How to Browse the Web Safely

I am a writer who usually writes articles about self-defense and personal security, but this time I will write an article on a different subject. Sure, this is still in the security niche, but we are stepping aside from the real world and going online for a bit! This article is aimed to help you avoid scams, viruses, identity theft and other dangers that lurk on the Internet these days. Following my advice does not guarantee that you will never be victim of these criminal actions, but it certainly decreases these chances.

So, where should one start? There are quite a lot of dangers lurking on the Internet, so I believe we should start from the most dangerous. In my opinion, the most dangerous threats on the Internet are those that aim to steal your money or personal information. These often come in the form of online scams or as dangerous viruses. You should, for a start, get a reliable and trustworthy antivirus. A lot of people already have one, but do you own a license to it? If you are using a pirated version or a free one, then I wouldn't exactly call this the best form of protection.

Once you have purchased and installed reliable antivirus software, you should schedule security scans once per month. Make sure that the antivirus is always turned on and is constantly protecting your machine. Whenever you download any files on the Internet, or receive a disk or USB memory stick from your friend, make sure to scan these files before opening them. If a website seems very suspicious and untrustworthy, then a rule of thumb is that you shouldn't really download anything from it other than documents and PDFs.

Protecting Oneself from Internet Scams

Your antivirus cannot protect you from your own mistakes and ignorance. Internet scams rarely register as threats as they seem pretty clean. The most common scams on the Internet are actually aimed to be quite legal. These are sites that are selling eBooks and DVDs that are supposed to teach you how to seduce women, help you lose weight or get the body of your dream. Sure enough, you will really get your product, but the quality will most likely not be worth the $100 that you paid for it.

Other Internet scams that are even worse are those sites that are offering to teach you how to earn a lot of money. Anything that is offering you millions of dollars without you lifting a finger is, by rule of common logic, a scam. You will just waste your time and money by investing into programs and projects that do not even exist and you will not be able to get it back. These two categories are the worst forms of Internet scams since they are based on your own ignorance and you can only blame yourself at the end of the day. However, once you know all of this, you can easily avoid making these mistakes.