There once was a time when the only option people had when shopping was to either call in or snail mail in a catalog order form or to jump in the family car, fight through traffic, and wait in long checkout lines to complete the purchase.

Well, nowadays there’s still a few major mail order catalogs floating around and we all still visit our local retail outlets, but time has also introduced the internet as one of our options to shop from the comforts of home.

The internet has made shopping at home a breeze and along with it has unfortunately brought the so called ”Evil Doers” who I believe have such little happiness in their own lives that they must leech pleasure from the hardworking and innocent individuals of our wonderful and surrounding nations.

And yes, I am speaking of the ever growing problem known as Identity and Credit Card Theft.

As an online and offline consumer it is in my best interest to protect myself while at the same time wanting to help others protect themselves as well.

Below is a short yet thorough list of ways that you can follow to help yourself stay safe and be a happy consumer and keep “Evil Doers” at bay.

1) Always shred sensitive materials such as bank statements before throwing them away in the regular trash. Just because the paper documents are in the garbage doesn’t mean they are safe from peeping eyes.

2) Contact your local bank or credit card provider to request a card with a low limit. This can make you feel more at ease about shopping at those not so familiar places and can reduce the damages caused by such an ill intended individual if they get hold of your number.

Also never give out the 3-letter Card Identification Number found on the back of the credit card unless you absolutely trust the merchant you are dealing with.

3) NEVER give out your social security card number for any reason! If capable you are best to obtain a tax I.D. number from the Internal Revenue Service or local tax agency.

If any “Evil Doer” gets hold of your personal information such as home address, birth date, and Social Security Number you are at great risk of being victimized.

4) Only purchase items online through secure order pages which is typically indicated by a small, yellow, “Padlock” image usually located somewhere near the bottom of your internet browsers window.

5) If you ever receive an email asking for sensitive information and claiming to be from a company that you have an account with, NEVER supply the requested information and never click any links or hit reply to send such personal information back to the “company”.

Many legit companies will not ask for sensitive information via email.

If you get such an email you are better off to make a copy of the letter you received then close that browser window and then open a NEW window and access the company directly from their website address.

You should then submit the email you made a copy of to the company so that their anti- fraud personnel can take the necessary steps to send out warnings of possible fraudulent activity to be aware of to its members.

6) Be cautious about downloading and installing unnecessary programs onto your computer. If there are programs that you indeed must download ALWAYS scan the files for viruses and make sure that your anti-virus program is up to date.

There’s a wide variety of viruses that are distributed to unprotected computer systems and some of which are known as “Key Stroke Loggers” that record your sensitive log in names and passwords and then are made known to the trouble maker.

7) If possible try to utilize 2 different computers when using the internet.

One computer should only be used for general internet surfing just in case it was to obtain a virus such as a Key Stroke Logger so there would be little threat of someone getting your personal information.

Only use the second computer to access more sensitive information such as online banking or other important websites that require passwords and important information.

8) Finally, if there are young members of the family that have computer use privileges be sure to monitor and restrict the sites and programs they are allowed to use.

Many fraudulent individuals love to prey on the unexpecting and inexperienced web surfer.

In any case just be certain to contact the police or appropriate authorities the INSTANT you believe that you have become a victim of Identity Theft or Credit Card Number Theft.

The sooner you tell the authorities the better the chance they can help you recover from a financial catastrophe.

Dan devotes much time working on his internet ventures. He currently has a T-Shirt store at http://www.cafepress.com/tshirtsngifts and an ebook store at http://online-book-store.net that caters to his visitors.

Whether you have learned your lesson from a past experience with a nasty computer virus or have been pressing your luck by surfing the web and downloading various files or opening those email messages sent to you by people you don’t know without any real understanding of just how vulnerable you really are each time you log onto your computer you now have the opportunity to discover what steps you can take to avoid such an annoying and many times destructive infestation.

Listed below are some of the guidelines you can follow in order to keep those nasty viruses from making a mess out of your computer and your life.

•Purchase and install a well respected antivirus software program and be sure to set it up so that it automatically runs when the computer starts up each time.

•Make sure to keep your antivirus software up to date by either using the automatic update feature that many come with or make it a habit to manually check at least once or twice a week for updates on your own.

•Set your antivirus program to scan for potential viruses each time you open a word-processing document like the ones that get sent through email. Viruses found in word-processing documents are called Macro Viruses.

•When purchasing software make sure to only buy from vendors that are well known and from ones you trust.

•Resist swapping data with the use of floppy disks or other mobile storage devices between various computers. If exchanging programs between computers is unavoidable just make sure to scan the storage device(s) for viruses before transferring data from one computer to the next.

•If using floppy disks to transfer data make sure to format them before using them for the first time.

•Never use pirated software. This is both illegal and a very good way to invite an unwanted computer virus.

•When downloading software from the internet do so as little as possible. There are many neat programs available on the internet, but unfortunately there are many viruses that go along with them also.

•If you must download programs from the internet ALWAYS scan them for viruses BEFORE opening them up to install on your computer.

•Probably the most important and neglected method of disaster recovery are periodic backups of all important files found on your computer. Should a virus happen to get through your lines of defense you may need to replace the virus corrupted files with fresh ones that have been kept for such an occasion.

