Safe Internet Use Tips

These days we can say that if you haven’t tried using the internet yet, you really are way behind technology now. But internet usage must always be with caution as it may harm your computer, your files, personal information and money.

There are some guides on a safe internet usage. And these are some of it.

1. Never click a link if unsure of the publisher or sender from an email as it may direct you to a site with potential virus.

2. Some pop-up windows may mislead you to virus. For example, a window appears saying that “virus found! Click here to scan your computer” (or anything like this), then after you click on it a program will install and you not knowing that it already created a virus on your computer. That’s really going to be annoying.

3. On emails, just delete messages with senders that you don’t know. But sometimes hackers are pretty wise that they can actually use known companies to make you believe that they are real. For example is DHL, when coincidently you are waiting for a package but then first think if you have given them you email address or any personal information to them then you can TEMPORARILY trust this one as sometimes emails coming from this sender gives you a link to a virus.

4. For some people this is what they’re really looking for but stay away from porn sites. As porn site tend to have so much pop-up windows appearing.

5. Some pop-up windows also can mislead you, instead of clicking the close button, the close button inside the window is already the link to a potential virus. I always prefer to click the “x” button on the upper right side of the window to make sure that I’m not clicking on any link.

6. When you’re searching for a download, some sites may ask you to install first a program to download what you’re looking for but really this is not true as it only leads you to install their program that may have potential virus.

7. Only trust known publishers like Microsoft, yahoo, Google, etc.

8. Never trust links that gives you free items or gift of any kind as those aren’t really true. Some may even say that you won a lottery and says that you have to give them you personal information.

9. When downloading from a p2p program like mp3’s or videos, just select the ones that have the most details like artist, album name, etc. because some items might appear with suspicious file size like a 4 minute mp3 but only kb of file size. These files only have the filename that you’re looking for but it’s not the real thing.

10. Never trust a free trial items that comes from unknown publisher and then asks for your personal information first before you can actually have them. Some may even ask for you phone number, address, and worse, your credit card number.

11. Spam emails. Sometimes you wouldn’t notice but you are actually involved in creating spam emails. Just don’t get carried away when someone trying to get you to forward emails to a certain amount of people and when you don’t do it something really bad will happen to you or your family. Please don’t believe those emails, I just ignored those emails and deleted them.

One thing that I really learned form all of this is that never ever give your personal info, phone number and address as this can be used to terrorize your private life. And also if you have a credit card, just make sure that you use it only on trusted publishers.

So there you go. Just always remember these guidelines and hopefully learn from it to be safe in using the internet.

If you have any question or concerns, just leave a comment or email me at lrbolor@gmail.com