Safe Surfing

aka: Don't be your own worst enemy

In all of my years of dealing with infected, polluted and frankly, somewhat abused computer systems, I have to say that not using Safe Surfing guidelines is the leading cause of malfunctioning computers!

Many times it is youth who just haven't yet learned that there is no such thing as a free (lunch) mp3, killer game, or provacative photo of (insert name of favorite famous female). Other times it's more mature individuals in a temporary lack of judgement.

The hunt for porn (whether free or paid), free screensavers, free mp3's, free games, etc is the best way to end up with an infected computer. Safe Surfing means sticking to what your gut tells you is Ok to do. Pretend your mother is watching you surf (but then again some mothers...).

Not everyone on the internet
is telling the truth

Email and attachments

Some of your contacts are just more prone than others to send you an email that leads to trouble. You know who they are. Be VERY careful when dealing with those! And don't open attachments automatically.

So many of the worst viruses have historically been spread by infecting a computer and then the virus will systematically go through all email contacts and send them an email, usually with an attachment, including a copy of itself to infect those machines. And guess who is listed as the sender - YOU!

SiteAdvisor

I really can't emphasize enough using SiteAdvisor. Whether you use Internet Explorer or an alternative browser like my favorite Firefox, SiteAdvisor has a plug-in for you to use. Please USE IT. It's the best, easy to use guide for Safe Surfing that I know of.

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