Keeping Your Kids Safe From Online Trouble
It seems the more advanced the online technology, the more trickery there is online. It may be hard to believe, but there are people who spend their time dreaming up ways to hack into strangers’ computers to swipe their identities and simply wreak havoc with their files. What is even more upsetting, is that a lot of times these troublemakers target youngsters and it is not their accounts they are looking to corrupt, but the kids themselves. What do online predators actually do? Basically, online predators scope out internet chat rooms, message boards, emails, and instant messaging to find vulnerable children. When they find a likely target, they will contact them and do whatever it takes to capture their attention and earn their trust. For example, they will find out the child’s hobbies, the kind of music they like, and they express an interest in the kid’s problems at home and at school. Then as soon as they have established a relatively strong bond, they will change the nature of the conversation. The safe and mundane topics of conversation will eventually become more intimate and sexual in nature. As a parent, how can you protect your children when they are online? The easiest piece of advice we can give is to monitor your children’s computer use whenever possible. We know that it is not possible to keep an eye on your child 24/7, so here are some additional tips: -Tell your kids in advance about the danger of online predators. Keep an on going dialogue and encourage your entire family to ask questions about online safety. -Keep the computer in a common area rather than in your kid’s private room. -When your child is online, take a seat next to them and watch what they are doing. If any website or email looks suspicious, divert their attention or delete the message together. -Tell your kids not to respond to any emails or instant messages that are from strangers. -Until your children are old enough to truly comprehend the dangers that exist online, do not let them participate in chat rooms or discussion forums. -Likewise, until the kids are old enough, have them use a family email that you can easily monitor. In addition to these tips, there are online tools that will help you keep your kids safe online. To find these tools check out your Internet Service Provider (also called an ISP), which often offers security devices for free. Next, try your local computer store and ask about the types of software they have that will block and filter unwanted messages and websites. And also check out your web browser, which may have parental controls that you can manually switch on and off. Unfortunately, even if you have done everything imaginable to protect your children from online trouble, sometimes a predator will slip through the cracks. If this happens, do not blame yourself or your kid. Take a deep breath and approach the problem with a level and logical head. Some warnings signs to watch for include: -Your child may spend a crazy amount of time online. -You are suddenly fielding phone calls from strangers who are asking to speak with your child, or your child is suddenly receiving packages in the mail from strangers. -Pornography pops up on the family computer. -You notice that your child is withdrawing from his or her usual activities. -You find out that your kid is using someone else’s online account. Finally, there are a lot of helpful services on the internet if your kids do wind up having trouble online. The best advice is to deal with the problem directly and as soon as you can. Madison Lockwood is a customer relations associate, specializing in small business development, for Apollo Hosting. Apollo Hosting provides <a href="http://www.apollohosting.com">website hosting</a>, ecommerce hosting, vps hosting, and web design services to a wide range of customers.
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Extended Warranty Software Provides Excellent Customer Care
If you have been considering the purchase of Extended warranty software but were not totally sure what to expect than this is your article Extended warranty software is available online that will offer you the peace of mind that you are looking for The sales for this type of software are up all across the board There are websites online dedicated and driven to supplying warranty programs that you can trust The competition on the Internet is so great that great deals are popping up everywhere But the key is to find a product or service that truly fits your needs and take it easy on your wallet as well . .Most manufacturers offer some type of limited warranty with the product you purchase Modern technology has left us with many electrical and electronic products that can breakdown and lead to substantial repair Extended warranties offer coverage above and beyond the standard limited policy A good extended warranty software package can be very valuable when needed Extended warranty programs can cover everything from your computer software to anything that plugs into an electrical current Of course they cover all electronics from digital camcorders to projection televisions as well . .Many times these “third party policies” can be sold by individual administrators or bought right at the retail site where you purchase your product Some websites offer such warranty software to retailers to sell in addition to their product to enhance customer care by delivering a little extra piece of mind The retailers pay nothing for the software but get a commission off of what they sell This makes it a win situation for the consumer and the retailer The warranty software is downloaded into the retailer’s site and automatically updates their product pages offering such warranty The consumer pays for the warranty at checkout and the retailer gets their commission immediately at the point of sale Extended warranty software does make for great customer care .
