The good news for consumers that want the convenience of shopping on-line without the risks of identity theft is that there are several services and products available to protect on-line transactions.

Shop Shield, one of the newer services available for on-line shopping protection, offers a new and comprehensive product that allows you to shop on-line without ever sharing real financial or personal data on-line. Would be hackers or insiders up to no good, can't steal your information because it's not there to steal. How does this work?

- - - - - - - What Have You Done for Me Lately? Identity Theft Protection & Penalities

In his second term as President, Bush has been criticized on major issues from the economy to the War in Iraq. While the focus has been on the "war against terrorism," many Americans have fallen victim to the fastest growing crime in America, identity theft.

Since great strides were made during 2000-2006 on protecting, preventing and penalizing identity theft, but since then very little has been done on the federal level,. So what steps can be taken to keep up with this growing crime and ever changing technology that makes it easier to occur?

- - - - - - - Iron Clad Protection for Personal and Business Laptop Computers

The public has become more and more aware of using safe practices to protect themselves from identity theft. People are opting out of credit cards offers, shredding mail, carefully screening e-mails and using anti-spyware and keylogger programs. These practices help people avoid having their personal information stolen from their mail box or on-line, but what happens if your laptop itself is stolen? What happens then? And what if it is from a business, organization or government agency? How do we protect the information on our laptops?

- - - - - - - Intelius Review: An interview with Intelius People Search and People Finder's Ed Petersen

Intelius is a company providing more than people search and people finder services. However, that is what people most know Intelius for.

In this review and interview with Ed Petersen, Executive Vice President for Intelius, we spoke about Intelius collecting cellphone numbers, their people search and enterprise-level services, and challenges people have had with Intelius accounts.

Intelius Review: Download the MP3

- - - - - - - Texas Takes Steps to Protect Consumers from Identity Theft

The state of Texas has recently passed new legislation to help victims of identity theft overcome at least one of the hurdles that were previously blocking them from making it to the finish line of healing from this horrific ordeal. On March 1, 2008 the Closed Account Notification System, or CANS, was adopted by the Texas Department of Banking. What is CANS and how can it help Texas consumers? Will other states follow?

- - - - - - - Trend Micro: Interview with Trend Micro's David Perry

Though you may not have heard of them, Trend Micro is one of the world's largest companies in the antispyware and computer protection software space.

In this interview, I spoke with David Perry, director of Global Education for Trend Micro, about solutions for everyone from home and home offices, to small business and enterprise business solutions.

Products we talked about Trend Micro Internet Security (formerly called PC-Cillin, but since phased out for a new name, just Internet Security), as well as their antivirus plus antispyware solutions, and a free scan that they call "Housecall".

This is one of my favorite interviews I've done for IdentityTheftSecrets.com, as David is both a dynamic speaker and a very knowledgeable individual in the security and computer protection industry.

You can listen to the interview here for now, and a transcript of this interview with Trend Micro will be coming soon.

- - - - - - - How to Protect Yourself from Phishing Scams: DHL, Amazon and Paypal

Have you recieved messages asking you for your assistance? Or messages that appear to be from Amazon, PayPal, DHL or a bank requesting you to use their link to confirm your personal and credit information? These types of messages are called "phishing" emails and are used to get yourcredit information for the purpose of credit card fraud or identity theft. How can you protect yourself from this type of scam?

- - - - - - - Are Your Investments Protected by the Securities Investor Protection Program?

Most consumers are familiar with the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) that insures bank accounts and offers blanket protection for any deposits made to member banks. You may be less familiar with the SIPC (Securities Investor Protection Program) but every investor or potential investor at any level should be aware of the protection services that the SPIC offers.

- - - - - - - Will You Get Your Tax Rebate (Economic Stimulus) Check?

Economic Stimulus Checks and Tax Rebates: How can we be sure to get our check safely? Among the many phishing emails (that attempt to lure you to a website to gain personal or financial information) and schemes on the Internet, one of the newest is an email message that appears to be from the Internal Revenue Service, talking about economic stimulus checks, and what you should do in order to get your tax rebate check. How can you protect yourself and what should you do if you get this message? Read more about this phishing scam and how to protect your income tax rebate check.

