claim the van was on the island for demonstration purposes and that claims made by the company to Forbes had been wilfully misconstrued.

For the Forbes interview, however, Dilian appeared to demonstrate to the journalist involved how his equipment could take control of a colleagues Huawei phone from a distance of 200 metres and download malware onto the device.

As the reporter watched, messages from the test subjects WhatsApp account appeared on a monitor in WiSpears van.

According to media reports Dilian spent 24 years in the Israel Defense Forces in an elite combat unit and as chief commander in the technological unit of the IDFs intelligence corps before going into business first with Circles, a smartphone surveillance company which he sold in 2010.

Dilian later founded Intellexa, which claims it can spy on encrypted communications, and WiSpear, whose prospectus offers long-range interception vans.

The company has denied providing services to the Cypriot authorities and says it does not provide intelligence services.

The sole scope of the company is that of selling products and technology it develops, said WiSpear in a statement, adding that the van was only in Cyprus field-testing purposes on company-owned devices and with the knowledge of local authorities.

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Cyprus police arrest three in Israeli-owned spy van investigation - The Guardian

This week we take a look at for your Pacific Northwest radio listeners a criminal illegal alien felon sex offender who was arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Protection who has a past criminal history in the state of Oregon.

According to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Public Affairs Monday, December 9, 2019 news release titled Border Patrol Arrests Convicted Sex Offender CBP Agents assigned to the El Centro Sector on Saturday, December 7, 2019 apprehend previously deported Mexican national criminal alien sex offender Efren Prado-Rodriguez, age 38, for illegal entry into the United States.

Border Patrol Agents doing the processing of Efren Prado-Rodriguez (SID: 15505097; DOB: 05/01/1981), during records checks, discovered Prado-Rodriguez was convicted of Second Degree Sex Abuse in 2006, in Marion County, Oregon.

According to the CBP news release, Efren Prado-Rodriguez was sentenced to 36 months of probation.

Furthermore, Efren Prado-Rodriguez was removed from the United States in 2006 as an aggravated felon.

A troubling fact, Marion County Correctional Facility (MCCF) records from February 8, 2011 indicate Efren Prado-Rodriguez was arrested by the Woodburn Police Department (WBP) on January 8, 2011 and incarcerated at the MCCF on the charges of Fourth Degree Assault, Strangulation and Second Degree Sex Abuse.

Seeking additional information on the immigration status Efren Prado-Rodriguez, I contacted via e-mail on Tuesday, December 10, 2019 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Public Affairs Officer Tanya J. Roman with the following questions:

Did ICE actually place an immigration detainers on Efren Prado-Rodriguez during time periods he was incarcerated in the MCCF in Salem, Oregon or at any other location he may have been held for prior criminal convictions like the Oregon Department of Corrections (DOC) prison system?

How many times has ICE actually removed Efren Prado-Rodriguez from the U.S.?

If Efren Prado-Rodriguez was previously removed by ICE from the U.S., what were the dates and places Prado-Rodriguez was removed from the country?

Has Efren Prado-Rodriguez ever previously served time in a federal prison for an immigration crime or violation?

On Thursday, December 12th, ICE Public Affairs Officer Roman sent via e-mail the following response to my preceding questions on Efren Prado-Rodriguez:

Convicted sex offender Efren Prado-Rodriguez is a repeat immigration violator who has been removed from the United States on three previous occasions.

On March 23, 2004, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) encountered and lodged a detainer on Prado-Rodriguez a Mexican citizen, at the Jackson County Jail after he was arrested by the Medford Police Department for driving under the influence of intoxicants (DUII) and reckless driving. On March 31, 2004, Prado-Rodriguez was turned over to ICE, following his DUII conviction. On April 9, 2004, an immigration judge ordered him removed from the U.S., and he was removed to Mexico four days later.

Prado-Rodriguez subsequently re-entered the U.S. illegally on an unknown date and location.

On Oct. 27, 2006, Prado-Rodriguez was arrested by the Medford Police Department, this time for intimidation, failure to appear, and possessing a firearm. On Nov. 20, 2006, ICE again encountered Prado-Rodriguez at the Jackson County jail and issued a detainer. After he was turned over to ICE his removal order was reinstated. On Dec. 22, 2006, he was removed to Mexico for a second time.

