The Internet is used widely today as a source of information, entertainment and even as a business application. However, there are many unsavory uses to the internet as well. Shady individuals are always on the lookout for their next victim to commit a cyber crime to. In addition to this, children and teens surfing the internet may be subjected to explicit content in the form of sexuality or violence that could be damaging to their mentalities. Therefore it is important to maintain the correct level of internet safety within your home.
Safety from malware threats
Malicious software is generally targeted at compromising your privacy or damaging your computer for financial gain. Most malware will force its way on to your system and then demand monetary payment for some sort of result, which will also be false. Malware can get downloaded from anywhere on the internet, from websites that advertise fake security scanners to websites that claim to contain essential video and audio codec packs needed to run media on your computer. Installation of malware could cause damage to your operating system as well as completely halting day-to-day activities on your system until you make some payment, at which point the malware will still remain on your computer, bothering you until you take steps to remove it. To prevent malware from entering your computer, it is important to have a legitimate and well-tested anti-malware application such as a virus guard or antispyware program installed on your system. This software should have the capability to monitor your internet surfing activities and alert you when a potentially dangerous website is about to be accessed, and it should also be able to block any malware programs that are about to be downloaded onto your computer.
Safety from inappropriate content
Content on the internet may be categorized as ‘inappropriate’ based on a number of factors. The age of the user and family morals and values could influence the type of content you want your child to see. Therefore it is important to be able to filter and monitor your child’s internet surfing. For this, it is recommended to use a web usage monitoring software such as Microsoft’s Family Safety, which helps you to monitor the activities of your children online and to stop them from accessing content that is inappropriate for them. Software of this type allow you to categorize web content effectively, therefore all you will have to do is define the categories of content you don’t want your child to see, and their user accounts will be automatically blocked from many sites with content belonging to those categories. This type of safety applications also allow you to control your child’s Internet Messaging contacts, thereby monitoring who he or she communicates with online.
It is important to always take measures to browse the internet safely to ensure the safety of both your family and your computer system.
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