By Philip C. The internet is such a great place to be. It connects us to virtually the entire world, and is a vast wealth of knowledge that we can easily access. But as a wise old man once said’ With great power comes great responsibility’ Today, we will share with you 5 habits that you need to know in order to surf the net securely, protecting your computer and your information. 1. Beware of phishing sites Phishing sites are websites that are designed to look like real official websites, in order to deceive you into divulging your personal information, usually your log in credentials or your credit card information. These websites are designed such that they will closely resemble the real website, and if you are not careful and input your information into the website, it will collect the data that you have given to them for their own malicious ends. So how do you protect yourself from these sites? Always check the link in the address bar before you input any information. These sites tend to have a URL that is very similar to the real website, but have some small spelling errors. Do check the address bar carefully for anything suspicious before you give any information online. Here are 2 things to look out for in a phishing website:
2. When downloading anything free, think twice The phrase there is no free lunch in the world is extremely applicable in this world. It is almost impossible to find a place that gives you things for free. Always have the mindset that when something is free, it is fishy. A good example are free softwares, or images, or videos. It is different in the case of software, but if you are downloading an image or a video file, and you realise that it is a .exe file, it is highly likely that what you are downloading is a virus. No matter what you do, don’t open it. It is harder to tell in the case of programs/software as they have to be installed with an .exe anyways, but the rule of thumb is that these files usually contain either viruses or some malware of some kind. Bottomline is, whenever you are surfing the site and you find some kind of ‘free’ service, think twice. “How is this website earning its money? Advertisements?” Also, don’t download anything that wants you to sign up for some SMS service, those are people who are looking to charge you exorbitant prices on an SMS subscription that is hard to get out of. 3. Don’t click on any fishy-looking links Many websites like to get visitors via ‘clickbait’ People who are less alert while surfing the net usually fall prey to these clickbait links. They are usually links that feature articles that make people want to click them, just to satiate the human curiosity. Some fine examples are “This Man Earned $100,000 Per Hour Working From Home, Click Here To Learn His Secret!” or “Use This 5 Useful Tips To Lose Your Belly Fat In Just 1 WEEK”. You get the picture. The more crass ones will try to appeal to the baser instincts of humans, for example, placing a provocative image of a scantily clad woman and inviting people to click. Clicking all these are a huge no-no. They are just gateways for all sorts of malware or viruses to enter into your system. 4. Don’t give away your personal information freely People fall prey to this easily as they might not know what kinds of information should or should not be given. If the site that you are accessing is a site you can trust, for example a bank or a reputable online shopping site (Amazon or Ebay) wanting to know your address is fine, but not every website needs to know this information. Discern whether or not this website needs to know the information they are asking for before you give out any such information. Additionally, taking pictures of your credit card or IC, or even things that have your IC number clearly shown is a moronic act so please refrain from doing such things. Additionally, remember that everything you post online will always stay, so think before uploading anything you don’t want people to see. 5. Don’t try to clear your computer of viruses if you do not know how to If you realise that your computer might have a virus, and you do not know how to get rid of the virus, the safest bet is to look for an expert. As it was said previously, free things tend to have viruses in them, and yes, free antivirus software is usually a virus itself. And the more ‘free’ antivirus you download, the more viruses you are introducing into your computer. We will teach you how to clear a virus from your computer in a later article, but for now, please consult the experts if you do not know how to as this will make things harder for the person clearing your computer when the time comes. Did you learn anything from this article? Did we miss out anything? Leave us a comment in the comments section below! For more great articles, offers and contests, do subscribe to our mailing list and give us a like on our Facebook Page! Recommended articles for you: |