If you spend quite a bit of time online these days, you may be concerned about your safety while you’re online. After all, identity theft is fast becoming one of the biggest crimes worldwide, and given that it can cost hours of your time as well as thousands of dollars, it’s certainly something that should be avoided at all costs. The key, though, to staying safe online is to understand exactly what kinds of threats you might be facing as you cruise the information superhighway.

Keeping Your Terms Straight

The kinds of programs that can jeopardize your online safety go by many different names, and this is a huge problem for most users. You have to know the terminology before you can be afraid of it. Malware is a fairly common terms, but it refers to nearly anything that can hurt your machine. Virtually all bad things fall under the term malware at some point. Spyware is a term you’ve probably heard a lot about lately. This is a term for software that literally monitors your movements. It can either record every key you touch on your computer, the programs you open, or the websites you visit. Because it is downloaded without your knowledge, people can watch your every move without your consent. This becomes quite dangerous if you do any banking online or you check your account status online at any point in time. Adware is another fairly common term these days, and it is spyware’s slightly-less evil cousin. It will display a variety of ads on your machine. Like most spyware programs, it does track your movements, but it only uploads information to its host that helps them send you better targeted ads.

The bottom line with each of these programs is that it doesn’t really matter what type of malware is living within the walls of your computer case, it can (and usually will) track your movements and put your online safety and the security of your machine at risk.

Is It Really That Bad?

In a word, YES! Spyware and adware all jeopardize your personal information and the internet security of everyone. In the case of a keylogger, every stroke you type (from account numbers to passwords) are handed directly over to another person. In other cases, understanding what you’re shopping for or looking at so that the perfect ads can be sent your way is a bit creepy. Moreover, if they can get into your computer, they can use your computer to do damage to others. Some write malware programs that literally hijack your machine. They can store illegal files on your computer, or they can even commandeer your computer to damage other servers, which makes it harder to trace where the original attach came from. Malware can do awful things to your machine and to the machines of others. That not only costs you time and money, it presents a potential danger to others.

Is There Anything Anyone Can Do To Improve Internet Security?

While governments have attempted to pass laws to control malware, on the whole, these have proven to be fairly ineffective. The United States created both the I-SPY and SPY acts to try to impose stiff penalties on those who create spyware or damage the machines of others by employing those kinds of tactics, but no government can go far enough to truly take care of the problem.

On an individual level, there’s actually quite a bit that you can do to save your computer from danger. First, anti-spyware software is a great step. Find some that works well, update it often, and run it on a regular basis. Check out www.spyware-anti.net for some of the best information on anti-spyware software and downloads that will help maintain online safety in your home.

Aside from the actual installation of anti-spyware software, your next task is to tackle any infections that you currently have. Your new anti-spyware software will take care of most of it for you. In extreme cases, you may have to find an online virus/spyware forum and upload your personal notes and screenshots. People all over the world are usually willing to impart their experience and expertise to individuals with computer problems.

Once you’ve cleared your machine of problem materials, you may want to begin the complaint process. If any specific businesses were mentioned in ads on your machine, write them a letter. Let them know that you don’t appreciate having adware or spyware installed on your computer just so they can increase their profit margin. Let them know that internet security is important to you. Reporting them to the Center for Democracy and Technology might also be a great step in the process.