Top 10 staying safe online tips
1. Create strong passwords for websites
2. Install anti-virus software
3. Know common signs of scam emails
4. Explore your web browser's safety and security options
5. Don't click ads!
6. Learn what you should never share online
7. Obtain free software safely
8. Consider free software like Windows Live Family Safety
9. Log off or lock your computer
10. Check for and resolve security issues
1. Introduction to internet safety
- Protect all personal devices with a password
- Create strong passwords for websites
- Protect your list of passwords
- Install anti-virus software
- Avoid common email scams
- Don't open email attachments (yet)
- Know how to perform web searches
- Avoid phishing emails
- Look for the 's' before making an online purchase
- Be mindful in public places
2. Fighting against viruses, adware, and malware
- Identify the threats
- Know who not to trust
- Enable a firewall
- Learn the signs and symptoms of infection
- Verify with Snopes
- Learn how to be safe on Facebook
- Obtain security software
- Install security software
- Verify settings
- Explore Windows Defender
- Run checks for viruses and malware
- Remove spyware with Windows Defender
- Remove viruses and malware with the Malicious Software Removal Tool
3. Avoiding threats in email
- Keep your email program up to date
- Know common signs of scam emails
- Don't talk to strangers!
- Explore the validity of the sender's name
- Hover before you click that link
- When in doubt, visit the entity's official website
- Triple check before opening an attachment
- Configure a junk email filter
- Block unwanted senders
4. Avoiding spam
- Don't share your primary email address
- Tell your friends and family not to share your email address
- Unsubscribe from legitimate mailing lists
- Unsubscribe from unwanted social network email
- Know what to do when you can't click Unsubscribe
- Block email from entire domains
- Block email from foreign countries
- Obtain a secondary email address
- Know when to use your secondary email address
- Avoid unwittingly signing up for unwanted email
- Opt not to receive email from third parties
- Opt not to download images in emails
- Set a stronger spam filter
5. Using alternative web browsers
- Explore Internet Explorer 9
- Explore Firefox
- Explore Chrome
- Explore Safari
- Locate browser installation files
- Download and install a browser
- Import and access existing favourites and bookmarks
- Access and configure settings
- Show toolbars and menus
- Use thumbnail views
- Be mindful of the Address bar
- Avoid installing toolbars and add-ons
- Explore safety and security options
6. Avoiding phishing, pop-ups, ads and other website threats
- Don't click ads!
- Enable a pop-up blocker
- Skip ads that appear on web pages
- Avoid phishing websites
- Report an unsafe website
- Understand cookies
- Delete browsing history
- Keep your browsers up to date
- Consider private browsing options
7. Shopping safely on the web
- Find websites you can trust
- Look for third-party seals of approval
- Read reviews
- Create strong passwords
- Look for the VeriSign logo
- Make purchases from your home computer
- Choose the right credit card
- Consider PayPal
- Verify the shipping address
- Keep receipts and return slips and check credit card statements
- Be safe on eBay
- Use iTunes
8. Using social networking sites safely
- Know which social networks to use
- Protect your password
- Learn what you should never share online
- Know what you're sharing by default
- Limit who can view your profile
- Edit profile information
- Edit personal information
- Understand messaging options
- Unsubscribe from and stop following undesirable people
- Learn how to ask someone to remove content
- Report abusive content
- Be careful what you click
- Be careful with Facebook games
- Learn how to protect your social networking account
9. Sharing your personal information on the web
- Register only if it's mandatory
- Create screen names carefully
- Know how to post anonymously
- Share photos safely
- Learn how to blog safely
- Be careful what you share on dating websites
- Be careful what you post on YouTube
- Explore ways to expunge information from the web
- 'Google' yourself
- Use Google's encrypted search feature
- Make sure your computer is protected
- Educate family members
- Look for your house on Google maps
10. Exploring free software
- Don't install anything, yet!
- Understand the ruse behind the 'free scan'
- Obtain free software safely
- Explore the Microsoft Fix It Solution Center
- Explore Ad-Aware
- Explore OpenOffice
- Use Amazon's Kindle Cloud Reader
- Choose and use a messaging program
- Find more free software you can trust
- Be careful with free trials
- Uninstall unwanted software
11. Keeping children and grandchildren safe
- Understand the basic protection strategies
- Create standard computer user accounts
- Password protect all computer accounts
- Configure the Content Advisor in Internet Explorer
- Locate parental control add-ons in Firefox
- Uninstall or limit access to other installed web browsers
- Explore Google's SafeSearch
- Explore parental controls in Windows 7
- Consider free software like Windows Live Family Safety
- Educate yourself about the sites children visit
- Modify the list of blocked websites
12. Dealing with cyberbullying, cybercrime, and cyberstalking
- Understand the threats
- Know what to do first when problems begin
- Record online attacks
- Keep a folder of personal attacks
- Print what you can
- Report a cyberbully
- Report cyber crime
- Report cyberstalking
- Change your email address, user names, and passwords
- Change or suspend social networking accounts
13. Securing your computer and network
- Log off or lock your computer
- Check for and resolve security issues
- Find and fix problems
- Change administrator accounts to standard accounts
- Keep your operating system up to date
- Check for optional updates
- Keep programs up to date
- Keep your web browser up to date
- Verify your Wi-Fi network is password-protected
Top 10 Staying Safe Online Problems Solved
1. My computer is acting strangely, but it's not a virus!
2. I created an account for my grandchild but he keeps logging on to mine!
3. My child is being bullied online. How do I report it?
4. How can I best protect my computer from viruses and other malware?
5. I want to report an unsafe website.
6. I've been shopping for presents and need to delete my browsing history.
7. How can I be sure that I can trust a website with my credit card information?
8. I think my computer has a virus. What can I do?
9. When I visit websites, I have to close a lot of pop-up ads.
10. My child installed software I didn't approve of. How can I prevent this in future?