Prado-Rodriguez subsequently re-entered the U.S. illegally on an unknown date and at an unknown location.

On Jan. 8, 2011, ICE encountered Prado-Rodriguez at as a referral from the Marion County jail after he was arrested by the Woodburn Police Department for menacing, strangulation, assault, and sodomy. On Jan. 9, 2011, ICE lodged a detainer with the jail and Feb 18, 2011, Prado-Rodriguez was turned over to ICE. On Feb. 26, 2011, he was, for the third time, removed to Mexico.

According to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection press release issued on Dec. 9, 2019, Prado-Rodriguez was apprehended while attempting to once again illegally enter the U.S.

Despite the severe challenges that local policies have created for ICE and our law enforcement partners, we remain committed to our public safety mission and will continue to do our sworn duty to seek out dangerous criminal aliens and other immigration violators. ICE seeks straightforward cooperation with all local law enforcement and elected officials. ICE deportation officers carry out targeted enforcement actions every day in locations around the country as part of the agencys ongoing efforts to protect the nation, uphold public safety, and protect the integrity of our immigration laws and border controls. Tanya J. Roman, ICE Public Affairs Officer.

Mexican national criminal illegal alien felon sex offender Efren Prado-Rodriguez is another example of the thousands of previously deported aliens that U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents apprehend annually who try to illegally reenter the U.S.

Lars, third full week in the month of December and another criminal alien report for Lars Larson Show KXL FM 101.1 Pacific Northwest radio listeners.

Respectfully,

David Olen Cross

http://docfnc.wordpress.com/.

docfnc

Lars Larson Show: Criminal Alien of the Week Report

US Immigrationand CustomsEnforcement

Media Inquiries

Office of Public Affairs

12/12/2019

ICE Statement: Efren Prado-Rodriguez

Convicted sex offender Efren Prado-Rodriguez is a repeat immigration violator who has been removed from the United States on three previous occasions.

On March 23, 2004, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) encountered and lodged a detainer on Prado-Rodriguez a Mexican citizen, at the Jackson County Jail after he was arrested by the Medford Police Department for driving under the influence of intoxicants (DUII) and reckless driving. On March 31, 2004, Prado-Rodriguez was turned over to ICE, following his DUII conviction. On April 9, 2004, an immigration judge ordered him removed from the U.S., and he was removed to Mexico four days later.

Prado-Rodriguez subsequently re-entered the U.S. illegally on an unknown date and location.

On Oct. 27, 2006, Prado-Rodriguez was arrested by the Medford Police Department, this time for intimidation, failure to appear, and possessing a firearm. On Nov. 20, 2006, ICE again encountered Prado-Rodriguez at the Jackson County jail and issued a detainer. After he was turned over to ICE his removal order was reinstated. On Dec. 22, 2006, he was removed to Mexico for a second time.

Prado-Rodriguez subsequently re-entered the U.S. illegally on an unknown date and at an unknown location.

On Jan. 8, 2011, ICE encountered Prado-Rodriguez at as a referral from the Marion County jail after he was arrested by the Woodburn Police Department for menacing, strangulation, assault, and sodomy. On Jan. 9, 2011, ICE lodged a detainer with the jail and Feb 18, 2011, Prado-Rodriguez was turned over to ICE. On Feb. 26, 2011, he was, for the third time, removed to Mexico.

According to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection press release issued on Dec. 9, 2019, Prado-Rodriguez was apprehended while attempting to once again illegally enter the U.S.

Despite the severe challenges that local policies have created for ICE and our law enforcement partners, we remain committed to our public safety mission and will continue to do our sworn duty to seek out dangerous criminal aliens and other immigration violators. ICE seeks straightforward cooperation with all local law enforcement and elected officials. ICE deportation officers carry out targeted enforcement actions every day in locations around the country as part of the agencys ongoing efforts to protect the nation, uphold public safety, and protect the integrity of our immigration laws and border controls. Tanya J. Roman, ICE Public Affairs Officer.