Finally, it is not guaranteed that if you follow the above steps that you will not be the victim of a computer virus, but you can sure bet that if followed you will greatly reduce the chance of being an unsuspecting recipient of such an unwanted program.

Dan devotes much time working on his internet ventures. He currently has a T-Shirt store at http://www.cafepress.com/giftsandtshirts and an ebook store at http://infoheaven-digital-books.com that caters to his visitors.

Have been an Internet user for more than 9 years, I have 100’s of logins and passwords to keep. I’m paranoid. I’m now even more paranoid after I joined YMMSS because I use online payment systems on weekly basis if not daily.

I used to use Microsoft Excel to manage my usernames, passwords, and other registration information, both online and offline. Excel is not safe because there are programs to crack password protected Excel workbooks and I even cracked the spreadsheet and VBA source code password for one of my old Excel financial models I developed. Today I still use Excel to store some personal information but I only save the Excel file on my another PC that is not connected to Internet.

In my article "6 Essential Steps to Protect Your Computer On the Internet", I highly recommended the award winning RoboForm. Free version of RoboForm (http://www.roboform.com) does come with limitations such as 10 Passcards only. If you don’t want to buy the Pro version (costs $29.99 as of my writing), there is an easy-to-use freeware (see below) you can download right now and manage unlimited usernames and passwords.

Download freeware Password Safe from SourceForge.net - the Open Source community.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/passwordsafe/

Here are some great features of Password Safe:

- No installation is required. Simply download and double click the pwsafe.exe file.

- Easy portable. Just copy and paste the EXE file and .dat database file to any disks. Be aware that when you open Password Safe in the other disk, you need to specify the database file location (the .dat file).

- One master password unlocks an entire password database that can contain all your other passwords.

- Grouping. Usernames and passwords can be grouped into different categories you define, eg. Email Address, Payment, etc. You are in total control.

- Strong, random password generation.

- Copy username and password to clipboard so that you don’t have to type them. Always keep in mind that you should never type any username and password.

- Browse to URL. With one click, the URL related to your username and password can be opened in your default web browser. Another save on typing.

- You can create more than one password database (but you have to memorize more than one master password. Not recommended.)

Here are some tips of using Password Safe (version 2.04) and managing password in general.

Tip #1 - Always create a strong master password (Safe Combination as used in the software).

Strong password should meet the following criteria:

- At least 8 characters long to prevent cracking. The longer the better.

- The password should contain lowercase, uppercase, numeric, and any other characters that are available on keyboard.

- Ideally you should not use any meaningful words or numbers in the password. Totally random password is the best.

Tip #2 - Let PasswordSafe generate random password for you.

To generate random password:

- Click the menu item Edit.

- Select Add Entry (or use corresponding icon button).

- When the dialogue window opens, on the right hand side, you can see a Random Password Generate button. Click it, a random password will be automatically inserted in the Password field.

The generated random password is constructed according to the password policy defined in Password Safe. You can modify the default policy.

- Click the menu item Manage. - In the dropdown menu, click Options. - Click the Password Policy tab. - Change the policy based on the strong password criteria stated above.

Some sites only allow alphanumeric passwords so make sure you select the appropriate check boxes when this is the case.

Tip #3 - Very Important: Never type your master password when open PasswordSafe.

Keylogger spyware can record keystrokes.

How can you enter master password without typing? I do this.

Step 1: Open a Notepad file (.txt).

Step 2: Copy and paste an article from any Internet website to this .txt file.

Step 3: Select characters from this article and copy, paste to form your master password.

Tip #4 - Very Important: Never lose your master password.

I memorize my master password. In addition, I also physically write it down to a hand written study material that has my previous uni works. Among the 1,000’s of words, I placed my 22 characters master password in two different pages in encrypted format that can let me derive my master password.

Tip #5 - Categorize username and password.

When you add a new entry, you need to specify Group, Title, Username, Password, and Notes. The entries that share the same Group name will be gathered together automatically.

One Group can contain another Group as its sub Group. For example, I have Email Address group which contains three sub-groups as Friend, Work, Family.

Tip #6 - For security reasons, always use Copy Username to Clipboard and Copy Password to Clipboard.

Remember, never type username and password on a web form. This is how to do it.

- Highlight an entry.

- Right click mouse.

- In the pop-up menu, select Copy Username to Clipboard or Copy Password to Clipboard

- Go to your login form, paste the username or password.

You can use mouse to do copy and paste. If you prefer short-cut keys, this is how.

Copy: Ctrl+C Paste: Ctrl+V

Tip #7 - Use "Browse to URL" rather than typing URL in browser address bar.

When you enter a new entry or edit an existing one, you can enter a URL (must start with http://) at the first line in the Notes field. You can save website login page’s URL in this field. When you need to open a login page in browser, right click the entry and click Browse to URL in the pop-up menu. Then the login page will be opened in your default web browser automatically.

Tip #8 - Don’t forget to backup your password database file.

Use the Make Backup menu item to save a second copy of your password file.

Tip #9 - Store your backups in a different offline computer or location.

This is a widely used backup strategy.

Tip #10 - Use the Notes field to store as many information as you want. Very handy for memo.

If you don’t have two computers, you need to use other storage media to save a second copy of your backup file and version them by date (easy to track back). Other storage media can be zip drive, thumb drive, floppy disk, CD, etc.