- - - - - - - Roboform Keeps Passwords and More Protected

WIth technology comes convenience, but also threats to security. Each time a consumer accesses their bank or shops online their keystrokes may be recorded, hackers may obtain their financial information and personal information may be released. There is a software to protect Internet users, while they are doing any number of tasks from registering for travel to playing games online.

- - - - - - - Free Keyloggers: Is downloading A Free Keylogger A Good Idea for Home and Small Business Protection

A keylogger is a program that monitors and records computer activity, specifically the keystrokes used while using your computer. There are some keyloggers available to download for free, while others cost some money to download. Find out what are the best keylogger programs available and how you can download and use a keylogger to protect yourself and/or your loved ones.

In this article, we recommend three keylogger programs you can download.

The quick links for downloading thesekeyloggers are here:

Web Watcher Keylogger - download
Spector Pro 6.0 Keylogger - Download
Spy Agent Keylogger - Download

- - - - - - - Intelius People Search and Intelius Review: Is Your Information Being Used Inteliusly?

What is Intelius People Search? It is a data gathering information service available for individuals and businesses. With Intelius' search capability, individuals may complete a search based on name, address, telephone number, cellphone number (in some cases), and email address. But how does Intelius get all this information? Who can use the results, and is there someone out there trying to crack Intelius' people search?

- - - - - - - A Watch Dog to Protect Your Identity: ID Watchdog

ID Watchdog Discount/Promotional Code
Get a free trial (and save money) on ID Watchdog here
(Opens in new Window)

ID Watchdog provides identity theft protection, prevention and resolution services, not only in the event of credit card fraud, but even in cases of other types of fraud, mis-use of your identity to obtain employment or medical treatment and a great deal more.

- - - - - - - Comprehensive Anti Spyware Protection with Outstanding Customer Service

STOPzilla offers superior, all-around protections with a completely rebuilt Anti-Spyware engine. If you are looking for new ways of identity theft protection, especially protection from all the ways your personal computer can be attacked or even used to invade your privacy, then this software may be for you.

- - - - - - - Free Spybot: Search and Destroy the Spies Trying to Get to Your Information

Can you get a free copy of Spybot Search and Destroy?

We aim to answer that in this IdentityTheftSecrets article.

Are you being spied on? Is your privacy being invaded? Is someone keeping track of your internet habits? Or possibly, even worse, are you being sold out?

Spyware threats are silent stalkers. Spyware keeps track of your internet browsing habits and creates a profile on you and your habits. It is then sold to advertising companies so that they can market products to you.

This isn't just invasive and annoying. It can also cause your browser to crash or allow your home page to be altered or even hijacked.

What's worse? Your computer may be infected even if you have not experienced any symptoms or problems.

- - - - - - - IdentityTruth vs Lifelock: Which Identity Theft Protection Works for You?

Do you know your options for complete protection from identity theft? Take a look at this comparision and you decide which identity theft protection program is best for you and your family, IdentityTruth vs. Lifelock.

- - - - - - - Announcing IdentityTheftPress.com

Recently I found myself spending way too much time searching and scanning a bunch of different identity theft and information security news sites to get ideas for what to talk about on IdentityTheftSecrets.com, and as well as keep up to date myself on what's going on.

Every few days, I would find myself spending 1-2 hours reading news sites to get great information about identity theft and information security, which isn't a problem. But once I was on a major news site, I would end up reading everything from the horrors that happen on a regular basis to the offbeat news.

Not the best use of my time.

So I set out to find a way to get all the identity theft and information security news that I scan daily into one place.

- - - - - - - IdentityTruth: Is Your Identity the "Truth" and Nothing but the Truth?

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Save money on your purchase of Identitytruth through this link below
Clicking on IdentityTruth coupon, you can save money through IdentityTruth's Online Store
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For about 33 cents or less a day, IdentityTruth can offer you 12 points of protection from identity theft. IdentityTruth's protection is show to be so comprehensive that they back it with a guarantee. Read more to find out what protections Identity Truth offers and what IdentityTruth says about how it can protect you from identity theft.

