What are the solutions?

There are many ways to address Internet safety and computing security issues. People can modify their behavior, for instance, by not providing personal information. They can also use technology to block attacks on their systems. To stay safer and more secure online, people must keep their guard up, just as they do in the outside world. This section offers some basic guidance that every person should follow to protect themselves and their families online, and to protect their PCs.

Overall, the computing security and Internet safety issues that confront the everyday computer user can be divided into three categories:

Protect your family

Parents and guardians that want to protect their families when they use the Internet need to understand the risks, provide clear guidance for healthy online behavior, talk openly and frequently with their children, and use technology where it can help to reduce their family's exposure to online risks.

There are four basic steps that parents can take today to protect their families online:

1. Talk with your children about what they do online
2. Keep personal information private and teach children how to do the same
3. Set clear rules for Internet use
4. Use family safety software

As soon as children begin to explore the Internet, parents need to set clear rules about when and how they are allowed use it. Parents should talk frankly with their children about Internet risks, including sexual predators, inappropriate content, and invasion of privacy. Teaching children how their own behavior can reduce those risks and help to keep them safe when they are online can empower them.

Parents and guardians should also pay attention to what their children do online, how they use the Internet, and what they experience. One way to achieve this is to place all Internet-connected computers and gaming devices that your children are allowed to use in a central location, such as the living room or family room. Another way to is to encourage children to teach you about their world, to show you what they are doing and who they are meeting.

Finally, parents and guardians should make sure they understand who their children are sharing information with through instant messaging, blogging sites, and other social networks. By encouraging children to never to reveal personal information online, unless given permission, to report immediately if someone starts asking personal questions or wants to arrange to meet them in person, parents and guardians can help keep their personal information private and their children's identities safe from online predators. Parents and guardians can also use family safety software to control and monitor their children's Internet use, establishing limits based on content, title, age, or other preferences.

Protect yourself

Protecting yourself on the Internet means managing or eliminating the nuisances, such as routine spam, and guarding against more serious concerns such as identity theft. To do this, we should practice Internet behavior that lowers our risk, manage our personal information carefully, and use technology to reduce threats and raise the alarm when appropriate.

Below is a list of online safety habits for smart computer use:

• Keep personal information private, taking special care to safeguard and protect bank account, credit card, and identification numbers. Revealing information to the wrong people can open the door to identity theft
• Ignore and delete spam. Don't open or respond to e-mail or other messages from people you don't know and trust
• Avoid hoaxes or scams. Recognize the traits of scams, and don't share sensitive personal information in e-mail or instant messages. Remember that if an offer sounds too good to be true, it probably is
• Use strong passwords. Create passwords with many characters, and combine letters, numbers and symbols. Keep them secret, and change them regularly
• Use trusted Web sites. Make sure you only use Web sites that work to protect your personal information
• One final rule to always keep in mind is "think first, click later." Exercise caution about links and attachments in e-mail and instant messages, and not clicking on banner ads or pop-up windows. After all, the best defense against spam and phishing scams is often simply our own good judgment

Protect your computer

By taking four simple steps, people can help secure their personal computers from many malicious software attacks. Those four steps are:

1. Use an Internet firewall
2. Keep your operating system up to date, preferably by using automatic update features
3. Install and maintain anti-virus software
4. Install and maintain anti-spyware software

There are three basic types of firewalls available today, including software, hardware, and wireless routers. A firewall works by examining information coming from and going to the Internet. It identifies and ignores information that comes from a dangerous location or seems suspicious. If you set up your firewall properly, hackers searching for vulnerable computers can't detect your computer.

It is important for users to keep their operating systems up to date for both security and general PC health. Most operating systems feature an automatic update option, which keep operating systems running in the most efficient manner possible by ensuring that each system is maintained regularly. There are also additional services that check for and remove viruses, improve PC performance, and take further steps to help protect PCs from viruses and spyware.

Anti-virus products work by identifying specific behaviors and files and stopping them from accessing your system, where they will cause damage and further propagate themselves. Good anti-virus products are constantly kept up to date, so maintaining a subscription is important regardless of the product selected.

Anti-spyware products work by identifying specific behaviors and files, stopping them from accessing and damaging your system, and giving you a choice about what to allow or not. Like good anti-virus products, anti-spyware products need to be kept up to date, so maintaining a current subscription is important regardless of the product selected.