I know that sometimes it is scary on the Internet, especially when we hear all of the horror stories about bank accounts being hacked, viruses rendering computers useless, porn popping up out of nowhere, and so on.  Maybe even you have a story of something terrible happening to you or someone you love online.  Well, don’t worry, we’ve all had to deal with the troubles of the untamed web.  I’ve got a few pointers that you may or may not already know but may help you avoid some of that trouble:

1.  Get anti-virus

2.  Get a filter

There are free internet filters out there and I’ve downloaded and tried K-9 Web Protection and I love it!  It has many filtering options including possibly dangerous sites!  For you parents, it has many options to help you monitor the time and the places visited so you can teach your kids accountability and the importance of it.

3.  Keep OS updated

Your operating system may need periodical updates that patch known security holes.  You should definitely keep up with that!

4.  Keep antivirus updated

I mentioned antivirus programs already but I can’t stress enough the importance of keeping them updated!  Most antivirus programs, including the two I have mentioned, make it possible to schedule regular updates and scanning.  Take advantage of this!

5.  Learn to recognize questionable sites

Keep your eyes peeled for sites that may have unnecessary risks involved with visiting them.  One good piece of advice is covered in the next point:

6.  Stay off adult and hacking-related sites

This point should be an obvious one!  Neither of them are run by individuals with your family’s safety at the forefront of their minds!  Sites involved with teaching hacking techniques are ALWAYS at risk for infecting your computer!  If you have K-9 Internet Protection installed and running correctly, it should keep you from stumbling accross one of these anyhow.

7.  Don’t download something that you don’t know much about (do research)

There are many free games and computer programs out there but not all come with some kind of a cost!  Many come with nifty packages of spy-ware and worse!  Make sure you know what you are downloading.  Do some research and see what others are saying about the site and its downloads.  If your pop-ups are going crazy, think about some possible programs or games you’ve recently downloaded and uninstall them to see if the problem is fixed.  Learn how to DO RESEARCH!

8.  Be careful with strangers

I don’t care how friendly they are or how professional the site seems, BE CAREFUL!  Don’t give out any personal information WHATSOEVER in chat rooms, blogs, social networking sites, you name it!  Potential predators OR hackers can use any little peice of information against you!  Check out his site for some more safety tips with strangers: http://www.stayingsafeonline.com/Social%20Networking.htm

9.  Be vague on non-important forms

There are contact forms on many sites and blogs.  There are forms to be filled out for almost any free service offered online.  Be vague with personal information.  I may give the city and state but never my actual address and I usually give the weatherman’s phone number if it’s not important.  I don’t even give my full last name if I don’t think it’s needed.  All of that is on a need-to-know basis!

Many of these points are probably known but sometimes it’s easy to forget.  Many issues we have with our computers and our identity can be avoided with a little forethought.  And yes, sometimes we need to learn from experience, but why if we don’t have to!

Say tuned because soon I will be writing a post more specifically geared toward child safety online!

Anything I may have missed?  Post a comment or two!