The majority of people think their identity is safe, but studies reveal that 85% of consumers are victims of identity theft. Most people believe that they are taking the appropriate steps necessary to protect their identities; for example using practices like shredding pre-approved credit card offers and installing antivirus or spyware protection on their computer however these practices may not be enough. Last year 13 million consumer identities were compromised. A 2006 report from the FTC shows that out of $5 billion in identity fraud, only 25% involved credit card fraud and only 12% involved new account credit card fraud. That still leaves several other ways that your identity can be used illegally, such as obtaining a job, being charged with a crime, mortgage fraud and many other types of identity theft.

- - - - - - - GreenDimes: Go Green One Piece of Junk Mail at a Time

Do you hate "junk mail?" We have software to stop 'pop ups" and we even have a junk mail/spam box on our email programs -- so why not a program that stops junk mail from arriving at our homes? GreenDimes can do just that -- stop junk mail from arriving saving you time as well as eliminating chances of identity theft through the use of your unwanted credit card offers.

- - - - - - - LoudSiren Identity Theft Warning System Provides Emergency Services

LoudSiren Identity Theft Warning System promotes as a full service solution to identity theft. This service, by Debix, does many things for you, including; contacting credit agencies and setting up fraud alerts, acting as a middle man between your credit information and personal information, making it more difficult to obtain and misuse it ,as well as giving you, as a member of their system, $1 million dollars in identity theft insurance coverage. Read more to find out how LoudSiren can protect you, your friends and family from identity theft.

- - - - - - - National Identity Cards With Biometric Identification Will Fix The Social Security Administration's Problems?

While something must be done about the ridiculousness of our current flimsy paper social security cards (I'm not even sure most people know where their cards are), it's also scary to some people to think of a "national Identity card." (For some biblical scholars, a national Identity Card would be a confirmation of things forecasted in the book of Revelations in the bible.)

There's no question that the social security administration's system is, at best, outdated, and that it poses a large threat to the future welfare of our great country.

But the solution must be bigger than requiring better Identity cards.

Read below to see the legislation put forward by Mark Steven Kirk, a representative from Illinois.

- - - - - - - Lavasoft Product Review: Ad Aware Plus by Lavasoft

Lavasoft Ad Aware Plus is a very economical (and can be downloaded for free) alternative when searching for antivirus and antispyware software support for your personal computer. Lavasoft antivirus software includes many key features, not available when you download many other software programs.

Ad Aware Plus download is an expanded and economical alternative for providing your personal computer with antivirus, anti spyware and other threatening software protection. Ad Aware Plus is one of several antivirus software protection programs created and maintained by Lavasoft, a private company. Lavasoft was begun in 1999 and is headquartered in Sweden. Lavasoft was one of the first software companies to detect and create antivirus software programming. Lavasfot also has small business, enterprise, academic and non-profit antivirus software and systems support available. Their success can be rated by the over 250 million Ad Aware antivirus downloads world-wide, providing anti virus, anti spyware and other protective services to computers all over the world.

- - - - - - - Is Trend Micro PC Cillin Internet Security the Best Medicine for Your PC?

Trend Micro PC Cillin Internet Security is a full service personal computer protection software system. Once installed on your computer it provides antivirus, anti-spyware, anti-spam, anti-phishing, identity theft protection, two way firewalls, and parental controls.

PC Cillin antivirus software is updated regularly and not only detects known but unrecognized virus software that is not yet identified or named. PC Cillin does contain programming that lets it scan for programs consistent with a virus, thus protecting your computer from worms, Trojans and viruses. Safety scans are performed on all incoming emails, and is sends out instant messages with notification. You can also set PC Cillin for auto removal of any virus detected. The anti spyware and anti phishing software protect your identity as well as personal and financial information making shopping and searching online safer.

- - - - - - - Trusted ID Interview and Promotional Code Coupon

I recently conducted an interview with Scott Mitic, CEO and co-founder of TrustedID, a company promoting a new kind of service in proactive identity protection.

You can listen to the audio below. I had some real challenges with the audio code on this interview, so if it's hard to understand, I've posted the transcript below as well.

Identity Theft Secrets: This is Jonathan Kraft with Identity Theft Secrets and I am here today interviewing Scott Mitic, who is the CEO and co-founder of TrustedID. How are you doing today Scott?

