I am sure most people enjoy surfing the internet. The invention of internet does bring many advantages to us, but it can also be dangerous if you are not careful enough. There are several things that you have to beware of.
1. Malware:
Malware is the short form for 'malicious software'. Malware are softwares that can harm your computer. Malware threats usually infect your computer through infected e-mails, websites, programs, files, pendrives, memory cards and diskettes. There are many different types of malware, different types of malware harms your computer in different ways.
a) Virus: Viruses can damage your computer and destroy files stored in the computer. It can even format your hard drive and cause you unable to start your computer.
b) Spyware: Spywares can spy on what you are doing on your computer and steal personal information. It can even see you through your webcam.
c) Adware: Adwares display unwanted advertisements on your computer. It can ruin the appearance of your computer. The contents of the displayed advertisements are usually inappropriate.
d) Worm: Worms can cause your computer to have problems. It can cause your computer to slow down and often hangs. It can even cause programs and Windows features to stop working properly.
e) Trojan: Trojans can control over your computer. It secretly makes harmful changes to your computer and also steal personal informations.
f) Hijacker: Hijackers change the home page of your internet browser. It can even force your internet browser to enter a specific web page. The web page usually contains viruses.
g) Dialler: Diallers secretly connect your computer to the internet, causing you to be charged for the internet connection fee.
h) Enabler: Enabler does not harm your computer, but it is used by other malware threats to harm your computer. Enablers cannot function by itself without other malware threats.
i) Rootkit: Rootkits are hidden threats in your computer that can provide other malware threats with administrative access to your computer. It is difficult to be detected by ordinary security programs.
j) Hacker/Hack tool: Hackers can bypass a password protection and steal the password. It can even attack security programs on your computer in order to deliver malware threats.
k) Scareware/Fake Antivirus: Scarewares are fake security programs. It tricks you by saying that your computer is infected with malware and wants you to purchase it in order to remove the detected malware threats.
2. Spam and Junk Mail:
Spam and junk mails are unwanted emails that contains unwanted advertisement. It may even contain viruses and fraud. Some companies send spam to people's email address in order to earn a profit. They get the email addresses by searching for them on the internet and by tricking people to give them their email address. Spam and junk mails can use up the storage space of your email inbox and can be very irritating.
3. Fraud and Phishing Sites:
Fraud and phishing sites are fake websites. It looks the same like a particular website but actually it is not. The purpose of people creating fraud and phishing sites is to steal passwords. When other people arrive on the fraud or phishing site, they may not be aware of that, so they will just sign in to that website with their user name and password. If this happens, their password had been stolen by the creator of the fraud or phishing sites. Fraud and phishing sites are commonly used to steal passwords from social networking website like Facebook, but some even steal passwords of bank accounts.
4. Bad People:
Bad people is everywhere on the internet, especially in social networking and chat programs such as Facebook, Friendster, Twitter, Tagged, MSN, Yahoo Messenger and Skype. They uses fake identities like name, gender, age, address and photo. For example, a 30 year old man may say that he is a 15 year old girl, and uses a 15 year old girl photo. They use the fake identities to interact with other users on the internet, mainly children and teenagers. They will trick the other person to give them their personal information like address and telephone. After that, they will disturb the other person and the family through calls and visits. Some bad people even trick a person to go alone to a particular place to meet each other, then use that change to kidnap that person.
Above are all the dangers on the internet. So, how to stay safe on the internet? There are several things that you have to do in order to keep yourself safe on the internet. These are the ways:
1. Install Anti-virus Program:
Anti-virus program protects your computer from viruses, worms, trojans and other malware threats. A good anti-virus program is able to scan your computer for viruses, remove detected viruses, prevent virus attacks and update virus definitions. If you do not have a good anti-virus on your computer, or if the trial version of the anti-virus had expired, you should download and install one of the free anti-viruses below.
a) Microsoft Security Essentials: http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials
b) AVG Anti-virus: http://free.avg.com/
c) Avira Anti-virus: http://free.avira.com/
d) Avast Anti-virus: http://www.avast.com/free-antivirus-download
If you already have a anti-virus program on your computer, you should uninstall it before installing the anti-virus program above. Using two anti-virus program at the same time can slow down your computer. You should update your anti-virus and scan your computer at least once in a week for maximum safety. If a virus is detected, you should remove it.
2. Install Anti-spyware Program:
Anti-spyware program protects your computer from spyware, adware and other malware threats. A good anti-spyware program is able to scan your computer for threats, remove detected threats, prevent malware infections and update definitions. Windows Vista and Windows 7 computers come with Windows Defender, which is a good anti-spyware program. If you are not using Windows Vista or 7, and you do not have a good anti-spyware on your computer, or if the trial version of the anti-spyware had expired, you should download and install one of the free anti-spywares below.
a) Windows Defender: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/defender/default.mspx
b) Spyware Doctor with Anti-virus: http://pack.google.com/
c) Ad-Aware: http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php
d) Spyware Terminator: http://www.spywareterminator.com/
If you already have a anti-spyware program on your computer, you should uninstall it before installing the anti-spyware program above. Using two anti-spyware program at the same time can slow down your computer. You should update the anti-spyware and scan your computer at least once in a week for maximum safety. If a malware threat is detected, you should remove it.
3. Install Firewall Program:
Firewall program protects your computer from hackers and other malware threats. A good firewall program is able to block hacker attacks and unauthorised access to your computer. Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 computers come with Windows Firewall, which is a good firewall program.
To turn on Windows Firewall, go to Start > All Programs > Control Panel > Windows Firewall . Select 'On (Recommended)' and click 'OK'. If a hacker attack or unauthorised access to your computer is detected, you should block it.
4. Install Netcraft Toobar:
Netcraft toolbar protects you against frauds and phishing sites. It displays the risk rating of every website that you are visiting. If the risk rating is high, that means the possibility that the website is a phishing site is high. To download and install Netcraft Toolbar, go to http://toolbar.netcraft.com/ .
5. Install McAfee Site Advisor:
McAfee Site Advisor tells you whether the website you are visiting is safe to visit. It blocks a website if the website is dangerous to visit. To download and install McAfee Site Advisor, go to http://www.siteadvisor.com/ .
6. Turn On Automatic Updates:
Automatic Updates is a Windows feature that can automatically download and install updates for your computer. The updates can fix Windows loopholes and correct errors, which can reduce the risk of hacker attacks. To turn on Automatic Updates, go to Start > Control Panel > Automatic Updates . Select 'Automatic (Recommended)' and click 'OK'. When new updates are available, Automatic Updates will automatically download and install it on your computer.
Note: If your Windows is not genuine, you will be periodically informed of that after you turn on Automatic Updates. Also, you can only get access to some of the updates, but not all.
7. Good Internet Surfing Habits:
You should have good habits while surfing the internet. First, do not give your personal informations such as telephone number, address and photo to anyone else on the internet. Next, never meet with your internet friend alone. Besides that, don't simply click on any link given by your friend on the internet. Also,you should scan a download file or program for viruses and malware before opening it. In addition, scan an email attachment for viruses and malware before downloading it.
