♥ Princessa's Royal Diary ♥ - Royalty has never been so PINK!

Well, like Tron, we kinda deserved it. We created the environment, the system and also the problem.

If you haven't watched Tron, you'd probably have no idea what the hell I'm talking about - just Google for the synopsis, I'm lazy to spoon feed you today. I'll explain the threat, but I'm not going to explain the movie.

Technology, computers, internet... who created all of these? And who created the threat to destroy these wonderful creations (I call it wonderful because I cannot live without the internet, for real)? We're the creators but at the same time the destroyers, kinda ironic don't you think?

Today, in the modern society of Singapore, and most parts of the world, it is impossible to go a day without technology, more importantly the internet. We use it for almost everything you can imagine - from finding information “Google it” to building a friendship/relationship.

It makes the world smaller, but at the same time more dangerous than ever.

Gone were the days where you need to actually leave the house to burn a hole in your pocket - online shopping, online thief, etc. Now, even if you're being a good girl/boy, you can still get robbed of your (or your parents) hard earned money. And again, kinda ironic don't you think?

As technology advances day by day, so does the threat that comes along with it. If you thought your so-called premium security systems are serving you well, think again. You're just lucky the “right” criminals have yet struck. Just think about it, why is it that home/office alarm systems are upgrading every once in a while? Well, because the people trying to break in are figuring out ways to bypass the systems. It's the circle of life really - survival of the fittest. No one can always be, on top.

What secures you now (those traditional internet security/anti-virus solutions) might not be able to secure you a minute later cause sadly, these days, every 1.5 seconds you're exposed to 1 new threat. Which is quite scary really, if you think about it. Back in 2007, it's like 4 to 5 PER DAY!

To make matters worse (although technically the lost of data is unbearable...), these threats are no longer just “pranks” to wipe out our data or give you a shock, we're talking about real thief here.

(Side tracking a little...)

Talking about “pranks” that give you a shock... I remember this retarded incident that happened like 10 years ago!

I used to play Counter-Strike (CS) A LOT, competitively in fact. So, I had this boyfriend who I kinda knew while gaming (come to think of it, I had many boyfriends that I got to know IN PERSON through gaming)... IRC was quite popular then and you can like send files and stuff. I think there's MSN too, but I can't really remember.

Anyway, he sent me this file and I opened it. Nothing happened initially so I went online to play CS with my clan mates. While playing, suddenly my screen blacked out and Sadako popped up with scary noises!

Note: I'm too scared to post a scary photo... so I picked a cute on instead! :P

I was so freaked out I nearly cried! I was quite a coward back then, I don't watch scary shows at all otherwise I can't sleep! Come to think of it, I still don't watch scary shows now. I have an over-imaginative mind.

I gave him the worst WEEK he ever had for doing that to me btw. I swear, it was sooo not funny!

So yeah, that's the kind of “pranks” we're talking about. No major harm really; no data lost, no information leak, just a shock. And there's the Ican'trememberwhatyoucallit file that you can send over to some and start controlling their CD-ROM. Hurhur.

(Coming back...)

Not just merely stealing money from you but your data and even your identity (which, if you think about it goes back to the Internet being the source of all evil - the fact is, 92 percent of threats come from the web)! For all you know, you personal information, which you have happily uploaded to your Facebook or such, is stolen and sold then used by some serial killer to murder the president of the United States! Life imprisonment I tell you! Or worst, like The Tourist, you get involved in something you have no idea about (I haven't watched the movie btw, I'm grabbing this simply based on the trailer). I could go on and on...

My point being, the world is filled with threats. Even if you're absolutely careful (which is impossible), you can just walk out of the house and get knocked down by a car, or worst. There's no saying when someone or something might strike you (usually when you least expected). Instead of fearing for the worst, the best would probably be to prepare yourself for these dangers. At least, at the end of the day, you have something to blame instead of yourself (get insurance since you're at it).

We have movies on blogging, social networking, Facebook, virtual worlds... etc. This is a real thing. For all you know, Tron might become reality and not just some Sci-Fi shit. For all you know, in the future, we might be able to live forever by breaking down our cells, digitalise them, and load them up to the internet. I seriously haven't thought this through before writing it and it kinda sounds quite ridiculous now that I'm reading this. Technically impossible.

I mean, you can obtain O2 from CO2 by feeding it to a plant, which converts the carbon to carbohydrate. It can then be carbonized by heat in the absence of air or by strong sulphuric acid. Thereafter, oxygen is produced when light is present. *Blah blah* But, as of now or ever, I don't think you can convert H2O to CO2. (I might be wrong here... DO NOT USE ME AS REFERENCE TO STATE THIS “FACT”!)

But yeah, we're advancing, and maybe someday, it can be possible. Pigs can now fly (via the aeroplane that is), anything is possible.

“Better safe than sorry,” the saying goes.

So, exactly what are the THREATS we're talking about here?

And the winner for the Top 5 THREATS we are vulnerable to, are:

These THREATS are mostly from Online Gaming and Social Media Networks. In other words, most of us if not all, are frequently (some more than others) exposed to - THE INTERNET!

And also, “Prevention is better than cure!”

We can't always be on our toes, it's too tiring. But the least we can do is take some prevention.

With Trend Micro Titanium Maximum Security, it provides:

Solution to our “threat” problem! And... if not mistaken, they have the best protection chart!

Basically the software uses cloud technology to automatically stop viruses and spyware before they reach your computer, so it won't slow you down. It's what they call, “a whole new way to protect your PC from current and future Internet threats” (because the new threats evolve sooo fast that there’s gonna be like 7 new threats per sec by 2015).

Here are some of the features:

Note: The software is compatible with Windows 7 (not to Mac though).

“Trend Micro gives you the right protection against wide range of insidious threats and combined attacks including viruses, spam, phishing, spyware, botnets, and other Web attacks, including data-stealing malware!”

Personally, I didn’t get the opportunity to test the product for myself - I'm a Mac user fyi. So... I passed it to my friend and he was totally raving about it!

He never really appreciated softwares like such; mainly due to the cost, installation and the additional computing power. After trying it for a week, the feedback I got was that the installation was a breeze (which is VERY important cause he wasn’t much of a techie) and he barely noticed it running (have had experience of his computer hanging cause too much resources are used to run background programmes). As for cost, well... he didn’t really mention much on that since I gave it to him for free. Hurhur.

So yeah, no worries there! You can raid in World of Warcraft (WoW) without fear of having the computer lagging, you not healing, or not being able to pick up the item you’ve been working sooo hard and desperately to get!

What's more?

This is an unrelated to the “solution”...

Join Trend Micro's FB Page and stand a chance to host your own movie part for family and friends!

Told you it isn't relevant. Hurhur.

Good luck!