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How To Keep Your Computer From Spreading Viruses
There are some simple steps you must take to avoid becoming a victim of computer viruses and also stop from spreading viruses to others. Here are some things that you can and should do. Email Issues to watch Never open an E-mail with an attachment you were not expecting. The latest batch of virus programs are often spread by E-mail. Even if your anti-virus program does not warn you about the attached file and even if the eMail appears to come from someone you know, do not open it if you were not expecting it, and if you were expecting it, only open it AFTER scanning it with your up-to-date virus software. Scan ALL incoming email attachments (regardless of who sent it). Be sure to run each attachment you plan to open through the anti-virus check. Do this even if you recognize and trust the sender; malicious code, like Trojan horses, can slip into your system by appearing to be from a friendly source. Turn off the ‘automatic preview’ in your email program. Automatically previewing an email message has the exact same effect as opening and reading an email. My of the newest internet worms, trojans, and viruses simply need to have an email message read in order for them to be activated. Turning off the preview feature allows you to scan any email BEFORE you actually read it. Disk Issues to watch Don’t boot from a floppy disk. Floppies are one of the most common ways viruses are transmitted. If you are using a floppy while working on your computer, remove it when you shut the machine off or the computer will automatically try to boot from the floppy, perhaps launching any viruses on the disk. Web Based Issues Keep your web browser set to its highest security level. Its a pain to get the warning messages on every other web page you visit, but its the best way to protect yourself - especially if you use Microsoft Internet Explorer and Outlook. Don’t download programs from the Web. Unreliable sources such as Internet newsgroups or Web sites that you haven’t heard of may be willing providers of viruses for your computer. Avoid downloading files you can’t be sure are safe. This includes freeware, screensavers, games, and any other executable program - any files with an “.exe” or “.com” extension, such as “coolgame.exe.” Check to see if the site has anti-virus software running on their side. If you do have to download from the Internet, be sure to scan each program before running it. Save all downloads to one folder, then run virus checks on everything in the folder before using it. Regardless of where you download from, ALWAYS scan downloaded software. Routine Maintenance Make regular back ups of important data Make it a habit to back up all of your most important files at least once a month. Store the back up discs in a safe place. Clean any virus/worm/trojan off your computer (Details: http://www.antivirus-report.com/trojan-horse-removal.html ) Using your antivirus software, perform a full system scan of your PC, hopefully it will detect and remove the virus. If a virus was detected, restart your computer and run the full scan again. Sometime the virus will keep reappearing, due to the evolving nature of viruses. Symantec is particularly fast at providing removal tools should you ever get a virus or worm infesting your computer. What is a removal tool? Well simply put it is a simple software that will scan your computer for infections, and then remove them from your machine. You most often need this if your machine got infected BEFORE you installed antivirus software. Top Considerations for PC Protection And the final and most important two things to do to keep your computer clean and make sure it does not spread viruses to other computers… Install a Firewall If you use a broadband/high-speed method to access the internet, you need to get a firewall. A firewall is a program that defends your computer from hackers who attempt to gain direct access to your computer over the Internet. There is a very good firewall program called ZoneAlarm that will do the trick if you use Windows. Install and use a high-quality anti-virus program. This is the key to protecting your computer. Buy one of the major anti-virus programs - Norton Anti-Virus, PC-Cillin, or McAfee Anti-Virus. The primary benefit of the commercial packages is the frequency and ease of updating the virus definition files that these programs use to detect viruses. With new viruses popping up all the time, unless your protection software is kept updated, you start to become ever more vulnerable to infection. Get immediate protection. Configure your anti-virus software to launch automatically on start-up and run at all times. This will provide you back-up protection in case you forget to scan an attachment, or decide not to. And in case you forget to load up your anti-virus software, configuring it to start by itself will ensure you get immediate protection anyway. The top antivirus software programs all do this (but only if you have one installed on your computer). You do have current antivirus software installed right? If not, you can go to this page for more information on why you need antivirus software and how easy it is to use. <a href="http://www.antivirus-report.com/antivirus-software.html">Antivirus software</a> and general PC protection and maintenance are essential for safe and secure computing. Right now learn to easily block trojan horses, spyware, computer viruses, and other malicious software.
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