While the internet is your portal to the world, but you need to be careful where you go and be wary of the sites you visit. It's important to know how to stay safe when you're using the internet. You should never give out any personal information when you're online, no matter who you think you're talking to.

There are lots of sites around that allow you to talk to other people on the web. Chat rooms give you the chance to have a conversation with other people and get instant replies. Online message boards and forums let you post questions or comments and ask other users to give their opinion in their own time.

It can be a great way to chat to other people who share your interests, but you should always be careful not to pass on any of your personal details. You should always keep in mind that internet users can pretend to be anyone they like. They can lie about their age, their interests and whether they're male or female. No matter how long you've been chatting, remember that they're still strangers; you don't really know them at all.

Use a personal Firewall there are some free ones Zone Alarm, PC Tools Firewall Plus. Install anti virus there are some free ones AVG, Avast support through win 7. Install multiple Spy ware tools Spybot, Adaware, Malware bytes. some of these are equal to the purchased items but subscriptions give you the latest protection. Kaspersky, Norton, McAfee, Trend Micro, are examples. They provide online updates on a regular basis. Use content rating and parental controls. Microsoft operating systems come with ICRA already installed and you can get the rating file (RAT) from safe surf for free.

Here are some links that provide more information:

 Things Never To Do On the Internet

 Digital Age Safe Parenting

 How to Stop the Porn Predators

 Top Internet Safety Tips for Parents

 Internet Safety Tips for Kids

 Children's Bill Of Rights

 FOSI Safety Contract

 Internet Explorer's Content Advisor ICRA filtering using Microsoft Internet Explorer

 Safe Surf Setup

  Making adjustments to Safe Surf

 A Parent's Guide to Internet Safety (FBI)

 7 Practices for Computer Security

 Stay Safe on-line

 Some simple defenses

On-line Safety Quiz

 ICRA Certification

Vanity Search http://www.zabasearch.com

Password Safe Software
http://passwordsafe.sourceforge.net/ or http://keepass.info