IMPORTANT Tips to Stay Safe Online while you surf the internet

The internet is a wonderful place. It is packed to the brim with information and fun. However, deep below all of that, things can be a little bit ‘dark’ sometimes. If you are not careful while you are using the internet, all manner of nasty things can happen to you. Some people end up being scammed. Others end up being the victim of a computer virus. Others just stumble online to places that they probably do not want to be. Hopefully, the tips that you find on this page are going to help you stay safe while you surf the internet.

Don’t Give Out Your Personal Information:

We can’t stress how important this is. Unless you know 100% the person that you are giving the information to, you should say nothing. This means no home address. No telephone numbers. Nothing like that.

Download a Virus Scanner/AntiVirus:

You will want to download and install software which will protect you against viruses and malware when you are online. There are plenty of free options available, but if you want to make sure that you are 100% protected, then you may want to opt for one of the paid options. They tend to be updated more regularly.

It is ideal to have the scanner running in the background always while you are browsing the internet. However, you may also want to run regular scans, at least once every couple of weeks, to ensure that the virus scanner has managed to catch everything.

Never Share Your Passwords:

This ties into personal information somewhat, however, it does go a little bit beyond that. Under no circumstance, you should share your passwords with anybody. This includes people that you know. There is no need for them to have access to this information so do not give it to them!

While we are on the subject of passwords, it is important that you have a different password for each website that you use. If possible, have different email addresses too. This means that even if one gets compromised, the rest of your accounts are not going to end up being compromised too, which is handy!

Use Known Retailers When Shopping:

If you can, try to use well-known retailers while you are shopping online. If you are a little unsure as to whether a site is going to be safe to browse or not, we highly recommend that you check out a few reviews online. This should give you an idea about the website. The only shop with a website that you are 100% certain is not out there to scam you.

Never Save Your Passwords on a Shared Computer:

This is especially important if you are using a computer at an internet café or something like that. Under absolutely no circumstance should you have the password saved? If you do, you are just asking to have your accounts tampered with. This is especially important if you are doing online banking.