TrustedID: I'm great thanks Jonathan, how are you?

Identity Theft Secrets: I'm doing great! Thank you very much for taking a few minutes with us today. Well, let's just get started right into this. Can you review for me, the background behind TrustedID? What started it, who started it and why was TrustedID started?

TrustedID: Well I started the company about three years ago with a co-founder and it jettisoned into a business in finding ways for consumers to be able to proactively prevent Identity Theft. I had a wife who was victimized twice in the course of about three years and while looking at the experience she had, I realized there was really no effective solution available to anyone in the U.S. to help stop identity theft before it starts. And that's what started TrustedID.

Identity Theft Secrets: And I know you've got a partner in the business as well.

TrustedID: I do; I co-founded the company with Omar Ahmad, who's also on our board now.

Identity Theft Secrets: Talk a little bit more about, you said your wife actually was a victim twice, can you explain kind of what happened with her identity theft and how that took place?

TrustedID: Well, the first time was someone in the state of Florida who assumed her identity; committed crimes in her name and also got credit in her name. Someone printed checks using my wife's name and her account number and passed bad checks. So as is the case very often with identity theft, the financial loss that we incurred, that she incurred, not nearly as significant as the time loss that was incurred. Everything from standing at the police station waiting for an officer to show up to take your report down to trying to track down what credit was opened in her name and then finding a way to convince the lender, or creditor, that that was actually not her debt, but that of a felon that she had never met.

Identity Theft Secrets: Which I imagine that process is very difficult. I know from having talked with a bunch of people; they've had some real challenges trying to prove that they're not themselves.

TrustedID: Exactly. And I think that's only going to intensify over the course of the coming months or years; as the credit crunch comes upon us, there are more and more people looking for perhaps easy ways to get out of their debt. You can understand a lender being somewhat skeptical when a customer calls and says, "you know what? That's really not me;" when you've got that card. So it's a natural reaction of that same lender to think twice and to require a little extra proof before they accept it's the work of an identity thief.

Identity Theft Secrets: And you said before that you didn't really see anything after looking for ways to help your wife. You didn't really see anything in the market that was there to proactively prevent identity theft and I think that's part of the reason you started TrustedID. What does proactive identity theft prevention mean and how do you do that?

- - - - - - - Employment, Social Security & Identity Theft

What happens when your social security number is stolen and used to obtain employment? Can you get a new one? What happens to the money paid into the Social Security Administration? And why doesn't the government report to you duplicate payments? Read more to learn about social security and identity theft.

- - - - - - - What You Can Get Besides a Job by Posting Your Resume On Line

Internet use is rapidly becoming a necessity when searching for that perfect job or career - but how much information is too much and how can you keep your information safe from identity theft while getting that dream job? In this article read about the do's and don'ts for posting your resume online.

- - - - - - - Veterans: What You Should Know to Prevent and Recover from Identity Theft

Veteran's are at high risk for identity theft, and have more to lose. It is important for veteran's to carefully monitor their credit report, social security benefits and veterans benefit information to determine if their identity is being used in any manner, from illegally obtaining credit or medical care to attending a college.

- - - - - - - Sweep your PC Clean of Spyware with Webroot Spyware Sweeper

Webroot Spyware Sweeper is a seven time award winning Best Buy by PC Magazine and PC World. Find out why this spyware protection, detection and removal system is considered so highly.

Spyware has become more advanced and different versions of it appear regularly on too many computers without detection. Spyware is a computer software system that "sneaks" onto your computer, typically through internet browsing, email or instant messages, and does one or a combination of the following: collects personal information from your hard drive, interfere with your use of your computer (causing it to behave badly), redirect your internet browser activity by sending the page you addressed to another site and allowing harmful "pop ups."

- - - - - - - Defender Pro Computer Protection Software and Defender Pro Antivirus: Product Review

Defender Pro, whose corporate headquarters is in New York, NY, is an antivirus software which offers two products for the home or small business computer, Defender Pro 15-1 and 5-1. Each product is good for up to three computers without any additional charge. Each product's antivirus software updates automatically on the hour, as long as you are connected to the Internet.

Read more about the cost, features, benefits and technical support for Defender Pro 15-1 and 5-1 Antivirus Protection Service.

