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Are You Secure on the Internet? Written by: Dan Daily
Hi Gang! Today's column is about Internet security: How safe are you on the Internet? What are cookies, are they good or bad? A lot of research went into this article, I hope this gives you some ideas, and some peace of mind. Next time, I'll go into a little more detail in Part 2. Today, we'll cover the basics.
Shall We? .
To Answer This Question, One Must First Understand the Question... When you buy something on the net using your credit card, except for a couple of things you want to check for, the answer is a resounding yes!
Explaining the Question Yes, in as much as when you use your credit card anywhere else. Got that? When you go to a store, your credit card is processed by a reader, than a modem dials a number, and guess what? 9 out of 10 times, it goes across the net in one avenue or another. So, if you're not safe on the net from your own computer, likewise, you're not safe at your own K-mart. So you decide the major point here, are you secure? I say yes. Banks and stores that have private networks, aren't any where near as secure as an Internet secure page. BUT: You need to check your browser. Never put your credit card number on screens that aren't secure. A secure site tells you so. (If you have your security set at medium, it'll ask.) The secure site, encrypts your credit card numbers and only shows the familiar ***** stuff. Even if it says you're on a secure site, you need to check the little lock on your screen. It should be closed, like a locked pad lock. If it's open, forget it, it's not a secure site. Go else ware. Simple as that. If the lock is indeed locked, go for it. I buy on the Internet constantly, and have never had problems.
Cookies, Cookies, Everywhere... I won't get too technical here. Cookies are good, and bad. A cookie is a little file a web site puts in your computer. To view them, go to "My Computer/C:/Windows/Temporary Internet files" You will see tons of cookies. Good Cookies Good cookies solve various problems on the net. Example: Say you need a password to get into a site you visit a lot. The site will read your cookie, and poof! You're in; no need to constantly enter your password. They also help if you're online shopping. Say you're filling a market basket. (like my store) The cookie allows the server to disconnect from you, until you need it again. Example: You buy one of my CD's and you save it into your market basket. The site puts a cookie on your computer than disconnects from your computer. Then you decide your husband's been good, and you're going to buy him a different CD. So you click on the new CD, the server sends you the page about the CD and disconnects from you again. It no longer has a clue who you are. So you decide to buy the CD; you click on the "buy," or add to "my basket" button. This sends the buy request to the server, the server reads your cookie; your whole previous transaction is in that cookie. So it adds it to your basket, modifies the cookie, and disconnects again. This saves very valuable server time. Do you see how it works? It's really quite simple, and allows the servers to accommodate many people at the same time. I wish that's all cookies did. Cookies, used in this way, are extremely valuable, and make your Internet experience much quicker. And you all know how I feel about speed!
Bad Cookies Bad cookies are sent from sites to track your every move. This information is than sold to marketing companies; so much the better for them if you were silly enough to fill out some questionnaire. (If they ask for your real name? Feel free to lie.) Anyone familiar with Web site construction knows; what you see on a web site, doesn't necessarily come from that site alone. An image, text, or ads, can come from anywhere on the net. Example: The picture at the top of this mailing; (the computer) I could have had come to this page or from any site on the internet. The html command for that picture is: SRC="computers.jpg". This command tells the server to look at my directory to find it. It could also say; SRC=porn-is-us@xoom.com/computers.jpg. This tells the server to go to porn-is-us, at xoomcom, and get the picture from there. Get the point? You won't even know it did it, you'll just see the picture. Now, say you go to one of those porn sites that have a million popups, and a thousand ads from porn sites all over the Internet. Each of these sites ads are drawn from those individual sites, not the site you're actually looking at. Each one of those sites can put a cookie on your system. You could conceivably get hundreds of cookies just from one site. Now you're beginning to understand. I just saw the light bulb light up.
So What To Do? This choice is really yours, the only option available to your browser is to disable cookies completely. This is not recommended, some sites, like your bank, or any online store won't work without them. Next, you could tell your browser to notify you of cookie requests. Forget it! This drives you bonkers! The only other alternative is third party software. Buying a program that will act as a proxy server for you. Proxy server? What's that? Well, AOL is a proxy server actually. You've all heard about people trying to hack you? On AOL this is close to impossible. Everything has to go through AOL to even get to you. This is a proxy server, or "firewall." (always wondered about that, didn't you?) A good cookie control program will act as a proxy server, and kill the cookies in real time, not letting them on your computer in the first place. Others make you delete them manually, and you don't need a program to do that, you can manually delete through Windows itself. So the real trick here, is to find a good cookie crusher program.
And Guess What? You're in luck, I have found a FREE cookie program just for you. It works great; in fact, start it with sound effects on. You will hear a bomb go off every time it kills a cookie. You won't believe how many it kills. It sits on your system tray and is really easy to set up. Just make sure you tell it to kill all cookies. The free program, (you can buy it more feature packed) will allow you to enter up to 15 sites that don't have any restrictions on them. Also, it's easy to turn off, just one click on the icon, and click exit, or stop filtering for temporary use; say to an individual site.
A Note About Ad Subtract For AOL Users: It does have a quirk. If you notice after installing it that your Internet access is gone, there is a simple fix. Go to "My AOL/Preferences/WWW." Click on the "Graphics" tab; make sure the compressed graphics box is checked. If on broadband, after that is done, go to download, and un-check the box that says "use uncompressed graphics when using a broadband connection." This is an AOL problem. They screw with your browser. Those options don't exist in Internet Explorer proper. I have been in touch with the folks at Ad Subtract, they claim they didn't know about the problem.
Conclusion For normal browsing, keep the program running. But for the repetitive work you do, you may want to shut it off. It works great gang. Get it now, just click below. Learn It, Know It, Live It, Use it! This is the first step to Internet Security.
I hope this helps you on your road. Your Road? Yes, Your Road To Computer Sanity Danny
"Ridge Hall, computer assistance; May I help you?"
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