• Don't tell sites anything you don't want them to know. Use common sense when filling out forms or submitting any personal information unless you are absolutely sure it won't be misused.
  
   
• Read a site's privacy policy. The presence of a privacy policy does not mean that a company won't collect or sell your information. Read it carefully. If it is vague or unclear, watch out. If you can't find one, get out!
  
   
• Never accept and run an "ActiveX Control" or "Java Class" unless it comes signed and from a trusted site. It is best to force your browser to prompt you for permission. If you are using Internet Explorer, these settings are located under Control Panel - Internet Options - Security - Internet , Custom Level. Mozilla, Opera, and Netscape users are prompted by default.
  
   
• Disable "Install on Demand" if you are using Internet Explorer so your browser will be forced to prompt you if additional components are needed in order to display certain content. This setting is located under Control Panel - Internet Options - Advanced.
  
   
• Set your browser for maximum privacy, forcing it to prompt you for permission for everything possible from cookies to downloads as well as security permissions for Java Classes (Mozilla, Opera, and Netscape) and ActiveX Controls (Internet Explorer) as mentioned above. Once you become familiar with a site you can always add it to an 'approved' or 'trusted' sites list in your content filter or browser to avoid the annoyance of continuous prompts, but apply some caution as this is for absolutely trusted sites only.
  
   
• Never visit untrusted sites. If you do, be extremely cautious.
  
   
• Clear your browser cache (called "Temporary Internet Files" in IE) and browser history often, and always after visiting any site where you performed personal business - online banking, making a purchase, etc.
  
   
• Learn about firewalls, content filters, and proxies and use them! Always! A firewall that will monitor all incoming and outgoing traffic and will alert you for access permission if such traffic is detected is an absolute must! See Links & Resources - Firewalls, Filters, Proxies, & Cleaners for a list of helpful programs.
  
   
• Do you best to prevent being a victim of data or identity theft. See Data Theft.
  
   
• Don't install spyware, and use adware cautiously. See Adware vs. Spyware, and you can search the online Spyware Lists for offenders. Also be aware that some freeware, shareware, and adware programs can contain viruses, or worse - trojans!
  
   
• Manage/filter your cookies. See our page on Cookies for guidelines.
  
   
• Opt out of everything from mailing lists to requests to use your personal information for whatever purpose is intended, and beware of sites that offer some sort of reward or prize in exchange for your contact or other information.
  
   
• Never respond to spam by using their "click here to unsubscribe" or "follow this link for removal from our list". The one and only thing this does is verify that the spam was delivered to a valid e-mail address and confirm that you saw it. The sender has no intention what so ever in honoring your request. In fact, by responding you are guaranteed the delivery of even more spam from the same sender plus those who were sold your confirmed-valid address. Destroy the spam without responding to anything.
  
   
• Never give your personal e-mail address to a commercial vendor. This applies to anything from making a purchase online to responding to an online survey. Apply for a free webmail account or subscribe to a Disposable E-mail Service and use that address instead. You can always dispose of it and acquire a new one quite easily if necessary. Several good webmail providers are listed under Links & Resources - Mail Services.
  
   
• Never use your personal e-mail address when posting to message boards or newsgroups. Always use a 'webmail' or a 'disposable' e-mail address. Spiders are constantly crawling these places for valid addresses to use for spam. If you must use your personal address, or any valid address you plan to keep, always insert some text that the viewer will know to remove when responding to you. No one will question your intent - this is standard practice. Examples can be found at e-mail & Spam - Spam Prevention.
  
   
• Never reveal personal details to strangers. Period.
  
   
• Use encryption software such as PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) for sending your most private e-mail messages. If you don't, keep in mind that what you are sending is the equivalent of a postcard. Also remember that encryption is for the message body only - it does not hide the subject line.
  
   
• Never, ever use e-mail to send confidential information such as credit card numbers or your Social Security number. Even if you use encryption, you cannot be certain that the recipient will protect this information once it is delivered and decrypted. It will only be as secure and the recipient and the recipient's system permits.
  
   
• Be sure your browser is SSL-capable (Secure Socket Layer) and the encryption strength, or cypher strength, is not less than 128-bit.
  
   
• Never submit a secure form on an insecure server. Period.
  
   
• Squash the 'web bugs' - 1-inch x 1-inch transparent pixel images often embedded in web pages, advertisements, and HTML-formatted e-mail. They usually originate from a third party server and are used to verify that a web page, ad, or spam was seen without the need for that third party to directly view the log reports of the originating content server. All they need to do is check their own log reports to see if, when, how many times, and/or from where the page, ad, or spam was viewed. In a more sophisticated role, web bugs also have the ability to interact with cookies to track web usage patterns. Filters for web bugs can be found at Links & Resources - Firewalls, Filters, Proxies, & Cleaners.
  
  You can also squash these web bugs in e-mail by either selecting to disable HTML or view messages as plain text if your e-mail client has such options - the better ones do. In Outlook, click on the Security tab, select Change Automatic Download Settings, and place a check next to Don't download pictures or other content automatically in HTML e-mail.
  
   
• Disable cookies in e-mail if your e-mail client has such an option - the better ones do.
  
   
• Use anonymizers where both privacy and security are a risk such as browsing to unfamiliar sites or posting to certain newsgroups. A list of resources can be found at Links & Resources - Anonymizers - Surfing & Usenet and Links & Resources - Anonymous Remailer Software. It is, however, far better to avoid the sites where an anonymizer might be needed.
  
   
• Keep informed. Visit privacy sites frequently. Read the news. Apply what you learn.
  
   

The above guidelines apply specifically to privacy. Complete general security guidelines for all computers and computers connected to LANs are listed at Secure Your Home Computer!

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