- - - - - - - What is Mortgage Fraud through Identity Theft?

This begins a two part series on what is mortgage fraud; how it occurs and what can be done about it: such as how to protect yourself and what to do if you are a victim of identity theft and mortgage fraud.

- - - - - - - Do You Have "TrustedID" Service? TrustedID Review And Promo Code

TrustedID is a credit monitoring service that does online and TV/Radio promotions around their guarantee to provide one million dollars of identity theft insurance, the ability to limit who sees your credit report, review who has seen your credit report (i.e. is it being reviewed by people you trust), and it also gives you free search engine searches, to determine if your social security number has been compromised. If you would like to have these protections, you may want to take a look at TrustedID, which markets themselves as a different kind of consumer credit protection service.

TrustedID is one of many credit monitoring, identity theft protection companies available to consumers that is available independently and not through one of the three major credit reporting agencies of TransUnion, Experian, or Equifax. It is located in Redwood City, CA and you may visit their website or call 1.888.548.7878 for additional information regarding their company.

TrustedID's credit monitoring service has been featured in such publications as Time, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Newsweek. Its services have also been featured online at CNNMoney.com and CNBC. It is recognized by the Identity Theft Resource Center.

- - - - - - - Equifax: What You Should Know About Equifax And 3-in-1 Credit Monitoring Services

Equifax Inc. is most often recognized as being one of the top three consumer credit reporting agencies, including Experian and TransUnion.

Equifax was founded in 1899 as Retail Credit Company and is the oldest of the three agencies. By 1920 it had offices in the United States and Canada and by the 1960's protected millions of credit histories. It has now been in business for 107 years providing consumer and business services. In 1975 it changed its name to Equifax. It is traded on the New York Stock Exchange as EFX, and is a Standard and Poor's (S&P) 500 company. Although its corporate headquarters is Atlanta, Georgia, it employs 4,600 people worldwide in 13 countries and reports $1.4 billion in revenue.

During the 1960's and 1970's, Equifax came under criticism for the extensive nature of information that it was obtaining about consumers. This included information about an individual and other private parts of a person's life like marital status, employment, sex life and political affiliation. Much of the criticism was due to not only the extensive nature of the information, but the methods by which it was obtained, and their willingness to "sell" the information.

- - - - - - - Identity Theft Insurance: What is It? and Do YOU Need It?

What is Identity Theft Insurance? What does it cover? How can I get it? Do I need it? And how much does it cost?

Your questions regarding identity theft insurance are answered in this post.

- - - - - - - How Serious is Identity Theft?

Identity theft is a serious crime-- not only to you and your family, but to your finances, your emotional well being and your future. Find out just how far-reaching the damages are to individuals and businesses.

- - - - - - - BitDefender Total Security and BitDefender Antivirus

Another European program making inroads into the North American market, BitDefender is headquartered in Bucharest, Romania and is ranked as one of the top 100 private companies in Europe. Its antivirus and computer security programs are currently installed on more than 41 million computers in over 200 countries around the world.

- - - - - - - Kaspersky anti virus and Internet Security Suite: A Review

Kaspersky Labs

Kapersky germinated in 1989, when Russian computer technician Eugene Kaspersky found the Cascade virus on his PC. He developed his own anti-virus program and purged the little monster, and released his program to the public in 1993.

Since then, Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab has developed into a multi-national company with offices in Europe, Asia, and North America, and with Eugene Kaspersky still in R&D. Although the company's software is currently better known in Eastern Europe and Asia, it's growing in popularity elsewhere, particularly after Kaspersky Anti-Virus 6 won the PC World Editor's Choice award for Antivirus programs in 2007.

Kaspersky Lab offers three consumer products: Anti-Virus 7, Internet Security 7, and new Mobile Security.

Kapersky Antivirus (pricey at $59.95 per year) detects all the usual suspects, including Trojans, viruses, and worms, and it also scans for spyware, adware, and keyloggers at the same time. The program gives strong and prompt detection, with the malware database automatically updating every hour and the signatures of new virus and spam attacks added to the database within one to two hours of the outbreak's first report.

