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| Beware
Spyware Recent developments in technology allow outsiders to access personal information from your home computer files without your knowledge. Dubbed “spyware,” these stealthy programs covertly gather information about personal browsing habits and online activities or harvest personal files and sell data to advertisers for marketing purposes. Here are tips to help secure your personal computer and your privacy: * Set your browser security level to at least medium (for Internet Explorer, click on Tools, Options, and Privacy). Security settings higher than medium, however, may make Web sites less usable. * Try using a different Web browser, such as opera.com or Mozilla.org, which are immune to automatic installation flaws in Microsoft Internet Explorer and always prompt the user before downloading and installing software. * Never accept downloads from people or companies you don’t know or trust, and don’t wander into Web sites with questionable content. Sites offering free downloads of popular music and software or pornography are often loaded with spyware. * Thoroughly investigate software you intend to install. Read all disclosures, “Terms and Conditions,” and privacy statements carefully before you click “Accept,” “Agree,” or “OK.” * Remove unwanted, unnecessary, or suspicious-looking software from your computer. Do a Google search on unfamiliar software before removing it to ensure that you don’t delete essential computer programs. * Keep Windows and any other regularly used software up-to-date by running all the latest patches and fixes. * Get a firewall. This software sits between your computer and the Internet and helps block unauthorized access to your computer.
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