Off site backups are also important. Don’t overlook this. You lose all your data if you lose both your computer and your other storage media all together for any reason.

Many companies provide online storage services for a fee. You can store any digital files (you should password protect these files first) on their secure servers. Search Google and you will find a lot.

I have two computers. One is used to surf net and it does not have any sensitive info stored on it. Another one is for my development work (not connected to Internet) and it has my backup files. I also store my backups in a thumb drive and CDs sometimes.

The author, Jerry Yu, is an experienced internet marketer and web developer. He is a proud member of YMMSS. Visit his site Get Paid Full Time Income By Reading Ads Online - YMMSS for FREE "how-to" step-by-step action guide to kick start a successful online business, tips, knowledge base articles, and more.

1. Importance of a Virus Scanner: A Antivirus program can help to prevent you from becoming infected with a Virus or Trojan. It is extremely important to make sure this program is updated at least once a week, and all drives are scanned. Viruses usually are used to destroy your Data or Hardware. Where as Trojans are used to gain remote access into your system. Always scan any new files you receive as well, even if they are off a friend, you don’t know where those files originated from. ALWAYS use a little common sense when on the Internet as well. Don’t accept files from an entrusted source. Don’t go to web sites you have received spam for, they can be infected with viruses or asking you to download files that are infected. Always go only to official sites (i.e… If you ask for a web address for Norton and someone says ww.nortfix.com, that is obviously not an official site). Keep in mind that an Antivirus will only detect known viruses. It is possible that someone can create a new virus or manipulate an existing Virus or Trojan to the point it will no longer be detected by an Antivirus. As each unknown virus is discovered it is then added into the Antivirus database. Always create rescue disks for your Antivirus program, these will enable you to access your computer through MS-DOS if you are unable to access it through windows. If you do not have an Antivirus program try the HouseCall free online virus scan the link if on the top right side of this page. Also never run 2 different Antivirus . By using two different Antivirus software, sometimes the rule sets can cause conflicts in each other.. or think the other is a virus.. which can also give false positives (meaning it detects a file as a Virus or Trojan, when it isn’t one).. or not detect viruses as it should. Always delete files you do not remember downloading.

2. Importance of a Trojan scanner: A Trojan scanner is exclusively designed to guard against Trojan horses. A Trojan is a method of intrusion into a system. It is a malicious, security breaking program that is disguised as something harmless. A Trojan can grant complete access to your system to unknown parties, allowing them to commit criminal offenses with your Internet connection. If those offenses are investigated the trail will lead right to you. It also possible for them to get personal or business data and some passwords memorized within your computer. The Cleaner is a good Trojan scanner located on www.moosoft.com. Never open any file or download a file off an entrusted source, spammed web sites being one of them. It is very common for someone to set up a web site, then spam that web site saying you are infected with some virus or Trojan download this fix, or saying they have some great password cracking program, etc. Then you fall for it and your infected. Never use any war tools that require you to install something that brings up a warning on your Antivirus, why not to do this will be explained more on the IRC Newbie page. Always delete files you do not remember downloading.

3. Importance of running a Firewall: A Firewall is one of your best defenses of being hacked. That is if your using a good Firewall and have it configured right. ZoneAlarm free download is a decent Firewall. Although I would recommend ZoneAlarm Pro, which blocks a lot of commonly used hacking attempts. Another one I would not recommend is BlackIce, if you see that one run like there is no tomorrow (gives a lot of false positives). Ultimately though I would recommend running at least one Firewall, even if your computer is connected behind a gateway/router. When looking into firewalls it is a good idea to check what features it has. While one may block a number of hacking attempts, it may not block ads or cookies. Make sure to get all the details before deciding on a Firewall to purchase.

Also if you on Windows XP you can configure the Firewall they have built into it, go to start menu … control panel ….. click network connections ….. double click local area connections ..go to properties … then select the advanced tab. There you will find the XP Firewall and can enable it. You can also click on the link they provide to learn more about it. Never run 2 firewalls unless one is a software and the other a hardware. Security threats such as those dealing on the application level (your Operating System).. software Firewall can analyze that data better. Whereas hardware better analyzes incoming data from the Internet (snifters, etc.). If you have your own server.. good idea to choose a good one of each (hardware and software). If I am not running a Firewall but would like to see what connections my computer has open how do I do that? Simply go to your start menu under programs or programs/accessories you will find the MS-DOS prompt/Command prompt once you have that open type the command "netstat -an" without the quotations. There is will list the protocol of the connection TCP/UDP, the local address and foreign address, as well as the state which will show either as listening or established. Keep in mind that any connection to the Internet will show up there.

4. Importance of Windows Updates: It is extremely important to update windows. If you are not sure how to, just go to your start menu, then to programs you will see Windows Update there. Windows critical updates are related to security issues within Windows itself. These security issues can be exploited by hackers, these issues can also cause you to get infected easier with a virus if you are a Outlook Express user. As vulnerabilities are detected in Windows critical updates are released for them.
Always be sure to update Windows on a regular basis.

