How to Protect Yourself and Your Computer on the Web by Yana Kononykhina

I have been a user of the Web for years, so I would like to share some simple tips how to stay safe in the Internet.

First of all, I suggest getting an antivirus. You do not have to buy costly antivirus software, because there are plenty of good free programs such as AVG, AVAST, Microsoft Security Essentials and so on. Just check for updates frequently.

The second, there is no perfect protection from the viruses/spyware, so be prepared. If the antivirus failed and something wrong is going on to the computer, there is still a way to fix it and save your data. The antiviruses companies offer free removal and scan tools for an emergency situation. For example, <a href= “http://www.freedrweb.com/cureit/?lng=en”>Dr.Web CureIt!</a> or <a href= “http://support.kaspersky.com/viruses/avptool2011?level=2”>Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool</a>. You should download it and write to the USB flash drive or CD. That is it. When time will come, you can use these tools for scanning and curing the computer.

Next, if you are shopping online, use a trustful secured websites. The secured address looks like https://.

Also try to avoid use public computers for shopping and financial operations. If there is no choice, then at least do not forget to log out from the website.

The next important thing is kids and teens online. In my opinion, parents should tell their kids what actions are acceptable online and what is wrong.  The parents should control what their children post on the social networking websites (Facebook), and what kind of personal information are they share. Furthermore, some of antiviruses offer a parental control. For instance, Kaspersky Internet Security provides options to block certain websites, limit access to the internet and computer by creating parents` passwords and more.

The basic recommendations include awareness on what link you are going to click or what file you are going to download. If there are some doubts about safety, just do not perform any actions.

Of course, these tips do not cover everything, but what you have to do is: do not click suspicious links, choose password wisely, use antivirus and firewalls, do not share your personal information unless you sure it is secured.

The list of the worst passwords: <a href= “http://www.dawn.com/2011/11/26/%E2%80%98password%E2%80%99-tops-the-list-of-worst-passwords-for-2011.html”>here</a>