Tanya J. RomanPublic Affairs Officer/SpokespersonAlaska, Idaho, Oregon Washington StateU.S. Immigration & Customs EnforcementCell Phone: 425-282-7362

https://www.ice.gov/contact/media-inquiries

US Customs andBorder Protection

Border Patrol Arrests Convicted Sex Offender

Release Date: December 9, 2019

CALEXICO, Calif. U.S. Border Patrol agents assigned to the El Centro Sector arrested a previously deported sex offender Saturday morning.

The incident occurred at around 12:15 a.m., when agents assigned to the Calexico Station encountered a man suspected of illegally entering the United States approximately three miles east of the Calexico Downtown Port of Entry. Agents arrested the man and transported him to the El Centro Station for immigration and criminal history screening.

Agents conducted records checks, which revealed that the man was identified as Efren Prado-Rodriguez, a 38-year-old Mexican national, who was convicted of Sex Abuse 2nd Degree in 2006, out of Marion County, Oregon. Prado was sentenced to 36 months probation.

Prado was removed from the United States in 2006 as an aggravated felon.

Prado is being held in federal custody pending further criminal prosecution.

In fiscal year 2020, El Centro Sector Border Patrol agents have arrested and removed 10 individuals either convicted or wanted on sexual assault charges after they entered the United States illegally.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control and protection of our nations borders at and between official ports of entry. CBP is charged with securing the borders of the United States while enforcing hundreds of laws and facilitating lawful trade and travel.

Last modified: December 9, 2019Tags: Border Security

CBP Public AffairsContact Information for Media:Phone: (202) 344-1780Email: CBP Media RelationsAll Other Inquiries: (202) 325-8000

https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/local-media-release/border-patrol-arrests-convicted-sex-offender-10

MCCF Inmate Roster(Click inmates Name to go to VINE for that inmate)8-FEB-2011 11:00Inmate RosterMCCF

1.PRADO-RODRIGUEZ, EFREN

PRADO-RODRIGUEZ, EFREN SID: 15505097 LODGEDLodged: 01/08/2011 18:05 Max: DoB: 05/01/1981Arrest: WBP Type: PROBABL Docket: 11C40183 Hold Auth: MARIONCharge Bail Status Next Court Release1 ASSA IV F 30000 PRETRIA02/08/2011 08:00 CIRCUI2 STRANGULAT CO BAIL PRETRIA02/08/2011 08:00 CIRCUI3 SEX AB II CO BAIL PRETRIA02/08/2011 08:00 CIRCUIArrest: INS Type: OTHER Docket: A97 760 003 Hold Auth: INSCharge Bail Status Next Court Release1 INS HOLD NO BAIL INS

Inmate count: 1

The post Criminal Alien of the Week Report by David Cross appeared first on The Lars Larson Show.

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Criminal Alien of the Week Report by David Cross - 550 KTSA

OTTAWA The SNC-Lavalin affaircost Justin Trudeau two cabinet ministers, his most trusted aide,the top federal public servant and possibly a second majority mandate;and now the woman at the centre of it all Jody Wilson-Raybould isthe 2019 Newsmaker of the Year.

The former justice minister was therunaway choiceofnews editors across the country surveyed by The Canadian Press.

Prime Minister Trudeau, whose Liberal government was reduced to a minority inthe Oct. 21 election,polleda distant second.

Jody Wilson-Raybould made us think about governance and fairness and loyalty and how all of those things play out every day behind the scenes on Parliament Hill, said Toronto Star senior editor Janet Hurley.

She lifted the curtain and let us see inside and, as the election results ultimately revealed, not everyone liked what they saw. Some called her courageous; others were less kind but in the face of all that she created a national dialogue unmatched this year.

This time last year, Sun News editor-in-chief Mark Towhey said,The number of Canadians who could tell you who Jody Wilson-Raybould was would fit in a mid-size restaurant.

In 2019, she became a household name at the centre of the biggest political story of the year.

It began with an anonymously sourced story in the Globe and Mail in early February, alleging that Trudeau and hisstaffhad inappropriately pressured Wilson-Raybould to stop a criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin, the Montreal engineering giant facing corruption charges related to contracts in Libya.