5. Safer Passwords: Never have Windows remember your passwords. If you ever do get an intruder on your system passwords saved in Windows can be retrieved. Instead what I recommend is saving all your passwords to notepad then saving them on a floppy disk. A simple copy and paste to use your passwords for any sites you visit, or accounts you may have online. Never use simple passwords such as names of places, things or people. Also do not use passwords that consist of either all letters or all numbers. The best passwords to have should have a combination of letters and numbers(e.g. g74npw2m5), when possible, use symbols (e.g. #^&%!). If the password is case sensitive, then use upper and lower case . Also make sure that the letters and numbers you use are not in clusters on your keyboard (within same general area on keyboard). Make your passwords longer then you may normally make them. Doing this will make any passwords you have harder for an outside party to crack. Apply this to anything you do on the Internet that requires a password. This one I speak from experience on, my last website on a free host, the password was cracked and the content of those pages changed. For many things available on the Internet you require Username and a password, if someone knows your Username or can figure it out, that is half their battle. So make the other half of their battle as difficult as possible. On Irc including characters in your passwords such as ¤, å, ¥, § ,etc… will help even more, to make your passwords harder to crack. Never use any of the following for your passwords (in whole or part): your name or a pet’s name, girlfriend, boyfriend. Anything relating to any hobbies you have. Numbers dealing with you, relatives, friends, family, etc. (birthdays ,Social Insurance Number, significant dates, etc.). All of this can and WILL come back to haunt you.

6. What is Spyware?: Software that is installed on your computer/or a virus, which gathers information about you without your consent or knowledge of it. This information can end up in the hands of advertisers, spam e-mail lists, and other interested parties. It can gather information from cookies on your computer. Cookies can store information about websites you have visited, to develop a general idea of your online activity. Cookies generally store information such as preferences from websites, and they are stored on the hard drive of your computer. If your not comfortable with the idea of someone getting any information about your online activities, as most people are. There are programs out there that can be used for either removing cookies from sites you have visited as well as programs that will detect and remove known spyware programs. Lavasoft Ad-aware is a good program for removing spyware programs. Window Washer is an excellent program for removing a lot of your online history (cookies/temp Internet files… etc…). For people who use Kazaa, don’t be surprised if that shows up on an Ad-aware scan, It will. Once you remove the spyware detected, Kazaa will fail to work without it. A suggestion for future use, switch to Kazaa Lite.

The money being spent online is steadily growing. With billions of dollars being spent each year online, the opportunity to make money on the internet has never been bigger. Unfortunately, with that opportunity come people who want to make money in less than honest ways. We’re going to look at some concrete ways you can identify fraudulent transactions and save yourself a lot of chargeback fees, money and grief.

Get more information from prospective customers.

The more information you have to work with, the better your chances are that you will be able to positively identify fraudulent transactions. At the very least, you need to make sure you get a customer’s name, credit card billing address, phone number and the IP address of the computer currently accessing the order form. You should also get a valid email address. This email address should not be one that comes from a free email service.

Fraudulent transactions occur more frequently from certain countries.

The first thing you should know is that certain countries are more prone to fraudulent transactions than others. If you get an order originating from one of the following countries, you should be suspicious and do more digging. Some of these countries include: Ukraine, Indonesia, Yugoslavia, Lithuania, Egypt, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Morocco, Vietnam, Russia, Pakistan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Israel, Iran, Cameroon, Gambia, and Ghana. This doesn’t mean that every transaction from any of these countries is definitely fraudulent. But you should be very suspicious.

Confirm the address of the customer.

The first thing I do when I get an online order is to check the phone number of the customer against a reverse phone number directory. The majority of my orders come from the United States and Canada. Phone numbers from these countries can usually be entered into reverse directories to find out the address that phone number belongs to. If I can’t get a match for the phone number it servers as a red flag and warrants more investigation.

Lookup the customer’s country and city of origin

I’ve already outlined a long list of countries that should be suspicous to you. How do you determine if your customer placed the order from within one of these banned countries? Simple. You cross reference their IP address with an IP lookup database that can tell you what country they are in. The city they are from and sometimes even ISP they use! If you handle only a few orders a day, you can use an excellent free service at IP2Location.com. If you do handle more volume, IP2Location.com also offers subscription packages at various prices.

Once you determine the country of origin, if it doesn’t match the country the customer listed with their billing information be very careful. Yes, it is possible that your customer could be travelling away from home. It is much more likely that their credit card information has been stolen and it is being used fraudulently. A mismatch between the country reported by IP and the billing address is a big red flag.

Don’t let customers use free email addresses.

A free email address is so easy to setup at most free email services. The odds of your being able to track down the person that registered that free email address are next to none. If at all possible, block all known free email services. The most common include Hotmail, Yahoo, Mail.com, and Gmail. If you can’t block free email addresses in advance, consider a free email address a red flag. A utility you can use to determine if an email address is a known free email is dnsstuff.com. Look towards the bottom left of the page that comes up.

Don’t ship a product until you are sure.

If two or more red flags go up, beware. If you ship a product from a fraudulent transaction, you will very likely be slapped with a chargeback from your credit card company and lose the money from the good. Be skeptical of all orders until everything checks out to your satisfaction. If in doubt, refund the purchase. Too many chargebacks will result in the cancellation of your merchant account. Who needs that?

A little diligence can go a long way to helping you prevent loses from fraudulent transactions. With a little knowledge, you can greatly reduce lost profits due to fraud.

