keep that monkey off my back.

Zip, Block, Flag

A new idea for the under 11s at school.
Based on the green cross code.
But we should all be doing it.
ZIP
Not a compressed file. But as we oldies where told zip it, meant keep stum, silence.
I told you before I have never released my full name as a general rule since I first went on line in 1999 ten years ago. To many people think , “ONLY MY MATE KNOWS ME” no its like shouting across the supermarket, ”OY PETE THAT DORIS IS A GOER, RING ME ON ???? “ now its not private any more.

BLOCK
Build a brick wall around your self use pass words delete emails from those you dislike. Use a fire wall.
FLAG
Not so much for us but the kids are encourage to tell a trusted adult about anything on the internet.

Like the rules of road safety we teach our kids, the rules for safe computing are simple and should be known:

1. Be very careful where you surf. To help you stay away from bad sites install a website rating browser plug-in like WOT and make sure you only visit websites rated "Green" by the plug-in.

2. Never click on email attachments from unknown sources however tempting and attractive such attachments may seem.

3. Only download files from trusted sources. These include:

* Files hosted on reputable download sites such as download.com, snapfilescom, softpedia.com, majorgeeks.com, filehippo and other similar sites.
* Files mentioned in the editorial sections of major computer websites and publications.
* Open source software hosted on sourceforge.net, Mozilla.org and similar large open source sites.
* Files available for download from Microsoft, Google, HP, Dell and other reputable vendors.

4. Never install programs obtained from P2P networks including BitTorrent, eMule, LimeWire and others as many of these files are infected with malicious programs. Some of these malicious programs are so powerful they are capable of overwhelming all your security defences.

5. Never install programs that friends give you on removable media unless you have verified that they are clean by submitting them to free web based file scanning services such as Jotti or Virus Total.

6. Never accept free toolbars, media players or other unsolicited software offered to you by a website.

7. If you are not using Internet Explorer 8 then I recommend you upgrade to this version or better still, switch to an alternate browser such as Mozilla Firefox, Opera or Google Chrome. All these have a track record for better security than Internet Explorer and are arguably superior browsers as well.

8. Seriously consider using a Windows limited user account (LUA) rather than a normal account with full administrator privileges. LUA will block the majority of malware including, among others, all kernel mode rootkits.



By following these simple rules the chances of your PC becoming infected will be dramatically reduced.

So these are methods to protect you from the “Dark Side”.
There are many uses for the internet to help use but sometimes the Quick and easy belies a hidden cost.

Sorry for the late post will try harder.

Seezya
Les