Secure your internet

Educate yourselves and your children with the proper and more secure use of the internet. Especially now that there are a lot of websites and downloadable programs that trick people to share important personal information.

Here are some tips to help make your net connection from web marauders.

Create a family “junk mail” account. Use a free e-mail account provider like Yahoo, Google, MSN, etc. You and your children can use this account to register for internet sites. Remind your children not to put their real names and addresses if asked. Tell them that it’s like the rule of  “not talking to a stranger.”

This  goes the same for online conversations. If you have teenagers or pre-teens who chat, remind them that harmless online friends won’t ask them for their exact addresses, or credit card information, or money for that matter.

Position computers with internet access only in open traffic areas of your home like the study or the living room. Make use of parental control options in your net connection. Ask a technician or an expert friend on how to activate this.

Give real-life examples to your kids on how the internet can be misleading and what can possibly happen to anyone who is too trusting.