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What To Do If Your Facebook or Twitter Account is Hacked

Unfortunately, this scenario is a reality for all of us who use social networking -- it's not a matter of IF your Twitter or Facebook account will be hacked, but simply WHEN. I've been on the receiving end of messages from my friends whose accounts have been hacked.  The message typically compliments me on some body part or requests me to click on a link to view a video of myself. Also, there are usually a number of misspellings in the message.

Be very careful when you get those kinds of messages, even when they are coming from trusted friends who would normally not engage in this type of behavior.  Many of the messages are linked to a virus or some type of malware that either infects your computer or will gain access to your account and send all of your friends and followers spammy messages.  If you do slip and click on one of these links, pay attention to what your virus scanning software tells you, especially if you get a security warning about a site.

If your Twitter account is hacked:

1.  Visit Twitter's information page for problem resolution:  http://help.twitter.com/forums/10713/entries/31796

2.  Log out of Twitter.

3.  Clear your browser cache (your browsing history and cookies and private info) and close down your browser.

For Internet Explorer: Go to Tools > Internet Options, and then click on the "Delete" button under Browsing History. Check all of the boxes (except InPrivate Filtering data) and click on the "Delete" button.

For Firefox: Go to Tools > Clear Recent History, and then click on the down-arrow next to "Details", check all of the boxes, and select "Everything" for the time range to clear.

4.  Open a new browser window, log into Twitter, and change your password.  You can also use the Twitter password reset feature to set a new password before logging in again.

5.  Visit your settings page and check your Connections. Revoke access for any third-party application that you don't recognize.

6.  Submit a support request to let them know you have taken all of the proper steps to reset your account and to request that your direct messaging capability be restored. You can also include info on any statuses that weren't posted by you in the body of the request.

7.  Update your password in all of your third party applications as well. If a third party application (like Facebook, Twitterrific, Twhirl, etc.) is trying to use your old password to access your tweets, it will lock you out of your account.
 
If your Facebook account is hacked:

1.  Visit Facebook's information page for problem resolution:  http://www.facebook.com/help/search.php?hq=hack&ref=hq

2.  If you are still able to access your login email address, then use the "Forgot your password" link to prompt an email from Facebook with a password reset code. If you can't access your account, then use the link above.

3.  Clear your browser cache (your browsing history and cookies and private info) and close down your browser as described above.

4.  Your account could also have been phished/hacked by a phishing web site, worm, or malicious software. To ensure that all is safe again, refer to the "Warnings" section on the Facebook link noted above.

Part of the problem with Twitter, in particular, is that most people use some type of URL shortening service to reduce a long URL to one that they can easily include in their 140 character status update.  Here's how you can "spy" on URL shortening services:

1.  For Bit.ly:  This tool is a Firefox Add-on allows you to hover over bit.ly links on any web page and see a "Preview" of the page title and long URL: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/10297 This Add-on claims to work for TinyURL as well.  One of the benefits of this add-on is that you can also see the number of clicks for the shortened links as well as bios/profiles for host's Twitter names you hover over (including @names).  This even works in my HootSuite account.

2.  For TinyURL: You can preview where a TinyURL.com URL leads either by adding the word "preview" in your short link so that your link resembles: http://preview.tinyurl.com/samplesite .  Or, you can visit http://tinyurl.com/preview.php to enable TinyURL previews.

Take care when using Twitter and Facebook.  Trust your intuition, and if something doesn't look or feel right, ignore it or delete it before clicking on it.  You will have probably saved yourself hours or headache in trying to restore a hacked account.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this blurb with it:  Internet Marketing Automation Coach Donna Gunter helps independent service professionals create prosperous online businesses that make more profit in less time by teaching them how to automate their businesses, leverage their expertise, and get found online.  Would you like to learn the specific Internet marketing strategies that get results? Discover how to increase your visibility and get found online by claiming your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, at ==> http://www.TurbochargeYourOnlineMarketing.com

Data Recovery: 10 Most Effective Computer Backup Tools

Despite my best efforts, this past week I lost both my primary and secondary computer systems.  After losing my primary desktop several years ago, I vowed I would never let myself be caught without an operating PC.  As they say, "the road to h*ll is paved with good intentions," and I once again was caught with my proverbial pants down without an operating computer when my desktop, which had been exhibiting some problem signs in the last month, died suddenly and would not turn on.
 
I then went to my laptop, which I had admittedly been lazy about keeping updated, and turned it on.  Immediately the Windows update process started, and asked me install Service Pack 3 for Windows XP.  Having done that successfully on my desktop, I wasn't too worried about any installation problems on the laptop.  However, upon completing the installation, the blue screen of death appeared, which is NEVER a good sign with a Windows-based system.
 
After trying for about an hour without success to revive my laptop (which is only 8 months old and still under warranty), I knew that I was in trouble and starting looking for alternatives.  Fortunately, my husband keeps a laptop on hand that he uses for gaming when we travel, and he generously offered to let me install my programs and files on it until I could repair one of my computers.  Thanks, Eric! :)
 
After finally acknowledging that there was no way I could have foreseen this situation, I decided that I needed to s*ck it up, get over, and move on.  So, I'm making do with a partially customized laptop that will do until one or the other of my PCs is returned.
 
