With the web taking over the world for most everyone you may sometimes wonder if a site is actually safe to surf. This is not an unfounded concern as viruses, trojans, worms, keyloggers, etc. can be put on your computer from an unsafe site.
How can you know if you are safe or not? Each browser has built in protection and we will talk about that in a moment. But first, since a browser cannot cover everything you have to implement some "brain" safety features too.
As I have stated before, if a site looks different or other browser tabs/windows start popping up, and/or anything else strange and out of the ordinary happens…quickly get out. If the title or link looks disreputable do not go there. If you get a link emailed to you by a bank, retailer, etc. which you have used in the past do not click the link. With any emailed link always be very cautious even if it comes from a friend. I am not saying your friends would purposely hurt you; however, their computer may be infected and send email with trouble links to you without them knowing. To get to your regular reputable commercial/retail sites, log into them by typing their URL in your browser’s address bar or using your own shortcuts.
If you need to download software go to a reputable site. Download.com (owned by CNet.com) is one site you can trust for software. There are others which are good but just be careful. Never click a link in an unsolicited email! Not even if they have $1,000,000 guaranteed to be waiting in an account created just for you. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been lost to these scams in recent years. So don’t laugh since many people still fall for this old swindle.
When you are browsing and hit a mischievous site most browsers will warn you with an alert of some sort. Each browser is different in setting up for these warnings. Microsoft Internet Explorer puts a red highlight around the Security Lock icon in the address bar. Google Chrome pops up a warning page with advice or what you may want to consider if you continue. Firefox gives either a yellow exclamation mark in a gray box on the address bar or a warning page with warning advice. Any version of any browser may change the way it displays but for now this is how they work.
I do not have space here to tell you how to make sure if your warnings are on or not. However, you can easily search online for "turn on or off security warnings in Firefox." Make sure you substitute your browser’s name when researching.
Also, I only use the three major browsers mentioned in this article; however, they all work similarly.
