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Introduction

Now that you've decided to get online, there is a lot of information at your disposal. You can now do research, shop, chat, and send mail in the comfort of your own home, but with so many websites out there where do you begin? What joys and dangers lie ahead?

Let's start at one of the most basic websites around: the search engine. Search engines are everywhere online, and will provide a quick reference to get you to where you need to go. There are a few search engines who lead the pack; however, and they are used by millions of people everyday. If you've reached this page, chances are that you've already used one, so I'll keep this brief. A few of the major search engines (some are actually directories, but for the sake of simplicity, we'll ignore that) are Google, Yahoo, and MSN. These are a great place to start. Google is one of the most popular, while Yahoo and MSN offer extras like e-mail and other news.

Internet & Computer safety

After you've found where to begin searching, you must realize that not everything that a search engine returns will be what you are looking for. Sometimes results can actually vary drastically. It is possible to encounter websites that you truly do not desire to visit. Even worse, your kids may encounter these websites. Some internet service providers include parental control software, but at the same time, these parental controls run the risk of being bypassed if you are using a separate internet browser than the one built into your internet service provider's software. If you fear this happening, you can always check out other software programs to block unwanted websites. A couple of programs are Netnanny and Cybersitter. More can be found by doing a search for parental controls in a search engine.

So now you blocking unwanted websites and surfing around using search engines, but are you still at risk? Two other safety measures might need to be taken into consideration at this point. What if you get a computer virus off of the internet, and what about hackers? There are many companies who help you deal with this as well. Two of the biggest are McAfee and Symantec (Norton). These two companies offer both virus and firewall software to protect from these problems. There are also a couple of free sources such as Zone Alarm Basic (firewall to keep the hackers out) and AVG (virus protection). Both Zone Alarm and AVG have free versions on their website, and McAfee and Symantec have trial versions on theirs (trial versions only function for a limited amount of time).

These small additions to your software collection can help keep your computer much safer. Remember to keep your Windows software updated as well. This can be done for free at www.windowsupdate.com and can help increase your chances of having a secure computer.

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