Tips To Prevent Online Identity Theft

Identity theft rates one of the fastest growing crimes in America today and the Internet can make it even easier for some criminals to take your good name and drag it through the mud.

Identity theft involves criminals stealing your personal information such as credit card numbers, social security numbers and other information, usually to buy things on credit or to empty out your bank accounts.

Through your financial liability with your credit cards may be limited to $50 to $500, it can take years for you to clean up the mess online identity thieves leave behind.

As with any crime, an ounce of prevention may just cause the would-be identity thieves to leave you alone and move on to an easier target.

The following tips can help you avoid having your identity stolen:

1.) Never give out your social security number, online or otherwise. No company you buy things from needs your social security number.

If you do business on the web, obtain a a Federal Tax ID number to use instead of your social security number.

Once criminals have your social security number, along with your birth date and address, they have virtually everything they need to start wreaking havoc in your life.

2.) Use a good anti-virus program. One of the ways criminals get your credit card numbers, passwords and other sensitive information is through "Trojan horse" viruses that log your keystrokes and transmit information to the evil doers.

The "Bad Trans" virus that has caused so much havoc is just such a virus.

3.) Always use a "secure" server when transmitting credit card information over the web and know something about the company before handing over your information.

You can feel pretty confident that you are using a secure server if a little lock displays in the status bar on the bottom of your web browser.

4.) A popular new way to pay for goods and services online is to "use your checking account just like a credit card".

Be extremely cautious about paying this way through the web. By giving a company your checking account numbers you give away much of the information necessary to empty your bank account!

5.) Never give out information such as your birthday, marital status, education level or other personal information.

This additional information makes it extremely easy for criminals to make themselves appear legitimate when they pose as you. Websites should ultimately only require you to provide your name, email and billing information for a purchase.

You should avoid any site requiring more information than that.

These criminals prey on people's ignorance and you can usually defeat them simply by making it too hard for them to get your information.

If you do find yourself a victim, immediately contact police and get legal help. Do not wait because you feel embarrassed or "stupid" over what happened.

Waiting only lets the trail grow cold and limits how much law enforcement can do to help you.

Author Bio:

            Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the co-author of an amazing new ebook that will teach you how to use free articles to quickly drive thousands of targeted visitors to your website or affiliate links... Click Here for more information on "Turn Words Into Traffic" at http://www.turnwordsintotraffic.com.

Tips to Prevent Data Loss!

How do you protect yourself from losing important data? Do you save your work as often as possible? Do you do backups? Here are a few effective tips on how to prevent data loss:

Backup your work:

             Backing up your work is simple thing to do: you can use USB’s, CD’s, or external drive, among others, to have a duplicate or backup of your work. Just in case your file was corrupted by whatever reason, you’re sure that you have a secured file stored. You can also try partitioning your hard drive into two: one for the operating system and some programs, while the second partition would be for backup. This way you won’t need to have a separate storage device while preventing data loss.

Use Antivirus and Antispyware Programs:

             Viruses, worms and spywares can delete, modify and corrupt your files. Right after installing programs on your computer, it is a must to install an antivirus and antispyware. Keep your antivirus updated so that it could be effective in preventing viruses. Always scan your computer using antispyware program because spywares could attack your files and give attackers access to it.

Use UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply):

            Brownouts are unavoidable, so it is advantageous to use UPS. A sudden surge in current could corrupt your files as well as some programs on your computer. While in a middle of encoding your project, you could prevent data loss by using UPS. UPS, could allow you to properly save your work and shutdown your computer, which otherwise would cause files and programs to malfunction.


Don’t try to repair your computer if you’re not qualified to do it:

           If you think that you need to open up your computer because it needs repair, don’t attempt to do it unless you really know what you’re doing. Trying to solve the problem without assistance from a qualified professional could do more damage than good. You could lose not just data, but you could rupture the hardware inside. Or you could harm yourself from electric shock.

Don’t share your file with strangers:

          To protect yourself from data loss, never allow anybody you don’t know to access your important file. You’re never sure what they could do to it. They could steal your work, modify or delete it.

Don’t modify the registry of your Operating System:

          Unless you’re sure what you’re doing, never do changes to the registry. It could harm your operating system that could result in malfunction and loss of some important files.