Internet security tips for individuals
Read tips for users to protect themselves from harmful sites, software, people and scams online.
1. Avoid Falling in Scams
Don't believe what ever you hear or see on internet. 'Earn $100 per day working from home', this sounds pretty good and seems to be genuine. But actually you will be trapped in large internet scams and will lose more than what you are expecting to earn. At Least have a common sense to understand that even a trained Engineer holding a valuable degree cannot earn this much money in a single day. Actually the main objective of scammers is to pass the money, which is being stolen from some other sources, to your hands and from your hands it will be redirected to the thieves itself via electronic payment. You will never come to know this and authorised people cannot suspect them, as scammers pass that money to unsuspecting people like you.2. Set a strong and serious password for your accounts
Try adding complex passwords for your accounts which are significant only to you. Never let anyone online know your password. Don't ever keep simple passwords like '1234' or 'abcd'. You must keep a long and strong complex password such that you can still remember what the password is. You must keep a password that is combination of numbers as well as characters. For example, when you wish to keep your password to be 'lovingboss' then you can turn it to combination of numbers and letters by typing '10v1n6b055'. This is a simple example and you can come up with more such interesting as well as complex passwords. 3. Split your Emails
It is very easy to link your accounts with Facebook, Twitter and similar kind of social networking accounts, as you will not be asked to provide full details again and again. But rather than linking them all into one email address, it is recommended for you to use different addresses. It is also recommended to split your email address per social activities as well as another for finance or business. Even though the above process is time consuming as well as a complex process, but this kind of process will add more security to your accounts from being hacked.4. Be careful while on Public Networks
Be very careful while you are using a public networks. Never ever think to do financial transaction on a public network. Always use a secured or personal network for such electronic transaction. Also while on a public network,send your details about personal as well as financial only after assuring the full security or if the network is set up yourself. We cannot predict what type of machine will be used by a internet Cafe to record the user's sensitive personal information. While on a hotel, you may also deal with free broadcasting networks known as 'Free Internet Access' which will be broadcasted by hackers from a laptop to record all your data as you type.5. Virtualise
This is the process of making up a virtual PC. The concept of virtual PC is very simple, create virtual PC to surf, browse and what ever things that you need to do on the internet. Just after completing your works, destroy it. The virtual PC will be destroyed along with what you have surfed or what you have browsed and with destroy along with any viruses that may have infected the virtual PC during online. This type of surfing concept is very good as well as too safe. You don't need to afraid about any malwares or spywares affecting your computer. 6. Update Your Softwres
Windows 7 and most of other major softwares have automatic updating, by which they update themselves, but you should still allow their updates manually to make sure that they works perfectly. Updating your softwares will improve more security and will stay away from getting infected from any other sources.7. Don't follow links to URLs
Never follow such kind of link to URLs which may be mailed to you, rather enter such type of important URLs yourself. Also try not to Google your Bank details or address, because Google may be tricked by hackers and you will resulted in becoming a victim of spammers. 8. Check site safety
You can safely surf any website by checking whether it is safe or not. McAfee's excellent Site Advisor will help you determine whether a particular site is safe to browse or not. The functionality of McAfee is that, it provides complete details about the dangerous sites within the search results using a traffic light system enabled plugin which is inbuilt within the McAfee..