- - - - - - - ZoneAlarm Free Download and ZoneAlarm Pro: Interview and Review

ZoneLabs/Checkpoint is another company we have been hearing a lot about at Identity Theft Secrets, mostly because of their ZoneAlarm product, but also because of their suite of products dealing with Internet Security.

Here's a screenshot of what Zone Alarm Pro looks like:

Here's our interview with John Gable from CheckPoint (which again, is the company which makes Zone Alarm). (We'll post the transcript soon.)

Download the CheckPoint (ZoneAlarm) Interview (MP3) Here

For now, here are some quick basics on ZoneAlarm, and a couple of coupons we found for downloading ZoneAlarm free, and for saving $20 on ZoneAlarm Pro.

You can save $20 on ZoneAlarm Pro by clicking here
Or,
you can download ZoneAlarm for free here.

- - - - - - - Symantec Interview Transcription Download and Norton Coupon

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Symantec passed along this coupon code for IdentityTheftSecrets
Click here to save 10% on anything through the Symantec Home & Home Office Store
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They also gave another coupon for saving 10% on Norton AntiBot
Click here to save 10% on Norton AntiBot
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I recently conducted an interview with Ed Kim, from Symantec, and we had a great conversation about the history of Symantec, why Norton and Symantec joined forces, and what the companies are doing together to create anti virus, internet security, and utilities solutions for home and business uses.

Download the Norton Interview (MP3) Here

See interview notes:

- - - - - - - RegCure Review and RegCure Interview: Downloading and Using Reg Cure

We're going to be talking about a how you can get a free registry cleaner program called RegCure here (and perhaps other registry cleaners) very soon at IdentityTheftSecrets.com, but before we do, it's important to start giving you some background on what a system registry is and what it does.

So, the Windows registry is a directory which stores settings and options for the operating system for Microsoft Windows.

The registry is a place where information and settings for all the hardware, operating system software, most non-operating system software, users, preferences of the PC, and a whole bunch of other stuff is stored.

Whenever a user makes changes of any significance within the computer, the changes are stored in the registry.

So, hopefully that makes sense?

After Windows introduced the Registry, it beame apparent that there was a need for a program designed to clean the registry, hence the name registry cleaner.

A registry cleaner is a type of program for Microsoft Windows operating system designed to attempt to remove unneeded or unwanted items from the Windows registry.

This can happen if you have had Spyware, Scumware, Adware, or another malicious program downloaded onto your machine, and it left behind traces of itself.

It could also happen for the less malicious but equally annoying situation where someone didn't write an uninstall program correctly

Why might you need or want a registry cleaner?

As mentioned, some uninstallers for Windows software do not completely remove all traces of the software from the registry. If you've downloaded free software that may have malicious intent, or if you've downloaded software which may not have been designed with the best of intentions (have you been downloading free music using a program you got from some random site?), it's possibly you have icky stuff sitting in the registry of your computer.

Some programs which are designed to do malicious things to your computer don't come with uninstallers at all, and you end up manually removing them from your computer.

- - - - - - - Norton Anti Virus and Symantec Coupon For A Free Trial: Norton Coupon

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Well, it's not free, but I did get them to give me a little coupon code.
Clicking on this Symantec coupon, you can save 10% on anything through the Symantec Home & Home Office Store
----------

(Link here to get a free trial of Norton Anti Virus.)

I recently conducted an interview with Ed Kim, from Symantec, and we had a great conversation about the history of Symantec, why Norton and Symantec joined forces, and what the companies are doing together to create anti virus, internet security, and utilities solutions for home and business uses.

One of the things we are going to get set up here (very shortly) is a way for people to get a discount on all Norton products, as well as a free trial for some of Symantec's offerings.

But again, this Symantec coupon will save you 10% at checkout on any Home/Home office products they offer.

For now, my interview with Ed Kim from Symantec is available for listening below

Download the Norton Interview (MP3) Here

- - - - - - - Report from the Fraud War Blog and Ed Dickson - What You Need to Know About Computer and Internet Fraud (Part 2)

In this interview, Ed Dickson from the fraud war blog reports on the nature of fraud and how what's going on in the world can affect your computer, your bank account, and your life.

We discuss free e-gold accounts, Western Union and money transfer fraud, data breaches and information loss, and more.