 Surfing
Safety Net
Alan Dawson
You may have been lucky enough to get a new computer for
yourself or your children this year, and whilst the hype over the
internet and dotcom stock boom has burst, the value and use of the
internet continues to grow, and getting online should be considered
a priority for any computer user.
Surfing safely on the net is not hard and mainly comes
down to protecting yourself in the following areas:
1. Protecting yourself from viruses
2. Protecting yourself from unauthorised access
3. Protecting your privacy
Viruses
Virus is a broad term used to describe any piece of software that
copies itself around your, and other people's, computers and which
also may damage or reveal your personal data.
The first defence is installing antivirus software
and making sure it is up to date and running properly. There are
a number of commercial anti virus software products from vendors,
such as Symantec, McAffee, and E-trust. A free
alternative to the commercial products is Grisoft's AVG.
http://www.grisoft.com.
This is a full anti virus solution, with regular updates to protect
you against the latest threats.
Unauthorised Access
A piece of software called a firewall is generally
used to protect computers from unauthorised external access. Windows
XP comes with a built in firewall, but it isn't turned on 'out of
the box', so you need to do that straight away. Unfortunately it
also isn't very easy to configure or to customise. A better firewall
is “Kerio personal firewall” available from
http://www.kerio.com/kpf_home.html
which is free for personal use.
Protecting your privacy
Whilst the Internet seems a very anonymous and private place, many
people are interested in tracking your usage and obtaining personal
information for reasons ranging from targeting you with junk email
to stealing bank details.
When ever you purchase something on the internet make sure that
its done on a 'secure' web site. You can spot these
because the web address will begin with “https://”
rather than the usual “http://” and
your browser will display a padlock icon in the bottom corner.
Some applications collect information about your surfing habits
and favourite sites, whilst masquerading as useful tools, like internet
connection speedups, or power toolbars for your browser. Don't
install random pieces of software from web sites, they are unlikely
to be what they say they are.
A free tool to clean up your pc from “spyware” is available:
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware
Rarely give out your e-mail address, or if you do register with
web sites, set up a dummy address at hotmail or yahoo.com to use,
whilst keeping a personal address for real use. Never reply
to spam e-mail, its a technique spammers use to find live mailboxes.
In general you should reveal as little as possible to anybody on
the web, whether in chat rooms, or on web pages.
Sources
The information in this article is drawn from the “Welcome
to the Future – the Burngreave Internet Access Report”,
available from BCAT, or online at:
http://www.burngreave.net/reports/2003/InternetAccessReport.pdf
and “The XP Survival Guide” from http://www.cablemodemhelp.com/xpsurvivalguide.pdf
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