How to Safely Surf the Web

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By Michael Skinner
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Safely Surf the Web

Given the proliferation of viruses, adware, and spyware on the web, you may be looking for some tips on how to safely navigate the world wide web.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Step 1

The search engine that the majority of people use is Google. One of the easiest ways to make your searching a little safer is to make an adjustment to Google that you have probably done anyway if you have kids. To the right of the text box that you type your words into find the Search Preference link and click on it. On the Search Language choose English. On the Safe Search Filtering click Use Strict Filtering. On the bottom right of the screen push the save preference button.

These choices will help you to avoid inadvertently getting an Adult site showing up in your listing. Many of the Trojan horses you are trying to avoid can be found on porn sites.
Step 2

The next thing to do is use filtering within your search. Again if you are using Google, take advantage of built in search parameters. For instance, one of the things we would never want to do is to click on an unknown site that is directly exposing an executable file. The reason we don't want to do this is that executable files command your computer directly to RUN THIS NOW! If you don't want, whatever that was, to run right now, you will probably wish you hadn't clicked on it. Whenever you are filtering either with the large scale filter we used in the last step or the small scale filter we will discuss now, remember that you could easily filter out the very thing you are looking for. For instance, if you were looking for the probability of transmission of sexually transmitted diseases among third world prostitutes for your bio ethics class, strict filtering might well leave out exactly what you need.
Step 3

Executable files end with the letter combination exe so to filter them out we subtract them using a minus sign like this: -exe. So if you want to search Google for bunny rabbits your search would look like
"bunny rabbits" -exe. This will give you pages that contain the phrase "bunny rabbits" and it will tend to filter out executable files and subjects like executing bunny rabbits. Filtering is not an exact science so I am not saying that executing bunny rabbits would definitely be filtered out but it would tend to be. Adware and spyware sites sometimes like pretend to be helping you. So they will have topics on their pages that indicate they will take care of any virus or adware problem you might have. They will infect you.

So try to filter out their "help" thusly:

-anti -antivirus -virus -adware -spyware -firewall -download -pop -popup -js

Just leave a space between the terms you are trying to filter out. I have added firewall because some of the junk sites will mention your firewall. Also, you are in general not looking to download something. If you are, then don't include -download. And it might be nice if you could get lucky and avoid sites who sole purpose is to popup or pop under your web page and sites that use JavaScript to try to trap you.

If you find that all these filters are filtering out the stuff you need then you are free to use none of them, some of them or some filtering scheme of your own devising.
Step 4

I hope that everyone knows by now that the proper etiquette when receiving an email with an attachment from someone you don't know is to delete it. Even if you do know the person you might want to delete the e-mail unless the two of your specifically made arrangements for the sending and receiving of said e-mail on said date. If you receive an email with no subject line delete it. Most us do not get holiday cards from strangers or unexpected electronic missives from the FBI or the IRS. Delete them too. If you get an email purporting to be from a bank you don't bank at, delete it. If you get an email from your bank don't click on any hyperlink inside unless you want spyware, a virus, and a partridge in a pear tree. Any email with ambiguous subjects such as URGENT should probably be deleted.

It was predicted there would come a day when email was so useless that no one used it any more. For the young, who are addicted to texting, I think that day has long since arrived.