Protecting your kids from shady strangers offering them candy, has become increasingly difficult in this age of computers and the internet. More and more children are having easier access to the internet. According to some studies, more than 80% of teenagers in the US have access to the internet at home. The parents should take an active role in teaching their children proper cyber security measures.

Most of the time these kids who access the net are not particularly careful with their personal information online – they often don’t realize yet the risks of having confidential stuff out in the open, being prey to hackers and identity thieves, to name but a few. There are several ways to teach your children the proper ways of accessing, behaving and protecting themselves online.

Very popular among kids are the social network sites where they have online profiles and photos, and keep blogs or online journals. Remind your kids not to accept the devil and his grandmaw into their circle of online friend, and to be very careful in deciding what what they publish about themselves. The problem with these social network sites is that once you add someone as a friend, you can be viewed by friends included in his own network… which most of time you don’t even know. These are venues where scrupulous individuals can gain access to your personals.

To monitor your childrens’browsing activities or to encourage them to ask you questions, place your computer in an area of the house where there’s heavy foot traffic. This will make it easy for them to call your attention to their monitor if they want to ask questions or show you something. This also discourages them from visiting websites that you really don’t want them to see like warez and the nore abject kind of “erotics”. Such websites are often a repository of malware, spyware and virus applications that can destroy files and even your whole computer system. It’s a good idea to use controlling mechanisms like content blockers which prohibit them to access certain websites, and to teach them what you know about the pros and cons of social networking, online file sharing, software piracy and illegal downloads.

Although this website is still new, fresh, unspoilt and even sort of virginal, it’s clearly gaining speed and getting off the ground – making its webmaster’s life a joy! I spend so much time pottering about with it that I’m even identifying myself with my computer: as you can see in the picture my head has turned into a monitor. My wife Caroline insists that it’s an improvement, by the way.

I’ve been making websites since 1998, which I took a step further in 2006 by becoming an internet marketer, after having been an internet buyer for several years. This enables me to look at the online trading game from both positions, between which I noticed a truly monumental information gap. There is an enormous amount of info, e-books, websites and software about selling, but very little about buying on the internet. It was relatively easy to become pretty good at the marketing part (I just sold three Eiffel Towers and a couple of Hoover Dams), but it took me a lot more time to become a clever buyer.

Although still being screwed every now and then (one of those Eiffel Towers was initially bought by myself!), I make it harder and harder for the crooks to pull the wool over my eyes. Being the generous guy my late parents used to think I am, I decided to share some of my profound buyer’s wisdoms with
you here. May it help you buy cheaply and safely, while avoiding the many pitfalls in this jungle we call the internet.

If there’s anything you want to ask, discuss or declare you can usually do that by commenting on the post in question. Then there is also the option to reach us via our contact form, and last but not least you are invited to make good use of the FAQ’s on our support page. Now have a good and profitable time at this site!

Studies show that unsolicited or “junk” e-mail, known as spam, accounts for more than half of all e-mail messages received. Although once regarded as little more than a nuisance, the tsunami of spam has increased to the point where many users have begun to express a profound lack of confidence in the effectiveness of e-mail transmissions, and increased concern over the spread of computer viruses via unsolicited messages.

Unfortunately, spam is very hard to fight at the source. It’s not for the lack of trying: already in 2003 U.S. President Bush signed the “Can Spam” bill, prohibiting senders of unsolicited commercial email from using false return addresses, using dictionaries to generate such mails, and the use of misleading subject lines. It also requires that emails include an opt-out mechanism. The legislation also prohibits senders from harvesting addresses from websites. Fine, excellent, admirable… but I haven’t seen any decrease in spam since. You?

The reason why it is so hard to snuff spam at the root, is the international character of what’s aptly called the World Wide Web. Nowadays, spam rarely comes from one’s own country, but usually from banana republics and coconut kingdoms halfway across the globe. Such emails are much harder to fight, because they’re sent from outside the jurisdiction of our own laws and regulations. Those regulations and laws are fine and good and necessary and all that, but they’re hardly likely to stop the problem, nor can they reasonably be expected to do so under the circumstances. So what can we do about the spam issue?

