How to browse safe on a public PC
Though most of us have computers at home and office, we would be forced to use public PC’s for browsing. Especially in libraries, internet Cafe’s etc. Personally I don’t favour browsing from a PC which is unknown( Contents and applications).
But there are many ways to browse securely. Look below to see a list of such safety tips which are to be followed before accessing a public PC, recommended by PCmag.
1.Clear Cookies Before You start browsing.
In Firefox press Ctrl-Shift-Del and check all the boxes, then click OK. In IE select Delete Browsing History from the Tools menu and click Delete all.
2.. Before you start, turn off dangerous browser settings. In Internet Explorer’s Options dialog click the Content tab, click the Settings button in the AutoComplete pane and uncheck all the boxes. In Firefox’s Options dialog click the Privacy tab and uncheck all the boxes under History and Cookies, then click the Security tab and uncheck all the boxes under Passwords.
3.If you need to visit a bank or other financial Web site, type the URL yourself.
Do not visit any financial Web sites by clicking hyperlinks received in your Web-based e-mail. The sites they bring you to might be fraudulent, and the public computer may not have antiphishing software enabled.
4.. Before entering any sensitive data on the public computer, make sure there’s no active malicious software on the system by running a quick scan from www.nanoscan.com.
Keep in mind that no software will detect a hardware keylogger, so limit your sensitive transactions to those that are utterly essential.
5.When you’re finished with the browser, erase the browsing history and files.
In Firefox press Ctrl-Shift-Del and check all the boxes, then click OK. In IE select Delete Browsing History from the Tools menu and click Delete all.
6.After finishing all tasks,launch My Computer, right-click the icon for the hard disk, and click Properties. Click the Disk Cleanup button and wait for the list of choices. Make sure that Recycle Bin and Temporary files are checked and that Compress old files is not checked. Then click OK to clean up.
I couldn’t agree more with your tips here.
I spent some time travelling in Central America earlier on this year and stayed in contact via internet cafes and the odd hotel computer.
What shocked me was not only did I frequently log onto a PC to find someone else’s Hotmail or Gmail open and logged in, but many computers were clearly virus-ridden yet the unsuspecting users just didn’t realise.
I dread to think how many personal details are stolen from tourists who don’t know these basic techniques.
Public computers are scary places and I can’t believe the general lack of savvy that most people have when it comes to basic security measures like this.
A really well-written and important article.
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Hi buddy
Thanks for the comment….Anyway I keep wondering, why don’t people give their names to their comments??
@radam, People lacks basic understanding about this security because they simply don’t know it. but through this posts like this on the net they will be eventually aware. So us who understand about it should help this people. This tip will be very useful!
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@ Kabon
Hope you will ensure that through your blog.
Thanks for these tips! My kids usually monopolize the computer on weekends, so I’m forced to walk 2 blocks to the library…I never really thought about browsing safety, but will definitely be trying this out.
Always welcome
This is a great post. It is a very nice blog too. I add it to my favorites
Thank you buddy… I hope so!