Dangers Of The Internet
What are some of the dangers to my kids associated with Internet and what can I do?
What programs will protect my computer from the dangers of the Internet?
On the subject of spyware and addware, there's really no one program that I've found to protect my computer from the dangers of the Internet. There are lots of good programs that are worth looking at. Spybot is one that's available, it's free and it's very good. Addaware is also one that's very good and free and they can be used in combination with each other. On the virus side of the picture there are the Pepsis and Coca Colas of the industry like Symantic and Macafee. I don't particuarlly prefer them. There's another company that now has over 2 million users world wide called AVG. They used to have a free product, they still have a very inexpensive product, and some are also very good. There's Panda, there's Caperski, there's Naw32. Some of the smaller, lesser known programs are really worth checking out, and do a very good job of scanning and protecting your computer against viruses. There are lots of free of programs out there that are very good, that can protect you against spyware and addware. If you are suddenly infected with pop-ups that are highjacking your main web page, that are telling you that you are infected and must "click here" to scan your computer and buy this, you must never go with those. That is absolutely the last program that you want to have anything to do with, because that program is a fake. That program is actually spyware.
What are "cookies"?
Cookies - what are cookies? Why do websites need cookies? Cookies are little pieces of information; when you go to a website for the first time, that website will place cookies in your computer's mouth and say, "Here, have this. This is good for you." Cookies are generally, mostly, a really good thing. They exist because in the early days of the Internet, when everybody was surfing on dialup connections, you would load up your CompuServe page for the first time and there were a lot of framing devices and graphics and things that would be pretty constant to the architecture of that webpage. In order for your browsing experience, or surfing experience on that webpage to be fast and effective, CompuServe would give your computer some cookies that would sit there on your computer's cookie shelf. The next time you go back to CompuServe, those CompuServe cookies are already sitting on your computer's cookie shelf, making that browsing experience faster and quicker. Of course, now we have a lot of broadband speeds, and it's in fact possible to get on that page and download fresh content very quickly. Now, what different web advertisers figured out is that they could sometimes put cookies on your computer that you might not want, and cookies could end up on your cookie shelf that weren't necessarily good cookies for your computer to have. That's why it's good to clean out your cookies occasionally. Cookies also store the kinds of things that allow you to go back to certain sites and not have to put in your login name and password over and over again.
What are the causes of a slow Internet connection?
It's probably not a virus even though that's the first thing somebody is going to tell you, but that's probably not the case. If you are on a dial-up connection, obviously that would make your experience of loading up a webpage pretty pretty painful and your probably not watching me on dial-up right now. Your computer could be running too many processes at the same time. This will completely slow down the whole experience of bringing in and loading up all the content the website wants to put on your screen. A web host could also be getting hit with too many requests at the same time. And if that happens, that will slow down your experience of pulling up information through a particular website. If the number of requests that they're getting are overwhelming for the amount of server capacity that they really have to offer to peole out there on the world wide web.
What's a "computer virus"?
A computer virus is actually a very interesting form of artificial life. It's a little piece of programming code that is actually able to replicate itself and spread on its own. And really, computer viruses started out as just sort of a curious notion, an academic experiment. But they've grown into something much more malicious and destructive to the enjoyment of working on the internet. And of course, now, these things, once they're cut loose they really do have a life of their own. There's no central place that can control these things.
How can I protect myself from computer viruses?
Well, you can switch the computer off and that will definitely keep it secure. You will definitely not get any viruses if that happens. You can not have it on the internet at all, and I know some people who do that, and that will definitely keep it secure, but it's not very fun. Other than that, if you really want to be plugged into the world wide web, you can take some reasonable, prudent measures to keep yourself protected. Avail yourself of some good, basic internet security programs, virus protection programs. Keep them up to date. Don't necessarily go with the biggest names on the block. McAffee and Symantec are out there, but there's also some other very, very good providers of internet security and virus programs out there. Nod32, Kapersky, AVG come to mind, Panda. There are other providers out there who have very good security solutions that are worth looking into, and sometimes they're even better than what the biggest names in the business have to offer.
Is it safe to let children browse the Internet unrestricted?
Absolutely not. There are two things that are big concerns for kids being unrestricted on the Internet. The first one is the amount of time that they spend on the Internet. The Internet can be a very addictive place whether it's playing on-line games or whether it's surfing Internet pages. You can get into a cycle where hours and hours and hours can go by without you realizing it. As adults we've learned to moderate that: stop, get up, walk around, get a drink or turn the computer off. Kids don't have those skills yet and you can really damage a child's ability to unplug by giving them unrestricted time on the Internet. The second problem with having kids unrestricted on the Internet is the content of the Internet. The Internet is an encyclopedia of everything: good, bad, ugly. You can pull up things that would scare your grandmother or thrill your son and you could do it by accident. There are pornography websites abounding on the Internet. It's one of the biggest proliferations of websites. There are also problems with MySpace and stalkers. Kids don't know not to put their information out on the Internet. You can pull up violent video clips or sexually themed video clips. It could be very, very damaging to a young child's ability to process that information.