This article was written by Joe Duchesne, president of http://www.yowling.com/, Yowling offers free ecommerce shopping carts with their web hosting plans. Copyright 2005 Yowling. Reprint Freely as long as you provide a clickable link back to my website from this resource box.

Have you ever bought a product or service from the internet?

Yes? Me too. You’re not alone…

Some of the reasons why most people are shopping online are: they can buy anything at anytime because Internet shopping is available 24 hours, all the time.

You can shop from the convenience of your home. You can avoid traffic and crowding at the malls.

Online shopping is one of the best ways to locate hard-to-find items not available in your local stores.

Whatever you buy can be delivered by mail to your house.

Most online stores and companies provide excellent values and discount prices because they do not have to pay the overhead of owning a physical business that will cost them insurance, employee pay, taxes and more.

VeriSign, Inc. says that online sales recorded during the prime holidays shopping season was about $2.2 billion dollars.

According to a study by Forrester Research Company, by 2010, online sales will reach $331 billion dollars.

More consumers are shopping online today than a year ago. The range of products they buy are many: software, hardware, electronics, digital products, music, toys, e-books, books, programs, DVD, flowers, pets, jewelry, clothes, air tickets, insurance, cars, prescription drugs, comic books, games, gifts and more.

They are flocking to buy from online bookstores, software stores, online computer stores, target stores, pet stores, liquor stores, drug stores, music stores, furniture stores, fabric stores, the Disney store, outlet stores, surplus stores, discount stores, thrift stores, gift stores, candy stores, lingerie stores, sports stores, video stores, sex stores, department stores, game stores, clothing stores and others.

Be a smart and savvy online shopper. Shop wisely and safely.

Here are a few tips to help you do your online shopping safely.

(1) Shop at the websites of companies that you know and are popular offline.

If you’re not sure of the company, request their catalog or brochure first.

Be sure they have a physical address and phone, as well as an e-mail address. Call them and speak to a human being first.

Check with the yellow pages and the Better Business Bureaus to be sure the company is legitimate.

Read all the fine print and the refund policy before you place an order.

You may read about product reviews and what other shoppers have to say about a company at: http://www.epinions.com, http://www.consumersearch.com, http://www.productopia.com, http://www.deja.com

Here are some internet shopping agents’ sites: http://www.comparenet.com, http://vo.infospace.com, http://bottomdollar.com

To read about reviews on shopping stores, regarding ease of use, pricing, selection and service go to: http://www.gomez.com, http://www.bizrate.com , http://www.ratingwonders.com

To read about web business frauds and get help to avoid being a victim, go to: http://www.fraud.org , http://www.bbbonline.org , http://www.webassured.com

(2) Keep a record of all your purchases.

Most people are by nature disorganized and unable to keep records. Learn to keep records of all your online purchases. This will help you keep track of your spending and shopping.

Print all receipts or save them on your computer in a folder named “receipts”.

This will help you locate orders that you placed but were never delivered.

The more organized you are the less negative online shopping experience you’ll have.

(3) Keep all your important personal information safe.

Don’t give them to strangers who may call you over the phone or request them by e-mail.

Personal information includes: your address, e-mail address, phone number, social security number, drivers license, age, information about your family.

Don’t give them to any stranger and, also, teach your children not to do so.

(4) Keep your passwords private.

When creating a password, avoid using phone numbers, birth dates or social security numbers.

Be creative. Use a password that is not easy for others to guess, and yet not easy for you to forget.

Change your passwords often. Use phrases to help you remember them.

Don’t disclose passwords to anyone.

(5) Use a credit (but never debit) card to make your payment.

Be sure to keep all credit card payment receipts. Check your credit card account statements to be able to spot any unauthorized charges.

When you buy certain goods and services from some companies, sometimes they will keep billing you thereafter. So scrutinize your statements. If you see a charge you’re not sure of, call the billing merchant and check it out.

Keep your credit cards secure.

Avoid making a payment using your credit card on a public computer.

Report any lost credit cards immediately and have them cancelled. Don’t give anyone that you don’t know your credit card number.

(6) Read the return policy before placing an order.

Be sure that you read and understand the return policy and warranty.

(7) Read and understand the company’s privacy statement (or policy).

A privacy statement tells you how and why a business is collecting your information, and how that information may be used. You may find the company’s privacy statement (or policy) at the very bottom of the home page or inside their "Terms & Conditions" or "Terms of Service" (TOS).

(8) Use a secure browser and server.

Be sure whatever browser you’re using complies with the industry’s security standards, such as secure sockets layer (SSL).

This security protocol scrambles or encrypts the personal information you send over the Internet to ensure your transaction is secured.

How do you know if the server is secure where you’re making a payment?

If a Web site is using secure technology, its Web address begins with https and a tiny locked padlock appears at the bottom right corner of the screen.

(9) Check out a few stores and compare prices before buying. Look for hidden costs such as shipping and handling.

(10) Use Yahoo Search Engine for all your searches.

Yahoo continues to be, not only the largest online company, but also, the best Search Engine.

Unlike the other popular Search engine, which keeps companies in a sandbox for many months and refuses to give them rankings for many months, Yahoo is pro business and gives immediate rankings to companies and business.

Their search result is also excellent. That may be one reason why 60% of people online (including me) love Yahoo.

Also, they have the most reliable and the best hosting service in the world.

