Surfing The Web Safely And Securely

The number of resources available to an individual who is using the Internet is almost limitless. Regardless of your interests, hobbies, professions, or curiosity, you can, almost without fail find something related to your topic of choice.

While the first data sent across the Internet during it's development may have been simple letters but today its a smorgasbord of text, pictures, videos, and audio clips. And along with all that fantastic data available there are those people out there who are trying to cause trouble.

It's important that we all take important steps to protect ourselves from malicious websites, viruses, and scripts that might reside on the Internet. It doesn't matter what type of computer you use, most web attacks know no bounds. And some of the safety precautions we are able to take are amazingly easy.Keep your browser up to date!

One of the simplest things you can do is to keep your browser current with the latest version. A huge percentage of web-based attacks are perpetrated by exploiting known flaws in out-dated browser versions. It doesn't matter what browser you use, updating it when available can eliminate a large number of potential risks. You can also feel free to try any number of other secure browsers as well. Maybe give these a shot:

Mozilla Firefox

Google Chrome

Apple Safari

Opera

As you become more familiar with some of these browsers you may venture into the realm of adding in browser-based plug-ins. These are 3rd party tools that are created to enhance the web browsing experience in some way. As an example, Firefox has a plug-in called "NoScript" which has the goal of eliminating the possibility of a website running potentially malicious code on your machine.Prevent Spyware and other Malicious Software Spyware and Adware is a classification of program with less than noble intentions. They install themselves in attempt to track your browsing habits or distribute pop-ads on your computer, sometimes when you are not even using the Internet. Along with aforementioned practice of keeping your browser up-to-date, there are free pieces of software available to keep this software from being installed without your permission.

Lavasoft Ad-Aware (Free Version)

Spybot Search and Destroy (Slightly more complicated to use)

Malware Bytes

These pieces of software are very well trusted and are run like a virus scan, either through a scheduled time, a constant scan residing in your taskbar, or a voluntary scan.Practice Safe Browsing Habits Security measures will only get you so far. Just because you are wearing a bullet-proof vest doesn't mean that you go looking for a gunfight. And just because you have a good browser and Antivirus software doesn't mean you purposely see if you can get your computer infected.

There are a couple simple tips you can exercise to greatly reduce your risk of getting malicious things installed on your computer.

1. Don't blindly follow links. Just because your mother, friend, or co-worker sent you a link or shared one on Facebook doesn't mean it is safe. They could have had their computer compromised. For example, many viruses are spread through Facebook, disguising themselves as a fun Facebook application and convince people to click a link that takes them off of Facebook to a malicious site that attempts to install a third-party program.

2. Beware of sites that want to install toolbars or anything trying to masquerade as "helpful" software. These usually try to hijack your browser when you search for things and redirect you to sites that might be unsafe.

3. Be careful when you receive emails from companies you have a partnership with. This could be your bank, Google, Facebook, or any other websites you might have accounts with. Pay close attention to the grammar they use and what they are asking you to do. If these come from some one pretending to be one of these sites, these are referred to as "phishing emails." If you receive an email claiming to be from your bank but then ask you to respond to the email with your account number and other security information inside the email, this is a scam. Your bank, or any other site, will NEVER (let me reiterate, NEVER) ask you for your personal details in an email. If you have your doubts, manually type in the address to the site you think might be having issues and check there. For example, if you receive an email from Google asking you to change your password because of a supposed security breach, manually type google.com into your browser and log-in and check for notifications. Don't click on links you have any doubts about.

4. Beware of software you download. I know this might sound funny since in this post I have recommended that you download a new or updated web browser as well as anti-adware/spyware programs, but a simple Google search for any of their names will return thousands of results that will verify their validity. Always exercise caution when trying unknown software. There are plenty of respectable software companies that provide 99% of the solutions you probably need online. Need a free music player? Apple provides iTunes for free. Nullsoft provides Winamp. Both well-established and popular pieces of software that are safe and secure. The same can be said about video players, text editors, and any other types of software that you might need one day.

There are endless steps that can be taken to ensure that your web browsing experience is safe. Now the point of this post isn't to scare people about using the Internet because it is a safe estimation to say that 99& of all websites are perfectly safe. Sometimes "adware" is no more than an aggressive ad-tracking campaign. It is just important to know that most computer problems that people run into are easily avoided by exercising common sense and being careful on what sites you visit, what you click on, and what files you open.


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