It suggestedTrudeaus demotionof Wilson-Raybould, Canadas first Indigenous justice minister,to Veterans Affairs in a mid-January cabinet shuffle was punishment for her refusal to override the director of public prosecutions, who haddeclined to negotiate a remediation agreement a kind of plea bargain incorporate-corruption cases for SNC-Lavalin.

The controversy quickly spiralled out of control for the government.

Within a week, Wilson-Raybould resigned from cabinet. Less than a week after that, Trudeaus long-time friend and most trusted political adviser, Gerald Butts, resignedas the prime ministers principal secretary.

The controversy dragged on for months and would eventually trigger the early resignation of the top public servant, Michael Wernick, and promptsenior ministerJanePhilpott to resign from cabinet in solidarity with Wilson-Raybould.

In almost four hours of explosive testimony before the Commons justice committee, Wilson-Raybould detailed what she described as relentless pressure to intervene in the SNC-Lavalin case from Trudeau, senior staff in the Prime Ministers Office andFinance Minister Bill Morneau and his aides.She accused Wernick of issuingveiled threats, onbehalf of Trudeau,that her refusal to comply could cost her her jobas justice minister and attorney general.

She would later reveal that she had secretly recorded a phone conversation with Wernick a revelation that proved to be the last straw forher former Liberal colleagues. At the behest of Liberal MPs, Trudeau booted both Wilson-Raybould and Philpott from thegoverning partys caucus and informed them they would not be allowed toseek re-election under the Liberal banner.

Trudeau, Butts, Wernick and others maintained theyd done nothing wrong, that their conduct was entirely within the law and motivatedsolely by the desire to protectthe thousands of innocent employees, shareholders, pensioners and others who could be hurt if SNC-Lavalin were to be convictedcriminally and forced to scale back its Canadian operations or relocate to another country.

Although she felt it was inappropriate to pressure the attorney general, who is supposed to be independent and above partisan considerations, Wilson-Raybould herself said she didnt think anyone had done anything illegal.

But for opposition parties, just months away from an election,it was the gift that kept on giving.The Conservatives asked the RCMP to investigate possible obstruction of justice. TheNDP demanded a full public inquiry.

In August,a month before the start of the campaign and just as Liberal poll numbers had begun to recover somewhat from the downward plunge precipitated by the SNC affair,federal ethics commissioner Mario Dion issued a scathing report that concluded Trudeau violated federal ethics law by improperly pressuring Wilson-Raybould.

Both Wilson-Raybould and Philpott ran for re-election as Independent candidates. Philpottlost but Wilson-Raybould defied the odds and handily won her Vancouver Granville riding.

Just this month, she was in the news again forrefusing to move out of the offices on Parliament Hill assigned to her when she was a minister.

Some news editors surveyedsaw Wilson-Raybould as an inspiring example a beacon of hope whospoke truth to power and left Trudeaus feminist credentials in tatters.

She chose principle over politics and will not be soon forgotten for staying true to her convictions, regardless of the consequences, said Danny Kingsbury, national format director for Rogers Media.

Others took a more nuanced view.

The Wilson-Raybould saga laid bare for many Canadians the sort of wheeling and dealing that goes on inside governments a necessary evil if you buythe prime ministers arguments, a corruption of the justice system if you accept her viewpoint, said Christina Spencer, editorial page editor at the Ottawa Citizen.

Either way, thescope of the story and its repercussions left little doubt among news editors that the woman at the centre of it was this years dominant newsmaker. She may well continue to influenceevents as the SNC-Lavalin casemakes its way through the judicial system and Wilson-Rayboulds successor as justice minister, David Lametti, grapples with whether to order a remediation agreement.

As Spencer put it: It involved Quebec, jobs, justice, a woman, an Indigenous cabinet minister, two senior officials who had to leave their jobs and the issues that loom ahead have yet to be resolved.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 18, 2019.

