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Internet Safety

Is the Internet Safe for My Children?
With proper parental supervision the answer is YES. You should always be aware of what your children are doing on the internet. Check history files and particularly chat logs. Advise your children to never reveal any personal information on computer chats including names, address of themselves or friends.

There are a number of products on the market designed to block internet access to sites you may find objectionable for children. This can be a good solution if you are not available to monitor your children's activities on the computer. However the most secure solution is to simply not allow your children to have access to your internet password and be available to monitor their activities when you let them access the internet.

How can I protect my personal information?
Never give out personal information to people or companies you are not comfortable with. Don't send credit card information, your home address or social security number or any other personal information over an internet connection that is not secure.

When you make a purchase over the internet with any reputable e- commerce company it should inform you that you are going to a secure site before it ask for any personal information. The chances that anyone is watching the data you send is very remote however unless you send the information over a secure connection you can not be absolutely sure its safe.

It is virtually impossible to decrypt today's latest encryption technology. Being sure that your data is sent over a secure connection will protect you from people trying to obtain your data.

Dealing with well know companies such as major retailers and manufacturers such Sears, J.C. Penny, Amazon etc. will ensure that your personal information is safe.

How do I prevent computer virus?
Make sure you have a good anti-virus program running on your computer. Some of the more popular programs are Norton-Anti Virus, MacAfee Anti-Virus, PC-Cillin and Inoculan. Make sure that you update your virus patterns and run a complete system scan on a regular basis. This ensure that you are protected against the latest viruses.

Never open an email attachment from someone that do not know. Be wary of all attachments that have a file extension of exe, com, js, vbs.