Get used to employing safe-surfing habits

The world is filled with dangers lurking all over the place, and so is, by extension, the world–wide web. While surfing the Internet, you might be feeling you’re swimming in shark–infested waters. You’re not. More often than not, it’s the panicky headlines that scare you. Still, there are a few basic precautions to make your surfing safer.

Generally, millions of web pages are now available these days. They cover every conceivable topic, and most are quite harmless.

Still, there are sites out there that are designed to take advantage of flaws in your browser software, or attempt to trick you into revealing personal information that criminals of all kinds of persuasion can use for crimes like identity theft.

This simple Safe Surfing Guide will show you how to spot things like fake web sites, suspicious e–mails and other basic Internet dangers. Future Guides will cover related topics such as Identity Theft and Malware.

First off, you will need to ensure you have an up–to–date antivirus program installed on your computer. This will ensure that if you happen to stumble upon a malicious website, that no viruses are able to be sent to your PC; there are several ways this can be done without your input, so be warned. One of the best free anti-virus programs available is AVG Anti-Virus by Grisoft. This program updates itself daily, whenever you connect to the Internet. It also checks e–mails automatically for viruses, and uses very little memory to run.

Next, ensure your PC is connected to the Internet through a home router. This is important, as almost all routers sold in the last few years include a hardware firewall. This is a defensive wall between you and the Internet that blocks ALL unauthorized access to your PC automatically while you are browsing the Internet. This wall stops hackers from ‘seeing’ your PC as they scan the various networks for folk who do NOT have a firewall and then, they proceed to hack THEM. Luckily, routers from such companies as Linksys and Netgear do all the hard work for you: simply plug your PC into the router, plug your Internet connection into the router, and after a simple setup, you’re surfing the ’net protected from hackers. It’s like flying in a stealth plane: they simply can’t see you.

Okay, now that you have your anti–virus and router, go get Firefox to use as a browser. In a nutshell, this is the best browser out there, miles ahead of Internet Explorer. It has far fewer ‘flaws’ that can be exploited by hackers, its fast, has a ton of features, and it’s free.

You must have also heard about ‘cookies’. These are small files placed on your PC by web sites that are mostly used to track when you were last there to visit. They are usually harmless and store very little information. If you wish, you can always set your browser options to clear them out after each session.

Now that you have Firefox installed, you are ready to surf the Internet in relative safety.

But you still need to know a few more things about what you might find while surfing: malicious web sites, extremely persistent advertising, and phishing (fraudsters trying to trick you into revealing personal info).

Malicious web sites are sites designed for one thing: installing nasty bits of software on your PC any way they can. Some sites simply install what is commonly called ‘spyware’ which can do many things, including watching where you surf and even logging your keystrokes. That’’s bad news if you’re typing in passwords! It’s a good idea to install a program like Spybot Search & Destroy, to scan your PC once a week for any spyware that might have accidentally been installed while you were surfing and clicking. Malware, a more damaging cousin to spyware, is software designed to do harm to your PC, or to steal data. Programs like Malware Sweeper will detect and remove these somewhat rarer bits of software from your PC, as long as you scan for them regularly.

To avoid accidentally installing spyware or malware, here’s the only tip you need to know: NEVER click on a popup ad, period. These ads will often offer ‘free screensavers’ or tell you that you have ‘won’ by being the millionth visitor. Don’t be fooled; most of these ads will try to install things on your PC that you do NOT want. Simply close the windows with the small ‘x’ in the corner, as you want to try to avoid even clicking ‘cancel’ it might be a fake button. The ads come in many forms, almost all designed to be enticing and ‘clickable’.

Which brings us to persistent advertising. Sometimes, when you surf to a web site, you can’t leave: the designers have coded their site to hijack your browser back to them, over and over again. Or even worse, they have ads popping up all over your screen.

If you find that you can’t escape from a web site, there is a way out: shut down your PC. Usually, this will close the browser and you’ll be fine once you restart. More advanced users will know to use the Control–Alt–Delete key combo to bring up Task Manager and to ‘end–task’ Firefox. Sometimes, it’s the only way to escape.

Finally, phishing is the most common form of danger you may encounter in surfing the web. Usually tied to e–mail, a fraud artist will try to fool you into thinking you have received a legitimate message, asking you to ‘re–enter’ your account information on what is actually a fake web site. These ‘phishing’ web sites, usually linked to from a fraudulent e–mail, look VERY similar to real web sites, such as those used by banks or even eBay. The best way to avoid trouble is NOT to click on any links within a suspicious e–mail. Instead, call up your Firefox browser and go to the official web site yourself, where it’s almost certain you’ll find nothing amiss. Phishing con artists play on your emotions to get you to fall into their trap, usually citing that your ‘account has been suspended’ or something similar to make you respond before you can think it through. Simply put, ignore e–mails that direct you to enter personal information. No legitimate business will ever contact you only through e–mail to ask for such details when they can just phone you.

One other thing to look for when trying to determine if a web site is ‘official’ or not is its security logo. Any legitimate online banking or business site will have a small ‘padlock’ symbol displayed in the bottom part of Firefox’s window. Moving your mouse over this symbol will display the site’s security credentials, which usually consist of the web site address and a popup message ‘Verified by Verisign’. Along with the fact that the address bar at the top of the Firefox window will be a yellow colour, these details mean that the web site is an official one, as such credentials are designed to be impossible to fake.

A final piece of advice to keep you safe: be suspicious. Don’t click on flashy ads, don’t enter your personal information into web sites you aren’t totally comfortable with using, and don’t click on any links in e–mails from people or companies you don’t know. If this seems a little paranoid, then simply accept the fact that a little goes a long way to keeping yourself safe. There are too many ways nowadays for an innocuous link in an e–mail or on a web site to lead you into trouble, fast. Practice safe surfing and you can enjoy the many wonders of the Internet, while avoiding the few nasty surprises it has for the uninformed.