For these reasons, I strongly recommend you use Yahoo to do all your searches.

Happy and safe online shopping.

Warmly,

I-key Benney

Visit Maychic’s website at: http://www.maychic.com

And also Maychic’s Amazon.com Store at: http://www.maychic.com/amazonstore

Download free "TMT Power Secrets" Book-1 at: http://www.tmtworldwide.org

Millions of people make purchases online, but many people are still wary. They fear the unknown and have many doubts and questions about who they are dealing with. They are afraid of being scammed, and rightfully so. Online shopping can be a completely safe and rewarding experience provided you are dealing with a legitimate, reputable retailer. But how do you know if they are legitimate??? Here lies the "fear of the unknown."

Well, as with anything in life, there are precautions to take, questions you should ask yourself, and signs to look out for. Provided you are careful with who you decide to purchase from, online shopping can be a very convenient and pleasurable experience.

Important Safety Precautions:

Take a good look around the website. Make sure you read their Privacy Policy. A privacy policy let’s you know the procedures and methods they have in place to secure your personal information. Find the answers to these questions…Do they share your information with others? Some companies sell or distribute your information to other companies. You may wind up on everybody’s mailing list. Do they have security measures in place to protect your information (i.e. SSL)? SSL is the abbreviation for Secured Socket Layer. SSL is security software that encrypts information transmitted between browsers. What this means in layman’s terms is that your personal information such as name, address, credit card number, etc. is coded or scrambled so that anyone who may try to intercept this information as it is transmitting cannot read it. But don’t just rely on them telling you that their site is secure, check for yourself. You will know when you are in a secure browser by looking at the bottom browser bar on your computer (lower right). If the browser is secure, you will see a security lock image. Also check the web address in your top browser bar. Secure web addresses begin with "https" whereas, non-secure pages begin with "http."

Setting up accounts with online stores is quite common. However, many people are leery of this because they don’t understand why it is sometimes necessary. Generally, the only information you are providing is your name, address, email address, and sometimes your phone number. This is all necessary information that the store needs in order to ship your order or contact you regarding your order. Setting up an account with the retailer usually provides you with additional such as tracking the status of your order. On the other hand, if the account set-up asks for more than just your basic contact information, then you may not want to proceed. You should not be required to provide your social security number, bank account number, or birthdate. This information is much more personal and should not be necessary to have an order shipped.

Read the shipping and returns policies before making a purchase. Make sure you feel comfortable with them. Find answers to these questions…What is their shipping timeframe? Is it within a reasonable amount of time? Will they notify you if it will take longer than anticipated? What choices will you have then? Do they allow returns? Are there restrictions on what items you can return and explanations as to why? Do they make sense?

Don’t make huge purchases right off the bat. Make a small, low cost purchase with the company and consider it a low-risk test of their credibility. This allows the retailer a chance to prove themselves worthy of your business, but limits the monetary risk you are taking. Should all go well, you can make a larger purchase in the future with peace of mind, now knowing that this is a legitimate business.

There are many advantages to purchasing online and as long as you are careful with who you choose to deal with you can reap the rewards.

Here are some of the benefits:

Convenience: Why fight the crowds in the stores, especially during the holidays, when you can sit at home on your computer and shop. And price comparisons are just a click away when shopping on the internet. There’s no need to fight traffic running from store to store looking for the "best deal." You can have your purchase delivered to your doorstep within a few days.

Prices: Online retailers and storefronts purchase their products from the same manufacturers. However, an online retailer doesn’t have the costly overhead that a storefront has (i.e. Lease payments on the building, heat and electric, just to name a few). Therefore, the online retailer doesn’t have to markup the price as much as the storefront in order to make the same profit. So you, the consumer, come out the winner!

Store Hours: Online retailers are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Shop at your convenience.

So as long as you take some simple precautions, shopping online can be a very pleasurable, time saving and money saving experience.

For safe shopping, great prices on lingerie, and excellent customer service, please visit our store at http://www.gottahavitny.com

There you are busily typing away on your PC or your Laptop, and all of a sudden the strangest thing happens. The screen goes black, extinquished like a candle in the wind.

A message appears saying: "The file hal.dll is missing or corrupt. Windows can not start." Well you know that 95% of computer glitches are solved by a simple reboot, so click…oops, can’t click, no Windows. Ok then, you reset, and you think you are sure to be OK when the reboot completes.

Wrong! The same error message appears "The file hal.dll is missing or corrupt. Windows can not start." How is it possible for one measly file to kill your system?

DISASTER…What to do now? Phone your tech friend and ask his advice. He tells you the bad news. You are obliged to re-install Windows from the original disc! Oh My God! Will I lose all my programs and data? Yes, you will have to re- install all your programs. No your data may be safe, but only if you don’t have to reformat your hard disc.

But, your friend asks, I hope you have all your backups.

DO YOU, because that is the key to saving your business. You know that in today’s business world, 95% of your business information is stored on your computer. This applies not only to online businesses, but also to offline ones. In this paperless society of ours, business people are printing less and less of all their transactions.

Think hard. Where the heck did I hide my original Windows disc? Really, are you organized enough that you can easily find your original installation discs, along with the code numbers they need to re-install.

You own some programs you downloaded off the Net, but they are stored on your hard drive. Are they backed up? When is the last time you backed up your data, the lifeblood of your business.

