The usage of internet has evolved over the decade. Instead of just surfing to find information, we now are hugely dependent on the internet for our daily needs. From paying the bills, to buying groceries to investing.

Although very convenient, the transaction via internet do somehow compromise the privacy of our personal information and the confidentiality of our financial information. Our credit card data can be intercepted by third part en-route to the seller’s server. So can all other information of ourselves. As we all know, the lack of confidentiality of our personal information would not only make us go bankrupt but it can and will compromise our safety as well.

We all know that all payment gateways and individual merchant sites do take all the necessary precaution to protect and guard your information from leaks. But is that enough? Definitely NO. You as a consumer too, should shoulder the responsibility of securing your own PC terminal from any unwanted spyware and malwares. It is your liability to surf from a safe PC.

So, let me share with you some of the precaution I take to ensure I am surfing safe.

1. Your PC – If it is already infected or you suspect it is infected with any viruses or spyware, format it. Reinstall everything back. That’s the only effective way off getting rid of spywares.

2. Choosing Browser. – Internet Explorer (especially versions that came before 6.0) are definitely not safe. The hackers can find easy way to hack into and plant spywares anytime of the day. I suggest you use FireFox or Opera even. In choosing the browser, I always believe the more obscure the browser is, the safer it will be since hackers will find way to crack into browsers which are being used by the mass. They won’t waste their time for obscure browsers. Of course using a Not-Well-Known browsers means you have to sort of compromise on the functionality. That is why I am suggesting FireFox. It is well known and it has all up to date functions and features but it is also very popular because of its extreme Hacker-Not-Friendliness.

3. Passwords - Don’t use password that can be guessed (such as you house number, car registration number, the combination of yours and your spouse’s birth dates). Instead use random characters. The longer, the better. You can use Random Password Generator software if you want. Most of them a FREE anyway. If you cannot remember, you can always use Password Management Software like RoboForm. It remembers your password and most of all, promises not to tell anyone either :)

4. Antivirus – Use good antivirus software. You can get good and FREE one on the net, like SpyBot. Update it regularly.

5. Activex - You can turn off Activex control so that websites you are visiting won’t be able to run programs in your computer. But that however, will definitely compromise the functionality of your PC and Web.

6. Alternatives

a) Say No To Windows – its hacker’s heaven. I know however, that it is hard to ditch Windows because Mac is too costly and Linux is too technical. However, there is an easier alternative. Use Linux when you login to your banking accounts so that even if there is spyware in your PC, it can’t get access to your information. You can use Live Linux CD for this purpose

b) SandBoxie – Long explanation short, it acts like a middle man between you and your websites. It lets the websites reads from your Hard Disk but blocks the website from writing to it, thus eliminating at all the possibility of any viruses from getting into your system. I’ve been trying it for more than a month now. It’s a decent tool and comes FREE of CHARGE. You might want to give a try.

FINAL PRECAUTION

Your bank, payment Gateway such as PayPal and E-Gold etc, Your merchant, your investment company and any and all other sites will NEVER ask you to verify your account (they might ask you to verify email add before completing your registration, but that’s it). And even if they do (They don’t, but if), they will certainly NOT ask you to click on any link in email. That will never happen. So if you receive such email, ignore it. Or delete it. Or forward it to the relevant site. But NEVER EVER CLICK ON THE LINK.

That’s all. Hopefully you find something useful in here. And if you have anything at all to add, please feel free to do so.

Tommy

Arena of HYIP