subject: Safety With The Sites You Enter [print this page] The question still remains for a great number of people on how to know if a website or link is clean or secure or criminal. This article will now give people the chance to look over again to how they deal with these dodgy strategies.
Before going to the web, it would be of best interest to know what you have on your computer. Several antivirus software have an included feature for scanning links and pages (wherein mostly you will be warned when trying to access an uncertified site), anti-phishing and anti-spam, etc. Moreover, there are also utilities that offer the same features in a cheaper price, if not free. All these features can surely help you ahead in determining if a site is safe to open or not.
Another thing is your browser. The greatest suggestion would be: do not experiment or work with browsers you think only a few has tried and not yet verified. Some browsers may be offered to be better with more features, but how about the security features? These browsers might be created with a backdoor wherein sensitive information can flow freely. The Microsoft Internet Explorer, if youre using Windows, is a good choice already and it is absolutely free as it comes with the installation of the OS itself. Moreover, latest known browsers also offer a color-change on the left side of the location bar to indicate if a site is legitimate as verified.
Now lets try to check on what else can help you. Open your browser (lets say youre using the Microsoft IE that is updated) and try to open a site like that of a bank in your place. Usually, sites begin with http://, however, over a secure connection this protocol must be expected to be https://, which indicate the line is already secure. This is commonly found in the log-in pages, or where fields are found in pages opened.
How about the Lock icon? Though not all browsers support this, most trusted browsers included this and can be found easily in the status bar, wherein you get a small window upon clicking. This will indicate also that the site is safe enough to go through.
Site Seals have been sold also online to prove that the buyers site is safe to be interacted with. These seals can be easily found on websites which cater or store sensitive information. Upon a closer look, these seals have a distinct style or pattern which makes them hard to duplicate. Moreover, they do react upon mouse over or clicking.
Several trusted sites also offer the service of checking your potential site first before you go ahead. One of the most trusted is in Google Safe Browsing wherein you only need to enter the URL of the potential site after the = sign (http://google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site=) and you will be notified at once. Another similar service is hp hosts (www.hosts-file.net).
Above all, it would always be wise also to retype a web address than clicking it, because there are cases where clicking the site will eventually give you a lot of dangerous pop-ups.
Web security is a fast-growing concern nowadays for all web users. To hope that a site is safe may be good, but it would be better if you check the site first in the ways provided in this article. Browse safely, and later youll realize its worth the effort.
