I have seen the above dialogue box twice in the last week and it just creeps me out.

I cant think of any good legitimate reason a Website should have access to my local clipboard.

After doing some reading on this apparently IE7 can sometimes set this off in error and you can turn it off, however I would rather be bothered with false positives than not know what a particular Website is doing to my computer.

There are a number of Websites on the web designed specifically to try install Malware/Spyware on your computer or worse steal confidential information like usernames and passwords.

The number of these sites is growing.

In the bad old days Viruses\Malware\Spyware travelled by e-mail but in 2008 you are more likely to get hit by visiting a Website.

Tip: If you have any doubts about a particular Website, exercise caution move on and try another one.

Things to Avoid: Sites that try and install software.

The above prompt is trying to install an ActiveX Control. An ActiveX Control is like software that installs in your web browser.

Tip: In some cases you may need to install an ActiveX control to access some feature of the site but only accept those you *REALLY* need. Clicking yes  blindly to everything is asking for trouble.

On the link below is a well written but slightly old article on Malware.

Link: http://arstechnica.com/articles/paedia/malware.ars/1

I had previously placed a couple of orders for laptop bags that were completed successfully at www.laptopshop.co.uk so I was surprised when I ordered a bag recently for a client on the 10th January 2008 to be delivered to directly to customers site, I got the generic order confirmation.

From their order confirmation e-mail

“If any item is temporarily unavailable one of our sales team will contact you.”

Well they didn’t.

The order just sat on their system until my customer queried me for a delivery date. So when I look at my account online the item ordered on 10th Jan 2008 shows as being delivered 26th July 2007.

Now unless the laptop bag was for Marty McFly that’s impossible.

So I contacted laptopshop.co.uk by phone and the item I had ordered had become end of line.

The good news they didn’t bill me for it, but still.

I am sure you can draw your own conclusions about ordering from this company.