Internet Safety Part 1 Facebook

       The internet can be a fantastic tool, a window into anywhere in the world and great way to access information and research anything you can think of. But it can also be a trap and an addiction if used too often or for the wrong reasons. People spend hours on face book, in chat rooms and shopping for things they just don’t need and can’t afford.

       Some people get involved in things that become addictions and end up hurting them and their families. Like gambling, pornography or theses “free” dating sites that promise them their perfect match” or “soul mate” that will make them happy the rest of their lives. These sites are of particular interest and worry to me because we as disabled people sometimes find it hard to get out in social situations to meet people and if we are looking to date then they can be rather appealing. I myself have been sucked into more than one of these sites. It was there and on Face book that I have met all of my devotees. Sadly, I never met a man that was interested in me for my personality on the internet; I suppose it is possible, however, since nothing is impossible.

       That’s why I decided to post something about safe internet practice. Not only are there all kinds of mischief to mixed up in but there are nasty viruses and worms that can wipe out your entire hard drive. Imagine every photo, song, document, and slideshow wiped out forever and you left sitting there staring at “the blue screen of death” or worse yet, nothing but a DOS prompt? That paints quite a picture doesn’t it?

       There are a few major offenders and the first and probably best known is Face book. Despite their claims of being a safe and private social network, their games and applications all come with what’s called data miners. These data miners are tiny programs, actually subroutines, that bypass your antivirus and collect personal information about your likes and dislikes, shopping habits, and sometimes rarely if used illegally, to actually gather information such as your credit card number and social security number. They are mostly used to target you for spam. These can also fall under the category of adware. This is why it so important to download a program called “ad-aware” and run this program periodically on your computer before shutting down. Be certain it comes with Lava soft, that’s how you know it’s the real thing. It will remove these data miners and any adware your system has been collecting.  That’s one of the computer related problems with face book. Next I will discuss the psychological aspects of face book addiction.     

(to be continued)