What backup system do you use? Do you use the old- fashioned tape systems, or do you backup to CD or DVD? Whichever one you use, the key is that your backups must be frequent enough to keep you out of major trouble.

Program backups do not have to be constantly repeated like Data does. Programs do not change, unless you downloaded an update. Then your update must be saved on your hard drive, and also backed up.

Data includes so many different things that it’s easy to forget to back up some items. ‘My Documents’ contains much of the data, but not nearly all. Do you know where your Favorite links are stored? Where is your email that you saved? Along with your email address book, Microsoft hides these files quite well.

It took me weeks to find, and then remember where they are hidden in Documents and Settings. I never did find the email settings, so have not saved those.

Bottom line: what should you back up, and how often?

Whatever media you use, you must have at least 2 current backups of everything, and preferably 3. If you use CD or DVD, have you ever noticed how some discs suddenly become unreadable, and for no apparent reason. It happens oh too frequently.. I lose up to 15% this way. CDs have an expected shelf life of maybe 2 years. Some will surely last longer, too many die prematurely.

Does that mean you should not use CDs or DVDs to back up? Of course you should. It is the cheapest backup system I know about. But you MUST have more than one copy. I prefer 3. The proof of this comes when you save your business by being able to start over because your backups are up to date.

Imagine if you lose all your programs and have to buy them over again.

Imagine if you lose all your emails that have your registration codes for the programs you bought online. And what about all the sales and purchase data in your emails. What about your contact list, your email lists, etc.

Imagine losing all your accounting data that you must have for year-end tax reporting!

Enough said. Programs already backed up on 2 or 3 copies only need to be updated by adding new programs you buy, and upgrades that come out.

Data should be backed up based on the frequency of your transactions. It could be daily, or every 2 or 3 days if your business is in the early growth stage..

Without backups…your business may be dead in the water! Don’t get careless. You may say I will save a disc or two by backing up less often. Why? One CD-rom disc costs a buck. Big deal when it means life or death for your business.

Why take chances. Can anyone predict when you will have a problem, a computer crash, a new virus? Of course not. Don’t live dangerously, this isn’t a thrill ride, it’s your life, your business life!

Fred Farah copyright 2004

Fred Farah

Best Affiliate Products and Niche Market Strategies http://www.bestaffiliateproducts.com

Over £5 billion pounds was spent on online shopping in 2004. The Internet was the fastest growing retail sector last year, attracting one in four shoppers. The growth rate for the online market was 27.4 per cent, six times better than for the traditional retail market. This looks set to rise as more and more people look for more convenient ways of shopping. It’s easy to search for a product and then purchase it – all at the click of a button and from the comfort of your home. You have a fun time shopping, browsing, reading and gathering information about products, and you don’t have to take time out from your busy schedule to fight traffic, crowds and queues to buy the perfect gift for your recipient.

But how can you ensure you are shopping safely? Brad Bagherian, Managing Director, at Elaborations Ltd, a web design company in Amersham, has put together the following tips for safe surfing:

1. Take your time

Take your time when purchasing online since high pressure sales tactics, just like in the real world, often indicate possible frauds. Ensure the site is easy to use, designed well and looks professional. An amateur’s site will often look cluttered.

If you are in doubt, stop the transaction. You can stop the transaction anytime before pressing the Pay and / or Confirm button that sends your order off to the business.

2. Look for Contact Details

You may think all online shops will have their contact details on their website. You might be surprised to find that some do not provide their details, no email address and no phone number. This is a sure red flag. Reputable online shops will always provide concise contact information, this includes a physical address and a phone number. If you are suspicious trust your gut feelings. Do not buy online if you are unsure that the shop is real.

3. Consider all costs before purchasing

Shop around and compare prices before buying. When you calculate the cost of a product make sure that you take into account of the delivery charge and the VAT – these are often not included in the overall price. Also make sure what you’re buying is not subject to any import restrictions.

4. Check the Returns Policy

Most reputable online shops offer strong guarantees and stand behind their products. Check the Returns Policy before you proceed to the checkout. Things you should take particular note of are; what happens if the goods are damaged or faulty, who should pay the postage costs for the return of an unwanted item and how many days you have to return an unwanted item. Online shopping surpasses the physical shops in convenience, but there is a disadvantage of being unable to physically touch the products, so the greater the refund policy period the better. If there is no refund policy, the best advice is to stay away.

Plus don’t forget that under the Distance Selling Regulations, you do have a seven-day-cooling-off period in case you change your mind. For further information on Distance Selling Regulations see http://www.dti.gov.uk/ccp/topics1/ecomm.htm

5. Check Delivery Options

Find out when they will be delivering and whether you can choose the delivery date and time. Make sure the address you provide for delivery will have someone available who can sign for the package when it arrives.

Various delivery options may incur extra costs. For example, faster delivery, registered post and weekend delivery may cost extra. So if you don’t want to be surprised when checking out, make sure you find out what their delivery terms are like.

6. Protect your Personal Information

Avoid giving out personal information that is not strictly necessary for a successful purchase.

Check the companies Privacy Policy (which is usually located at the bottom of the website) which tells you what they intend to do with your information. They should maintain your personal details in the strictest privacy and confidentiality according to the 1998 Data Protection Act.

