How one little letter makes you secure

Q If a Web address does not have the "s" after the http, is it a secure site? The place where I live prints our rent invoices with a Web address at the top that doesn't have that "s." Since this information came from a property management firm's server, many residents here are concerned that their personal information on that server is at risk.

BONNIE LOFTUS, TUCSON, ARIZ.

AUnless your property management company's website address contains "https://", it is not capable of providing a secure connection for online financial transactions.

The question in your case is whether you or anyone you know is paying the rent online. If not, then the lack of a secure connection isn't the real issue in protecting your personal information. What's more important is that your property management company has up-to-date firewall and antivirus protection against hackers who might try to steal your personal information from the company's server.

For those who do financial transactions online, here's what you need to know: The "https://" in a Web address signifies that the information traveling between you and the website is encrypted, and thus secure from all but the most technically sophisticated computer attacks. Financial transactions should not be done with websites using regular "http://" addresses because the information isn't encrypted, and could be intercepted by the technically astute.

QI've had some problems getting the Firefox 4.0 browser to run on my Windows XP PC. At first it said two add-on programs had been disabled so Firefox could run, and now it won't run at all. I tried reinstalling Firefox, but the PC says Firefox is running and won't install it.

Before all this happened, I ran the Malwarebytes security program, which caught two malicious programs. Any suggestions?

KENT PITMAN, EDEN PRAIRIE

ATry running Windows System Restore, which returns your computer settings to the way they were on a previous date. This uninstalls programs that were added since the restore date. By choosing an appropriate restore date, you should remove Firefox, Malwarebytes and any malicious software you've picked up.

Go to Start, All Programs, Accessories and Systems Tools. Click on System Restore, and on the resulting menu click "restore my computer to an earlier time" and click "next." Select a date and click "next."

After you run System Restore, reinstall Firefox and Malwarebytes. Also make sure your antivirus and firewall software are running and have the latest updates.

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