What are some of the dangers to my kids associated with the Internet and what can I do?
There are a lot of things that you can do to protect your kids on the Internet. The first and most important one is open conversation; open a communication with your kids. Ask them what they're doing on the Internet and where they're going. If they have questions, make sure they feel open to talk to you about this. The Internet is a very, very exciting place, but it can also be a very scary place. Kids will have questions, they'll want to have MySpace pages, and they'll want to have their own blogs. They'll want to open their life up to their friends on the Internet, not realising that they're opening it up to everybody on the Internet. Be aware of these web sites. The biggest problem with a web site like My Space is that most parents will say, “Well, you can't have a MySpace page,” and that will immediately cause the kid to get a MySpace page without the parents knowing. A better reaction would be, “Yes, you can have a MySpace page, but I need to be one of your ‘friends' on that page. I need to be able to stay in communication with you, know what you're posting, what you're talking about, and who your ‘friends' are on that web site.” Social engineering sites are great, but you're the parent, here. You need to have a little bit of control over who is interacting with your kids on these web pages. If you say no to them, they're just going to do it behind your back. In addition to that, there are many programmes that are starting to come out that have the ability of screening and filtering web site, e-mail, Internet, and chat information, and chat rooms for protection. There are many different products. The one with which I've had the most success on the Macintosh platform is called Intego. That's called a content barrier. It comes with several portions. One portion allows you to filter the information that your kids can see on the Internet. You use a “black list” and a “white list.” You can use the predetermined white list that this content barrier provides, or you can adjust it, depending on what you feel your kids should or shouldn't see. Again, being in communication with them is the key to this. If they travel to a web site that you don't want them going to, you need to block it. If they travel to a web site that they want to go to and you feel it's okay, but they can't get to it because it is blocked, you need to personally approve it. These kinds of programmes give the parent the control over what their kids can and can't do. They also filter the information that's on the Internet and can send log files, or information files, to an e-mail address specified in the programme; to the parent, enabling the parent to see what the kid has got on to, in case they got somewhere they shouldn't have been. It can also do that same sort of filtering and e-mail log file for the web chat rooms or instant messaging, and for the e-mails that your kids get. It looks for keywords or for red-flag words or red-flag phrases, such as “Are you alone?” “Don't tell your parents.” “Is your mum there?” etcetera; information that you know your kids shouldn't give out, but they don't know. If they do give that information out, or that information is asked, that site is going to be red flagged, and that chat is going to be copied and e-mailed to you. That same programme, or other programmes like it, can also offer ways to restrict the time limit that a kid can be on the Internet. You can specify, for example, that they're allowed to surf the Internet from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. only, and for only three hours combined within that period of time. This is a great way to really protect your kids because if they only have a limited amount of time on the Internet, they're going to be more careful about what they do. They're going to do less surfing around and more of what they need and what they want at that time.
Should I keep my kids off the Internet because of the dangers?
The fastest way to get your kids onto the internet without you knowing about it is to tell them not to get on the internet. Their friends have internet connections. Their school has an internet connection. The library has an internet connection. I have a daughter; she's twelve. It's a dangerous age for kids on the internet. I encourage her to use the internet at home. I gave her a laptop so that she could use it at home but, for me, it's important to keep tabs on her. I restrict the amount of time she's allowed to use the internet. Homework's got to be done. Other things have to be done. There has to be downtime. I have a timer on her computer that will literally turn the internet off after she's used it for a 2 hour or a 3 hour period of time, depending on whether it's a weekday or a weekend. In addition to restricting the time that I put my daughter on the internet, I also restrict what sites she's able to go to. I use internet programmes, privacy tools, etc. which can filter websites, can screen websites, and can prevent my daughter from having open access to everything on the internet. Most of these programmes give you preferences and tools that allow you to turn on or off things like streaming video, certain web searches, or will make certain websites blacklisted entirely. This allows me to feel safe with my daughter being on the internet because I know she's got a restricted amount of time on the internet and I know that her web browser will keep a history of where she's been on the internet. There are also programmes that can e-mail that history directly to you. However, I recommend that you keep an eye on the computer that your kids use the internet for; that you keep a look at the history. You allow them to use it, but you allow them to use it in a room where you can see them; not in the back hallway, and not in the bedroom with a closed door. However, give them the permission that they can do it so that you can approve how they do it, how long they do it for, and where they go.
