When you are using the Internet you know that it is a great way to connect with people and get information. The problem is you may not know the proper information on how to stay safe online. When you have the information and are using it properly you will be able to keep yourself safe when you are browsing online, and also help keep your entire family safe. When you do not have this information, though, you may have trouble in getting to protect yourself and the children you dearly love.
How To Stay Safe Online: Make Sure You Use Proper Settings On Browsers
One of the major problems people have is not using the right settings on their browsers. When you are not using the right browser settings, you end up allowing hackers into the information, but also will let other people get onto websites they are not supposed to be involved with. For example, you may think you have all of your information set up properly, but you could quickly find you forgot to set up a kid rating. Most of the time when you forget to set up a kid rating or a kid account on the browsers they will have full access to the Internet, just like you. Then they can get onto any of the websites which you do not want them to be involved with or even worse get involved with some of the websites which can lead to them having to give out too much information about themselves.
How To Stay Safe Online: Establish Passwords On All The Files You Deem Important
Keeping your information private is hard to do with the Internet and how easy it is for hackers to get onto your system or the systems of your company. However, if you want to make it a little bit more difficult for the hackers, then you should password protect any of the files which you think are important. When your password protects all of these files, it will be easy for you to know you are going to have your information secure. A key note here, is you do not want to use the same password for your browser and the files. The reason you do not want to do this is the hackers will already have your browser password, so they could easily get into your other files as well and this can make it nearly impossible for you to keep all of your information safe and secure.
How To Stay Safe Online: Change Your Passwords On A Regular Basis
Generally, you will have one or two passwords that you plan on using. When you have so few passwords you will want to keep them in place for a really long time. This is a good idea at times, but the major problem you may face is when people are able to figure out one of your passwords, they are able to figure them all out for every site you work on. So you need to make sure you have more than just one or two passwords, but also make sure you are changing these passwords on a regular basis. Then you will not have to be concerned about all of your passwords being figured out. As a side note, you need to use a different password for each website you go to, and then you do not have to worry about every website being compromised if one of them gets compromised.
How To Stay Safe Online: Make Sure You Have Separate Email Accounts
You may be asking yourself, why would you need to have separate email accounts this is a good question. The key answer to why you should have these separate accounts is each one will be responsible for a specific aspect of your online life. For example, you would want to have your banking information tied in with one account, social networking with a separate email, a personal email address, and then one which you would want to use for work or the other types of websites which you are going to visit. Then you will not have to worry about having one email account which can be hacked into and then have all of your information available to the identity thieves. Without this type of account, you will have problems getting to have the email accounts safe from hackers.
How To Stay Safe Online: Maintain Updated Virus Programs
Viruses come in many different forms and this can be a problem for many computers. However, you need to make sure you are updating all of your computer’s virus protection programs on a regular basis. When you are updating this on a regular basis, you will have a great chance of fending off the viruses which can affect your computer. Sometimes you will find the virus programs will help you block off some of the different phishing scams which have been reported on a site as well. Since the Internet has become so popular many people will look at the virus programs as identifying a website as being safe for them to use or not. By making sure your site is safe for use, though, you can easily have the protection you need to have and know your information will be safe. For example, you know Amazon is a safe website to use and buy stuff off of. However, if you go to the ABC website you may find they are just getting your information and billing your card, then they just put you off for months on end while they are taking your money and spending it on what they want to.
How To Stay Safe Online: Do Not Provide Personal Information
You know you have to provide some personal information to different websites when you are working on them. However, you need to make sure you are limiting the amount of information you are giving out. Then you can start to have a better chance of protecting your identity, but also be able to keep your information safe. When you do have to give out information, though, you will want to make sure you look at the site and know what they are going to do with the information. Then you will feel safe in giving out the information and know how it is going to be used and what purpose it will be used for.
– A key factor when you are giving out personal information is to make sure you know more information about what the site is doing. For example, if you are working for the website make sure you provide the information you have to and nothing extra. Some of these websites will require you to give out your social security number, but this is because of the different tax laws which they have to follow. When they do ask for your social security number, you need to make sure it is a legitimate site and one which you have researched. Then you can make sure you are properly safe from any harm or identity stealing.
How To Stay Safe Online: Security Patches Are Important
Getting updates about your security on the computer can be a good thing, but you may have never really thought about this before. You need to make sure you have the properly updated security patches to guarantee it will be fitting for what you need to have. Without this information and updates, you may have problems when you go to certain sites being able to download your information or even worse have a gap in the security of your computer and this can easily allow people to have access to your computer when they should not be able to get into your computer at all.
How To Stay Safe Online: Provide Kids With Their Own Accounts
Browsers on the Internet and even the computers have been set up so you can provide different logins for people. This is key when you are working online on a regular basis. By having the different accounts set up, though, you are able to keep yourself safe with the limits you want on your account. However, when you have different accounts set up for your kids, you can change the restrictions which you want to have and know they are not going to be getting into the different websites which they should not have. When you also have the different accounts set up you can restrict access for your kids to the different programs you are using. For example, you may not want your kids getting into the accounting program you are using and when you have a separate account for your kids you can easily have this set up to keep the program from being accessed by them.
Having the chance to browse the Internet and find out information can be a good thing. The problem is you may not know how to stay safe online. When you know about how to stay safe here, though, and are following all the proper guidelines it is easy for you to have a great time and know your computer will be safe and so will you. Without this, you will have problems in keeping yourself safe and even worse have a major problem in keeping your children safe when they are using your computer. Just remember never give out personal information, unless you absolutely trust the website which you are on and it is a required bit of information which you have to give out.