precautions while using websites

Some sites may share information such as email addresses or user preferences with other companies. This may lead to an increase in spam. Also, try to locate the policy for handling referrals to make sure that you do not unintentionally sign your friends up for spam. Some sites will continue to send email messages to anyone you refer until they join.

Anti virus software recognizes most known viruses and protects your computer against them, so you may be able to detect and remove the virus before it can do any damage. Because attackers are continually writing new viruses, it is important to keep your definitions up to date.

It s true, they re watching you. Every time you surf the web even in the privacy of your home your actions are constantly being tracked. For instance, if you have signed in to your Google or Microsoft account, your searches are monitored by Google Search and Bing to serve you tailor made results. If you are window shopping online, the websites you visit leave cookies on your PC, which are used to serve you advertisements throughout your browsing session. Similarly, Facebook recently announced that it would be tracking user s browsing habits.

Sign out of all your accounts before browsing websites, or using search engines. Uninstall search tool bars that you might have installed. Check the extensions that your browser is running refer to the browser Help section to know more about extensions , and disable the ones that you don t recognize.

Disconnect: Blocks trackers from popular sites Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Safari HTTPS Everywhere: Redirects to secure HTTPS versions of sites where possible Chrome, Firefox Adblock Plus: Blocks intrusive ads Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Safari

If someone has your full name and knows the area where you live, they can find you online. If they can figure out when youll be gone, youre inviting disaster.

Keep some things a secret. Telling the world where you are and what youre doing can be used to predict where youll be in the future. If you re excited about an upcoming vacation, keep it to yourself. Criminals use this information to determine the best time to rob your home.

Many social media sites offer incentives for visiting certain places and posting your whereabouts online. Keep in mind every time you do this, you tell anyone watching exactly where you are and how far you are away from home.

Your smart phone may have this function without your knowledge. There are numerous online websites that help you do this for your phone. Just search online to find one.

That you receive in messages from your friends on your social website. Treat links in messages on these sites as you would links in e mail messages.