Joan Bryden, The Canadian Press

Original post:
Jody Wilson-Raybould chosen Canadas newsmaker of the year - CityNews Winnipeg

By: New York Times | Seattle | Published: December 18, 2019 4:13:50 pm While cloud computing may appear obscure, it has grown into one of the technology industrys largest and most lucrative businesses, offering computing power and software to companies. And Amazon is its single-biggest provider.

By Daisuke Wakabayashi

Elastic, a software startup in Amsterdam, was rapidly building its business and had grown to 100 employees. Then Amazon came along.

In October 2015, Amazons cloud computing arm announced it was copying Elastics free software tool, which people use to search and analyze data, and would sell it as a paid service. Amazon went ahead even though Elastics product, called Elasticsearch, was already available on Amazon.

Within a year, Amazon was generating more money from what Elastic had built than the startup by making it easy for people to use the tool with its other offerings. So Elastic added premium features last year and limited what companies like Amazon could do with them. Amazon duplicated many of those features anyway and provided them free.

In September, Elastic fired back. It sued Amazon in federal court in California for violating its trademark because Amazon had called its product by the exact same name: Elasticsearch. Amazon misleads consumers, the startup said in its complaint. Amazon denied it had done anything wrong. The case is pending.

Not since the mid-1990s, when Microsoft dominated the personal computer industry with Windows, has a technology platform instilled such fear in competitors as Amazon is now doing with its cloud computing arm.

While cloud computing may appear obscure, it has grown into one of the technology industrys largest and most lucrative businesses, offering computing power and software to companies. And Amazon is its single-biggest provider.

Amazon has used its cloud computing arm called Amazon Web Services, or AWS to copy and integrate software that other tech companies pioneered. It has given an edge to its own services by making them more convenient to use, burying rival offerings and bundling discounts to make its products less expensive. The moves drive customers toward Amazon, while those responsible for the software may not see a cent.

Even so, smaller rivals said they have little choice but to work with Amazon. Given the companys broad reach with customers, startups often agree to its restrictions on promoting their own products and voluntarily share client and product information with it. For the privilege of selling through AWS, startups pay a cut of their sales back to Amazon.

Some of the companies have a phrase for what Amazon is doing: strip-mining software. By lifting other peoples innovations, trying to poach their engineers and profiting off what they made, Amazon is choking off the growth of would-be competitors and forcing them to reorient how they do business, the companies said.

All of this has fueled scrutiny of Amazon and whether it is abusing its market dominance and engaging in anti-competitive behavior. The companys tactics have led several rivals to discuss bringing antitrust complaints against it. And regulators and lawmakers are examining its clout in the industry.

AWS is just one prong of Amazons push to dominate large swaths of the US industry. The company has transformed retailing, logistics, book publishing and Hollywood.

But what Amazon is doing through AWS is arguably more consequential. The company is the unquestioned market leader triple the size of its nearest competitor, Microsoft in the seismic shift to cloud computing. Millions of people unknowingly interact with AWS every day when they stream movies on Netflix or store photos on Apples iCloud, services that run off Amazons machines.

Jeff Bezos, Amazons chief executive, once called AWS an idea no one asked for. The service began in the early 2000s when the retailer struggled to assemble computer systems to start new projects and features. Once it built a common computer infrastructure, Amazon realized other companies needed similar capabilities.

Now companies like Airbnb and General Electric essentially rent computing from Amazon otherwise known as using the cloud instead of buying and running their own systems. Businesses can then store their information on Amazon machines, pluck data from them and analyze it.

For Amazon itself, AWS has become crucial. The division generated $25 billion in sales last year and is Amazons most profitable business.

But in interviews with more than 40 current and former Amazon employees and those of rivals, many said the costs of what the company was doing with AWS were hidden. They said it was hard to measure how much business they had lost to Amazon or how the threat of Amazon had turned off would-be investors. Many spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of angering the company.

Now regulators are approaching some of Amazons software rivals. The House Judiciary Committee, which is investigating the big tech companies, asked Amazon in a September letter about AWS practices. The Federal Trade Commission, which is also investigating Amazon, has questioned AWS competitors, according to officials.

When Amazon Web Services began last decade, Amazon was struggling to turn a consistent profit.

