Simple Internet Safety Tips

There are many ways to increase internet safety for your computer, data and children while on the internet.  The approaches vary from simple, free, and easy things you can do to expensive and complicated software solutions to provide saftey while on the internet.  The following tips provide some very high level ways to increase your internet safety.

Internet Safety for your kids

Providing internet safety for our children is a big concer for any parent.  While some internet safety methods are specific to children’s use of the internet, many are generally applicable to all of us (kid or not).  For this article, I am focusing on web browser’s specifically designed for children.  There are really not a huge number of these applications available, but the ones here are the best ones I have found.

It is also important to remember that while software can help provide internet safety for our children, it is up to us, the parents, to monitor our kids’ activity and make sure we know what they are doing on-line at all times.

Firewall

Firewalls help protect your network and computer from would be hackers trying to gain access from the outside world.  However, some software based firewalls can also be configured to only allow certain applications to access your network.  This provides more precise control over what connections are permitted to the internet and also what data is exposed.  You could, as an example, only permit internet access to your browser and iTunes but disable access for Instant messaging applications such as AOL IM and MSN Messenger.

Adware/Spyware applications

Adware and Spyware applications are secretly added to your system as you browse the internet and through the installation of some software applications.  Their presence on a computer that is running slowly is often not known as they run as hidden applications.  Adware and Spyware removal applicaitons are the most effective way to elminate adware and spyware applications.  These tools remove Adware and Spyware applications when they are detected on your system.  They maintain an updated list of known adware and spyware applications.  Adware and Spyware removal tools range from completely free to paid services.  I recommend ADWareAlert as it provides scrubbing of applications on your slow computer to ensure that no remnants of the adware or spyware remain and automatic online updates to the application as well as 24×7 support.

Other Internet security methods

In addition to the above methods, you can review our article on personal data security for more ways to increase your internet safety.

Posted in Internet Safety Tips, Tips and Tricks |

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