Internet

Is Your Privacy Online Protected?

June 10, 2023 by noemi

Practically everyone is online these days, and you can’t really keep track of all the information on you out there. While you may be careful with what you post and what you do on the Internet, threats to privacy are very much real. We’ve heard of horror stories about these issues all too often, but for those who haven’t experienced any problems, the threat may not seem that urgent. If you think this way, it is about time that you take a look at how protected you are.

Judging by the number of articles and posts on online privacy you can find, one should really take this issue seriously. Here are a few ways by which you can make sure that your online privacy is protected.

Be smart with passwords

This is such a basic thing, but the need for solid passwords cannot be emphasized enough. Remember the simple rules: don’t use one password for all your accounts. Don’t use your name, your birth date, etc. If necessary, keep a file of all your passwords so you won’t have to worry about forgetting them.

Do not “engage” spammers in anyway

That means you automatically click SPAM. Do not bother to reply. Do not even click on the link that says “Unsubscribe” or something similar. Just click SPAM.

Don’t forget to log out

We used to own an Internet cafe many years ago, and I cannot count the instances wherein I would use a computer only to see that the previous user did not log out of Yahoo. You may say that you don’t use public computers, but it still is a good habit to develop.

For more tips and details, visit my sources for this post: The Telegraph and EFF.

Photo credit: opensourceway

The Internet’s Carbon Footprint Will Make You Think Twice

June 9, 2023 by noemi

If you are concerned for the environment, then this post just might make you think twice about spending so much time on your computer and on the Internet. According to The Guardian, the carbon footprint of the Internet is astounding: 300 million tones of carbon dioxide per year. Just to make that more understandable:

• Almost as much as all the coal, gas, and oil burned in Turkey or Poland
• More than half of the fossil fuels that the UK burns
• Imagine every person in the UK flying to the US and back – twice.

Astounding is the word, right? It makes you think – all the effort you’ve been putting into making the world a better place might be going down the drain. All because you spend so much time on the Internet. (Yeah, I am talking about myself here.)

Then again, the Internet does help cut back on energy consumption in so many ways. The same article outlines a couple of points:

• Smart grids are possible because of the Internet, and we all know they save energy.
• Tools such as video conferencing software help cut back on flights (read: higher carbon footprint).

More interesting are the ideas that Leo Hickman posted about a year ago. In his article, he posed the suggestion of cutting back on Internet usage:

Might we now have to ration our use of the internet to ensure its very survival? If so, what would be considering a fair share of the internet? Thirty minutes of browsing a day per person? Fifty megs of download a day? Just as we are being asked to “do our bit” for the environment by flying less, using public transport more, eating less meat and the like, might we now be asked to download fewer bulging multimedia files?

Call me biased and totally subjective, but just how accurate are these figures anyway? Isn’t it possible that the situation isn’t that bad? But yes, this post is making me think twice.

Photo credit: Green Office Projects

3 Internet Pet Peeves and Their Fixes

May 31, 2023 by noemi

Considering the time that you probably spend online, you would know that there are a lot of things that can happen out there that get your goat. We all have our pet peeves; some of them we can find fixes for, some we just can’t do anything. And, speaking of these Internet problems and fixes, I read a very interesting and useful list at PC World.

There are too many too mention here, but let me give you the three that are my pet peeves.

Facebook game and apps overload

I love Facebook games – a couple of them, at least; but I know how irritating it can be to see all those feeds when you are NOT interested in them. Hence, I try to limit the things that I publish. If you have friends who can’t help but flood your feed with their Facebook games and apps, though, PC World suggests Facebook Purity, which is part of Firefox’s GreaseMonkey add-on.

Useless search bars in web sites

What use is a search bar embedded in a web site if you can’t get relevant results? This has happened to me countless of times that I have simply stopped using them most of the time. What I have been doing is what PC World suggests: go to your usual search engine and key in site:nameofsite.com “what you’re looking for” instead.

Flash ads automatically blaring out some audio

Imagine browsing the net while at Starbucks or some other place when suddenly, this loud audio emanates from your speakers. Forget that – imagine working late into the night, you’re alone at home, and the same thing happens. I have jumped out of my skin so many times because of this! Here’s the fix from PC World: use FlashMute, which blocks Flash access to your audio. They do have a disclaimer: your anti-virus software might see it as an attack when you download the software. Ignore it.

For the complete list, visit PC World.

Security Tips When Using Public Wi-Fi

May 31, 2023 by noemi

It’s a dream coming true, isn’t it? Most places you go nowadays, you can access the Internet via Wi-Fi. Most cafes are following the trend – even Starbucks, which has been resistant for quite some time. In some cities, the coverage is especially wide.

While this is pretty convenient for all of us, we should realize that using public Wi-Fi isn’t exactly the safest thing to do. Still, as long as you don’t access and transmit sensitive information, right? You might be wrong there – you cannot deny that there are many ways by which you can be prone to security issues when using Wi-Fi. With a little vigilance, though, you can make your access a little more secure.

Always use SSL, if possible.

That is, use HTTPS instead of HTTP. For example, when accessing Google, key in https://www.google.com/ instead of http://www.google.com/. The good news is that this is where Google is headed anyway. If you take a closer look, Gmail already uses HTTPS as a default. To make it even easier, check out HTTPS Everywhere, an add-on for Firefox.

Make sure your sharing settings are secure.

In other words, turn off all sharing! If you’re like me, you have certain files and folders that are shared for use at home. When you go out and use public Wi-Fi, however, it is better of you turn sharing off. How to do this? Go to Network and Internet -> Network and Sharing Center, then click Choose Homegroup and Sharing Options -> Change Advanced Sharing Settings.

Double check your firewall.

Sometimes, for one reason or another, I turn off my firewall at home. I don’t exactly remember the reasons, but I am pretty sure they were convincing at that time. Don’t take it for granted – operating systems come with basic firewall setups, but they can be your very first line of defense.

What’s your biggest Internet time waster?

April 3, 2023 by Andy Merrett

Hi there! Firstly, let me introduce myself. I’m Andy and I’ve been near-addicted to the Internet for 15 years. I met my wife online and I spend a lot of time at both work and play on the net.

You really don’t want to see me when my broadband connection goes down!

Anyway, while I get into the swing of things here at DailyBits, I thought I’d throw out a question to get you all commenting (so I don’t feel like I’m talking to myself.)

What’s your biggest Internet time waster?

What is it that saps time that you could have better spent being productive on or offline?

Is it one of those pesky Facebook apps? Is it Twitter? WoW? Flash games?

I’ll start. My two current time sinks are Bejeweled Blitz and Scrabble, both on Facebook.

Scrabble is easy — I’ve loved the board game since I was a kid, and now I can play against anyone even when there’s no-one locally who wants a game.

Bejeweled Blitz — well I guess the download figures for the Bejeweled empire speak for themselves when it comes to its popularity, but add the ability to play “just one more one minute game” against your Facebook friends and it has the ability to be extremely addictive.

Honestly, I’m trying to kick the habit.

(PS If anyone has found any decent tactics for playing Bejeweled Blitz as well on a trackpad as when using a mouse, do let me know.)

What keeps you online? Share in the comments below.