Startups embraced AWS. They saved money because they did not need to buy their own computing equipment, spending only on what they used. Soon more companies flocked to Amazon for computing infrastructure and, eventually, the software that ran on its machines.

In 2009, Amazon established a template for accelerating AWS growth. That year, it introduced a service for managing a database, which is critical software to help companies organize information.

The AWS database service, an instant hit with customers, did not run software that Amazon created. Instead, the company plucked from a freely shared option known as open source.

Technologists initially paid little attention to what Amazon had done with database software. Then in 2015, Amazon copied Elasticsearch and offered its competing service.

This time, heads turned.

There was a company that built a business around an open-source product that people like using, and suddenly they have a competitor using their own stuff against them, said Todd Persen, who started a nonopen-source software company this year so there was zero chance that Amazon could lift his creations.

Again and again, the open-source software industry became a well that Amazon turned to. When it copied and integrated that software into AWS, it did not need permission or have to pay the startups for their work.

That left little recourse for many of these companies, which could not suddenly start charging money for what was free software. Some instead changed the rules around how their wares could be used, restricting Amazon and others who want to turn what they have created into a paid service.

Last year, MongoDB, a popular technology for organizing data in documents, announced that it would require any company that manages its software as a web service to freely share the underlying technology. The move was widely viewed as a hedge against AWS, which does not openly share its technology for creating new services.

AWS soon introduced its own technology with the look and feel of MongoDBs older software, which did not fall under the new requirements.

By the time AWS held its first developer conference in 2012, Amazon was no longer the only big player in cloud computing. Microsoft and Google had introduced competing platforms. So Amazon unveiled more software services to make AWS indispensable.

Amazon has since added AWS services at a blistering pace, going from 30 in 2014 to about 175 as of December. It also built in a home-field advantage: simplicity and convenience.

Customers can add new AWS services with one click and use the same system to manage them. The new service is added to the same bill, while using a non-Amazon service on AWS is more complicated.

Saket Saurabh, chief executive of the startup Nexla, said he signed his startup to work with Amazon in September. The reason? Amazons giant sales teams can give his data-processing and monitoring service access to a vast audience.

What choice do we have? he said.

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Prime Leverage: How Amazon Wields Power in the Technology World - The Indian Express

Q: Ive been using the free version of Malwarebytes for a few years now. Several days ago the program indicated an upgraded version was available. Every time Ive tried to install it my computer will restart two times and I get a message that there was a problem with this process. How can I fix this?

A: Anytime you install an upgrade for a program that is already installed on your PC there is a chance that the upgrade will fail or present problems.

To troubleshoot this, look for the Malwarebytes program in your Add/Remove programs Control Panel and go ahead and uninstall the application.

Texas Inc.: Get the best of business news sent directly to your inbox

Once the application is uninstalled, reboot your PC and go to the Malwarebytes home page and download the latest version and install it.

This method of troubleshooting software upgrades is usually the most effective and can help with any number of programs you might need to upgrade and is why you should always make sure you can put your hands on the install media for any of your software applications.

On a side note, there is malware out there that will prevent programs like Malwarebytes from working properly. That is why I suggest installing a secondary scanner like the free version of AVG just in case something infected your PC that Malwarebytes didnt block.

Q: I have received both emails and phone calls claiming to be from the IRS telling me that I have problems and that I am facing legal action. While I know these are scams, I was wondering if there was anything I could do about this. What do you suggest?

A: The end of the year is the time when these IRS scams really kick into high gear. Ive had two phone calls this week claiming to be from the IRS telling me I was going to be arrested.

These scams prey upon our ignorance and fear. If all the other warning signs dont tip you off to the fact that this is a scam, the last thing they ask you to do should be the clincher as they usually want you to go buy some gift cards and have you provide them with the numbers so they can extract the cash.

I can pretty much guarantee that the IRS does not accept gift cards as payment.

If you get one of these calls or emails, you can report it to the Federal Trade Commission using their Web site at tinyurl.com/helplineftc.

It is important to remain vigilant and spread the word about this type of scam as people fall for it all the time.

helpline@chron.com

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When older software gets in the way of upgrades - Houston Chronicle