7. Ensure the Transaction is Secure

Check whether the website complies with the industry’s security standards (SSL) which help prevent fraud and protect you by encrypting the personal information you send over the Internet during the transaction. This encryption means that a hacker will not be able to steal your credit card and personal information. You must ensure the following two measures are in place before you complete any transaction on the Internet  Ensure a padlock image is present on the bottom right hand side of your browser  Ensure the web address begins with “https”

8. Pay by Credit Card

This will give you added protection because your credit card issuer becomes jointly responsible for the goods that you buy. So if there is a problem that the company won’t resolve, the credit card company will assist you. While the problem is being investigated, you would not need to pay the credit card charge and if the company still doesn’t deliver or they are a scam, you’re in a much better position to claim your money back.

9. Keep a record of everything

Once you have made an online purchase, you will receive an email confirmation and an order reference number. Print these out and keep a note of any reference numbers provided during the transaction. It would also be useful to print out the details of the product or service you ordered. If there was a special offer on at the time, print out the web page with the offer on it. This will include vital information such as the web address, date and time it was printed. If you can not print out the information, then save the page in a folder on your PC for reference. These may be relevant if a dispute arises.

10. Know Your Rights

Online consumers have exactly the same rights as offline consumers. The goods should fit the product description and be as satisfactory as described online. If something goes wrong with your purchase, there are actions you can take with the shop, and your bank to fix the problem. For further information take a look at the Office of Fair Trading website.

Brad Bagherian, Managing Director, at Elaborations Ltd comments: “As long as you have these tips in mind, you can shop on the Internet with your mind at ease. Most online shops and companies provide excellent value and discount prices because they do not have to cover the overheads of a physical business that will cost them insurance, employee pay, taxes and more. It’s no surprise then that we are finding more and more businesses are taking their products and services to the web by setting up ecommerce sites.”

Brad Bagherian is the founder and MD of elaborations Ltd (http://www.elaborations.co.uk). elaborations is a London based Design Company specialising in website design and development, graphic design and Internet marketing.

If you are a parent, as am I, I think we can agree there is little else more important than keeping our children safe and protected. It’s difficult enough keeping them safe from the unscrupulous people we read about in the news, but dealing with children and the Internet takes it to a completely new level.

Many young people find instant messaging and e-mail a convenient and fun way to talk with their friends. If you have children, like me, when they’re not on the phone, they’re talking with their friends on the Internet. We have very strict rules and guidelines about who they can talk with and for how long. We have given them detailed instructions on what to do when they receive e-mail from someone they don’t know or receive an anonymous instant message.

Recently, someone close to me received a death threat via an anonymous instant message. The language this person used was so vulgar and explicit you would have thought it came from a prison inmate. Interestingly enough, the person at the other end was a child.

After significant investigation we determined this person was a school mate. They had received detailed information about the child including the child’s instant messenger alias, their home address and color, and what type of cars the family drove. Can you imagine how scared this child and child’s family was? Quite frankly, it was not only sad but sickening that another child could be so verbally brutal. Additional investigation revealed that the school these children go to were aware that this had been going on for quite some time. Other children had been receiving similar threats.

This particular event was all the result of several children speaking in a chat roam and one child in particular got upset about something that was said. That child contacted another child, who is known to be mean, and asked them to scare one of the other children. We got to the bottom of the whole mess and everyone felt a bit of relief.

It’s very important to pay attention and, in some cases, monitor what children are doing on the Internet. It’s for their protection and the protection of others. I’m sure I am going to get an ear full from privacy rights advocates on this one. Regardless, the safety of our children is one of the most important tasks a parent has.

If your children use e-mail and Instant Messaging on a regular basis you should;

1) Limit the number of people they can e-mail and message with;
2) Work with them to develop an approved list of friends;
3) Limit the amount of the time they spend e-mailing and messaging;
4) Make your presence known while they are e-mailing or messaging; and
5) If necessary install some sort of monitoring software to see what is going on in chat rooms.

Update: Shortly after writing this article, a 13 year old boy at a middle school in my area was arrested for e-mailing death threats to two teachers. In one e-mail he indicated he was planning on bringing a gun to school to kill a teacher. The other e-mail, sent to a teacher at a different school, indicated that he planned on targeting students as well. For further details please see the full article at South Florida’s Sun Sentinel "http://www.sun-sentinel.com/ news/local/palmbeach/sfl-pcletter18feb18,1,216444. story?ctrack=1&cset=true."

For information on computer monitoring software take a look at WatchRight http://www.watchright.com/.

A good site to visit to learn more about protecting children on the Internet is www.protectkids.com. It’s full of great information every parent should know. Other sites you may want to visit are http://www.isafe.org/, and Obscenity Crimes Reporting http://www.obscenitycrimes.org/.

About The Author
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Darren Miller is an Industry leading computer and internet security consultant. At the website - http://www.defendingthenet.com you will find information about computer security specifically design to assist home, home business and small business computer users. Sign up for defending the nets newsletter and stay informed and empowered to stay safe on the Internet. You can reach Darren at mailto:darren.miller@paralogic.net or at mailto:defendthenet@paralogic.net
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Aritcle URL
http://www.defendingthenet.com/Articles/ProtectYourChildrenOnTheInternet.htm