Despite having gone through similar situations previously, I still learned a few new things along the way about data recovery and computer backup.  Here are the 10 most effective tools that saved my bacon during my recent computer meltdown.
 
1. Automatic backup software.  I've been using 2 online backups, Carbonite and Syncplicity.  I have had to restore from Carbonite previously, and I found the process to be lengthy and somewhat confusing.  So, several months ago I began using Syncplicity because it offers online access to all backed up files as well as the ability to synchronize an unlimited number of computers. However, it has taken a week to restore 20 GB of data with Syncplicity, and some of the data was wasn't really restored, despite what Syncplicity told me in my account.  However, I can easily download this missing info to my computer from the online vault.  One process that makes this backup system easier is that I store all of my data files in My Docs so I don't have to hunt them down in Program Files, or wherever they are typically stored.
 
2.  Email client software.  I still use the dinosaur Eudora for my email client.  Old habits die hard, I suppose.  However, somehow I missed marking some key Eudora folders to back up, and so I was initially using my webmail access providing by my hosting company to access email because of this oversight with Eudora.  I began to tire of that quickly, as I had no way to create additional folders in those systems, so I then decided to manually configure Eudora and open folders and emails as I need them in the program.  This experience has made me very tempted to change all of my incoming and outgoing email servers on all domains to Gmail just to have access to everything online, come hurricane, flood, tornado, or computer crash.
 
3.  Bookmark service.  I'm an avid researcher and resource collector, so having access to my bookmarks, or favorites file, is vital to my day-to-day operations.  I had been using Spurl, but because of frequent periodic outages of their service, I've changed to Foxmarks.  I like that this service offers me the ability to access all of these online, as well as have them at my fingertips any time I need them from my Bookmarks menu as well as easily synchronize them to any computer.
 
4.  Contact management. Even though I don't use Outlook for email, I do use it for calendar and contact management.  I had been using Plaxo as an online backup for my contacts, but it doesn't permit me to store my notes about each contact.  I've been using Airset now for several months, and it regularly syncs my contacts (with notes) and my calendar to their online service. I found this much more convenient than trying to restore a backup PST file to Outlook and then repeating that again when my primary computer is returned.  Instead, I just make changes to contacts and my calendar on Airset, and I'll just sync that to Outlook on my desktop.
 
5.  Passwords.  I've been using Roboform for years to help me manage my passwords.  I've got my Roboform data in My Docs, so it was a breeze to reinstall Roboform and copy the data folder to the new computer and permit me to access all of the sites requiring a password and username.  Finally, something that worked seamlessly!
 
6.  Project Management.  Smartsheet has been my project management service for the last few months.  I love that it has the ability to create an item and allow you to attach a document and discussion to that item.  Rather than having to hunt down information about a project, all I had to do was log into my Smartsheet account and there it was.

7.  Software licenses.  Roughly 99% of the new software I install is downloaded and I don't get a physical copy on CD.  Therefore, I make sure that I have the downloaded version in a My Downloads folder that's a part of My Docs file, which is backed up regularly.  And, I make a PDF copy of the software license that I get by email and store in a Software folder, also in My Docs.  Lastly, I purchased a very inexpensive program, Registration Vault, that lets me store all of my software license and purchase info and permits me to back up my data to My Docs.  As I had to reinstall software on a new computer, it was easy to restore the Registration Vault files, get my software license number, and have a fully functioning piece of software within minutes.

8.  Accounting.  I use Quickbooks for my accounting needs, and while they do offer an online version, I haven't yet moved to that.  Instead, I back up Quickbooks after every use in the My Docs folder.  When I needed to invoice consulting clients at the beginning of this month, all I had to do was reinstall Quickbooks and restore my latest backup.  I instantly had everything I needed again at my fingertips.

9.  Alternate free services.  Some software I use, like CuteFTP and TraxTime, don't permit data backups.  So, I really do have to start all over with my FTP info and my time tracking info when my computer dies.  Rather than installing these programs on the new computer, I just used some free alternatives to get me through.  FireFTP, a Firefox add-on, has worked quite well for me as my FTP client, and MyHours.com has stood in fairly well for TraxTime, although it requires a few more steps for operation than TraxTime.
 
10.  Email marketing.  While not a tool, I discovered that both text and HTML versions of email broadcasts matter in email marketing.  I wasn't initially able to get my normal email client up and running, so I was reading my email from my webmail systems.  I've got 2 hosting accounts, and the newer one has a fairly sophisticated webmail system and let me read HTML emails with no problem.  The other, however, doesn't permit HTML viewing.  So, those emails sent only in HTML were ones that I was unable to read.  If you're wise and your email marketing program permits you to send emails out in both plain text and HTML, do it, even though it might seem like a needless pain.  You just never know how members of your list might be forced to ready your emails.

As you might gather, I've discovered that online services have provided me with the greatest backup to help me through this computer crisis.  My lesson?  Duplicate as much as you can in online systems.  In this way, you'll have access to your data when you travel, when you have a computer crash, or when you're faced with a natural disaster.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this blurb with it:  Internet Marketing Strategist and Boomer Biz Coach Donna Gunter helps baby boomers create profitable online retirement businesses that they love by demystifying and simplifying the tools and strategies needed to market and grow their businesses online. To claim your FR*EE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, visit her site at OnlineBizU.com. Ask Donna an Internet Marketing question at  AskDonnaGunter.com.