Tips for Safe Internet Surfing

The Internet has become an indispensable feature of our everyday life. We trust and use it even for important tasks such as banking and shopping. However, if you are not careful, you may easily fall prey to cyber crime and fraud. This article provides useful advice to make you aware of common online hazards, and how to negotiate them.

Tips for Safe Online Browsing

Some websites offer freebies for which you need to provide your personal information like address, telephone number, etc. Resist the temptation for the free stuff and refrain from revealing sensitive personal data. This can prevent you from falling victim to crimes like identity theft.

Social media websites are all the rage today. However, users need to be careful about what they post online as embarrassing photos and content can be hard to erase from the Internet. So think twice, and do not post anything that may rankle your employer or loved ones.

Remembering passwords for multiple sites is a hassle. However, you need to suck it up and prepare a strong and unique password for each website that needs one. Do not reveal your passwords to anyone, however close they may be to you.

Invest in a reputed antivirus program that can protect your computer from viruses, malware, and other dangers. Do try to pinch a penny by downloading a free antivirus suite. Free software do not offer all the features of the paid version, and you might put your computer security at risk by depending on them.

Shop only on reputed retail websites. Such sites have "https" in the URL and the padlock symbol in the address bar.

Be cautious about emails that have a link. Clicking on it could expose you to malware. Do not pay attention to such emails and delete them immediately.

Many websites that offer free music and movies could expose you to viruses. So, be careful about the material you download on the Internet.

If you have children, use parental control software to make sure your kids do not see adult content on the Web. Teach them about online dangers and advise them to be vigilant while using the Internet.

Some free live streaming websites require you to download a media player version that could infect your computer with malware. So, exercise caution if you wish to watch something live for free.

Many people try online dating to hook up with someone interesting. Men, women and young boys and girls need to be very careful on online dating sites. They should refrain from providing their personal information to strangers on such sites. Try to make contact offline only after you are sure the other party is genuine and can be trusted.

Avoid porn and online gaming websites as you could end up downloading harmful material when you visit them.

Many naive users have fallen prey to email lottery scams. If you receive an email that states you have won a lottery amount, delete it immediately. This scam lures gullible people into depositing a "processing fee" to claim the amount they "won." Needless to say, you can say goodbye to this amount as you will never hear from them again.

Conclusion

The Internet has certainly made life easier for us as we can do plenty of important tasks from the comfort of our home. However, we need to think and surf smartly to keep a step ahead of online criminals and fraudsters. Try to implement the above tips to ensure a safe surfing experience for yourself and your family members.

What is a Managed Service Provider?

Managed services provider (MSP) is most often an information technology (IT) services provider that manages and assumes responsibility for providing a defined set of services to its clients either proactively or as the MSP (not the client) determines that services are needed. Most MSPs bill an upfront setup or transition fee and an ongoing flat or near-fixed monthly fee, which benefits clients by providing them with predictable IT support costs.

Sometimes, MSPs are contracted to manage multiple staffing vendors and to measure their effectiveness in filling positions according to a customer's standards and requirements. In effect, the MSP serves as a "neutral" party that offers the customer a complete workforce solution while ensuring efficient operation and leveraging multiple staffing companies to obtain competitive rates. In this situation, MSPs typically use a Vendor Management System (VMS) as a software tool to provide transparency and efficiency — along with detailed metrics to the user — related to every aspect of the contingent and contract workforce. The model has proven its usefulness in the private sector, notably among Fortune 500 companies, and is poised to become more common in the government arena.

MSPs often use specialized software, in order to control and deploy managed services to their customers known as Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) software.

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