The one truly effective solution is getting rid of your computer and revert to snail mail, but that’s a bit drastic. However, there are several things you can do to at least minimize the amount of spam that’s coming your way. We’ll give you five fairly simple and effective measures you can take.

1. Do what you can to avoid having your email address out on the net.

   There are products called “spam spiders” that search the Internet for email addresses to send email to. To fight them you may use form emails which can hide addresses, and/or use addresses like sales@company.com instead of your full address. There are also programs that “scramble” your email, like jsGuard, which encodes your email address on web pages so that spam spiders find it difficult or impossible to read your email address.

2. Get spam blocking software.

   There are many programs out there for this, free as well as paid. A couple of freebies are available from Cloudmark and Mailwasher. You may also buy a professional version. Whatever you do, get the software. No, these applications are not foolproof, but they really do help. You usually have to do some manual set up to block certain types of email.

3. Use the multiple email address approach.

   There are a lot of free email addresses to be had. If you must subscribe to newsletters, then have a “back-up” email address. It would be like giving your sell phone number to your best friends and the business number to everyone else.

4. Attachments from people you don’t know are BAD, BAD, BAD.

   Email can have attachments and attachments can have viruses. Corporations often have filters, but personal email is far more open to spammers. General rule of thumb: if you do not know who is sending you something, do not open the attachment! Secondly, look for services that offer filtering. Firewall vendors offer this type of service as well.

5. Use “bulk-mail”, “junk” or “spam” baskets.

   If your email provider does not support this, consider moving to another. The concept is simple. If you know someone, they can send you emails. If you don’t know them, put them in the bulk email pile and then “choose” to allow them into your circle. Spam Blocking software has this concept as well, but having extra layers seems critical these days.

Internet access has become a basic and important necessity, even to the extend that the United Nations are currently pushing countries to consider it a human right. The UN started calling for universal access to important and basic information and communication services at the assembly of its Administrative Committee on Coordination early in the 21st century, following up in 2003 when addressing delegates of the World Summit on Information Society. France, Estonia and Greece were among the first to react, enacting and enforcing laws that make Internet access as a human right. Observers, analysts and advocates are waiting for more countries follow suit.

Every day many millions of people log in to the services offered across the Internet. Online shopping is very popular: clothes, collectors’ items, foods, gadgets, appliances, furniture, jewels… just about anything can be obtained via the web. Specialized sites sell concert, movie, plane and even ferry tickets. Banking transactions like depositing and transferring of funds are increasingly being done online. Movies, videos, news streams, and amateur clips can be downloaded through the internet. Computer applications and software are sold, sent, and downloaded online. Booking and reservations for accommodations in other cities and countries are conveniently done via the net.

Indeed, convenience is a keyword regarding internet access. Goods and, even more important, information are available from home – translating into big savings in time, effort and money. If Internet access is successfully made a human right, more people will enjoy and use it for their own educational, material and other benefits. Technologically it’s no problem at all: internet access, even via broadband, is becoming increasingly available all over the world. It’s only politicians that can, and often do, stop it. That’s why it should become a human right.

If you have computers in your home and your kids have access to them, you need to take care of the brats’ online safety. That’s easier said than done, on account of most children effortlesly outsmarting their parents when it comes to the internet. It’s also a matter of privacy which is highly valued, especially by teenagers: they don’t like you meddling. Remarkably though, said privacy will always take a back seat to their safety once they’re chatting on social networking sites and other parts of the internet. You lock your home’s door against predators, but unfortunately these slimy thieves have found another way to get in – your computer.

How can you protect your kids when they are online just like you do inside your home? Here’s a book that helps you keep the kids safe, and gives you some peace of mind too.