Protect Yourself From Cyber Criminals

Last Updated on Thursday, 15 January 2009 13:05 Written by Spencer Thornock Thursday, 15 January 2009 12:21

Don’t you like to protect your money and keep your private information safe? Are you frightened by the possibility an Internet criminal will steal your credit card and do things with your name after stealing your identity? Guess what! You can prevent this mess from happening. Let’s go over the steps you can take to prevent identify theft and loss of your money while you are online.

Take precaution with storing information and passwords on any computer you use. You might be thinking, “I am the only one who uses my computer; therefore, I can store the password I use to log into my computer and any accounts I have with different websites.” If you believe this and act accordingly, you could be in trouble. Someone might rob you of your laptop or break into your home and steal your computer. Furthermore, you will probably have to recycle or throw away your computer eventually.

Choose passwords wisely. Do not choose a password that has any part of your name or other information that identifies you. Choose an unusual password or a password you think others will have trouble guessing. If you open an online banking account or PayPal account, create a password that contains numbers and capital letters. Never reveal your passwords.

Be careful when reading E-mail messages from PayPal. The real PayPal site only addresses you by your name and it does not provide links for you to click or ask for your password. If you get a “PayPal” or “eBay” message saying you must verify your account to avoid suspension, ignore it. If you are ever tempted to respond, it is safer to copy and paste the link into your browser. If you ever believe an account of yours has been breached, immediately change your password and report the breach to the site holding your account.

Ignore E-mail messages in which you are asked to submit a form to claim a tax refund. The IRS does not actually contact people online unless they are returning a message.

Ignore messages from Microsoft and others that try to get your personal or financial information by claiming you have won the lottery or that you are a beneficiary of a huge sum of money. Also ignore messages in which each letter for the sender or subject line is capitalized.

Take precaution when sending messages online. A cyber criminal gained access to my debit card after I revealed my new debit card number on a web site’s contact message form as a result of not being able to get their system to recognize my new debit card.

Handle your social security number with care. Do not provide it when you use a web site or submit a cover letter, resume or other form of communication online.

Be careful when making online purchases. Make sure the site has a padlock symbol that represents a secure purchase. An https site is highly encrypted to prevent others from seeing your credit card.

Use these tips to prevent identify theft and loss of your money!

3 Quick Tips For Finding the Best Website Hosting

Last Updated on Thursday, 15 January 2009 13:03 Written by Spencer Thornock Thursday, 15 January 2009 11:59

1. The first and most obvious step is to have some idea of what your basic needs are before going ’shopping’. Often times you will come across a web host that is offering some great deal or promotion that may look like the answer to your prayers but in truth may be totally unsuitable for your needs. For instance there is no point in signing up for latest and greatest e-commerce site hosting when all you want is a simple blog - no matter how cheap it seems at the time. More often than not once the promotional period is over the price will revert back to their normal charges and you will be paying for something that you do not need or will ever use.

2. A subject that comes up time and time again in the web hosting forums is customer support. This can be the difference between a great host and an absolute nightmare! Even if you have been given a recommendation from someone take the time to do a simple ‘Google’ of their company name and read what people are saying about them. They might have the cheapest hosting plan around with the most features but if you can’t get any help when things turn pear-shaped life can be very hard. Look for a hosting company that offers 24/7 customer support with either email or a toll free phone number.

3. Unlimited this, unlimited that. A lot of the ‘cheaper’ web hosts offer plans which allow unlimited bandwidth or unlimited addon domains etc etc. Although these plans may be suitable for the majority of webmasters what they are in fact doing is over-selling the amount of space on their servers. What this can mean is that if you are pulling in great amounts of traffic or have a whole boat load of sites to host you may run in to some problems with server response and site down time as the server that they have you on is literally overloaded. For the majority of us this very rarely becomes an issue but it is something that should be kept in mind.

Although looking around for the best web hosting may seem a tad daunting if you take the time to educate yourself on exactly what it is that you need great savings can be made!