Resources Online
I have missed writing for the blog - first, I was very sick and then I had a serious illness in the family. Hopefully, things are back to relative normal now and I can post regularly again. I had the pleasure to speaking at the ADVANCE Job Fair last month - about the Internet. I had a number of requests to post the links from my presentation, so here they are.
The Internet Society is an independent, international, nonprofit organization founded 16 years ago to provide leadership in Internet related policies and standards throughout the world. This allows us to load and read Web sites from many different countries because they all publish to a common standard.
It can be hard to know whether information you get in e-mail or online is credible. If you've gotten a helpful story forwarded from a friend to your Inbox, before you pass it on, check here to see if it is real or a hoax. If you want to be sure the health information you search is reliable, search through the Health on the Net Foundation. This international organization has stringent requirements for sites it approves (I know, I got one of my Web sites approved through them) and you can search from this site. The search results will provide only the approved health sites. This is particularly helpful for students who don't yet have the experience to distinguish between credible sites and those designed just to sell something to an unsuspecting person or sites published by quacks.
Are your programs up-to-date with security patches? A typical computer has many programs, some of which run in the background that you may not recognize by name. It is virtually impossible to keep up with the regular updates for everything. I use Secunia Software Inspector. Click on the "scan now" button. If you need an update in order to run the scan, the site will provide a link so you can download it. The scan can take a few minutes to run. When it's done, the results tell you which programs on your computer are the latest version and which programs have security updates available. The report provides the link directly to the update so you don't have to hunt around and risk downloading something that might bring a virus to your machine. This site links only to the software manufacturers' original sites. I try to run a scan once a week.
For general computer information, I often check out Kim Komando. She has a radio program, writes newspaper columns, books and a few e-mail newsletters. Here is a link to her list of free security software available for download. Be careful, though and only follow links from her site. She has reported cases in which unscrupulous software companies have used her name to get links from search engines. Go to her site and use the search box there to find what you're looking for. You can also sign up for newsletters - I get the Cool Site of the Day and Tip of the Day.
It can be dicey negotiating the World Wide Web, particularly if you're not naturally geeky. While ADVACE nor I can guarantee other sites, these are the ones I use and find helpful in my everyday computing life. Remember that you need protection - always have a firewall, antivirus software and a spyware detector on your computer and up and running - always - and be sure to configure your antivirus program to scan all incoming e-mail so a virus won't be downloaded through your e-mail without your knowledge. It's not hard - I had a professional set up my first couple of computers, and in 12 years, I have never lost anything to a virus.
Till next time ~