How to Surf the Web Anonymously

It is possible to learn information about you when you surf the web even when you don't want to advertise who you are. Specifically information that is easily available online includes your IP address, your country (and often more location information based on IP address), what computer system you are on, what browser you use, your browser history, and other information. People can get your computer's name and even find out your name if your machine supports programs like finger or identd. Also, cookies can track your habits as you move from machine to machine.

How do people get this basic information about you?

When you visit another web site, information about you can be retrieved. Basically, information is intercepted and used by others to track your Internet activities.

How do you stop this from happening?

First of all, it is possible to serf the web anonymously and thereby stop leaving a trail for others to find. Note that this is not fool-proof, but it makes it much harder for people to know who you are. There are products called anonymous proxy servers that help protect you. The anonymous proxy server replaces your Internet address for its own. This has the effect of hiding your IP address and making it much harder for people to track you.

How do I get an anonymous proxy server?

There are many vendors who sell anonymous proxy servers. There are also free proxy servers available to you. Two such products are ShadowSurf and Guardster. Guardster (http://www.guardster.com/) offers various services for anonymous and secure access to the web, some paid as well as a free service. ShadowSurf (http://www.shadowsurf.com/) ShadowSurf provides anonymous surfing at their site for free. Go to it and you will find a box to enter a URL that you want no one to track. There are many others, but here are two that are frequently used.

Another interesting product, given the recent news about the Google search engine filtering its findings for the Chinese government, is Anonymizer (http://www.anonymizer.com). This company, among others, recently (Feb 1st, 2006) pressed that it "is developing a new anti-censorship solution that will enable Chinese citizens to safely access the entire Internet filter-free" (http://www.anonymizer.com/consumer/media/press_releases/02012006.html).

Does an anonymous proxy server make you 100% safe?

No. Still, you are much better off if you use such technology.

What other things should I be concerned about when trying to keep my private information private?

Three other items come to mind when trying to keep your information private. First, you can use an encrypted connection to hide your surfing. This article does not go into detail on this, but search the web and you will find a lot of information on this. Secondly, delete cookies after each session. Third, you can configure your browser to remove JavaScript, Java, and active content. This actually leads to limitations, so you need to think about the cost/benefit of this course of action.

10 Ways to Make Your Computer System Secure

Below are a few easy, cost-effective steps you can take to make your computer more secure.

1. Frequently make backups of important information and store in a safe place separate from your computer.

2. Update and patch your operating system, web browser and software frequently.

3. Install a firewall. Without a good firewall, viruses, worms, Trojans, malware and adware can all easily access your computer from the Internet.

4. Review your browser and email settings for optimum security. Active-X and JavaScript are often used by hackers to plant malicious programs into your computers.

5. Install antivirus software and set for automatic updates so that you receive the most current versions.

6. Do not open unknown email attachments. It is simply not enough that you may recognize the address from which it originates because many viruses can spread from a familiar address.

7. Do not run programs from unknown origins. They may contain a Trojans horse waiting to infect a computer.

8. Disable hidden filename extensions. By default, the Windows operating system is set to “hide file extensions for known file types”. Disable this option so that file extensions display in Windows. Some file extensions will, by default, continue to remain hidden, but you are more likely to see any unusual file extensions that do not belong.

9. Turn off your computer and disconnect from the network when not using the computer. A hacker can not attack your computer when you are disconnected from the network or the computer is off.

10. Consider making a boot disk on a floppy disk in case your computer is damaged or compromised by a malicious program.

Secure from Stealing Information

Information theft is a type of computer security risk and it’s defined as stealing an individual’s personal or confidential information. Business or home users are both at risk of information theft. If information is transmitted over a network then it has a very high chance for malicious users to intercept the information. A lot of companies try to stop information from being stolen by applying some user identification and authentication controls. These constraints are best for protecting computers along a company’s premise. Encryption refers to the process of converting data into an unreadable form. One type of encryption software is Obfuscated code which is a programming language that is extremely hard to read. Throughout the encryption process, the unencrypted data or input is known as plaintext and the encrypted data, or output is known as ciphertext.

To encrypt information, the programmer converts the plaintext into
ciphertext using some type of encryption key. An encryption key is the programmed formula that the person who receives the data uses to decrypt the ciphertext. There are a variety of encryption or algorithm methods. Some very popular email encryption software is known as Pretty Good Piracy (PGP) and Centurion Soft Secure Protection.

A digital signature is a type of encrypted code that a individual, website, or company pastes to an electronic document to make sure that the individual is who they claim to be. A digital signature can also make sure that contents of a message have not been changed. A variety of browsers also offer 128 bit encryption which has a higher level of protection because the encryption key is longer. Some important places that require extremely hire security like banks, and online retailers needs at least 128-bit encryption.

A website that successfully uses encryption methods to secure information is known as a secure site. A secure site uses digital certificate with security protocol. The two most popular security protocols are secure sockets layer, and secure HTTP. A lot of ecommerce websites will usually have digital certificates. A certificate authority (CA) is an authorized company or individual for that matter that has the ability to issue and verify digital certificates. There are several of websites that offer a digital certificate. Some popular ones are Verisign http://www.verisign.com/, Godaddy www.godaddy.com, Digicert http://www.digicert.com/, and Thawte http://www.thawte.com/.

The digital certificate will usually contain information such as the username and the serial number of the certificate. By the way, the information in the digital certificate is also encrypted. SSL also requires the client to have a digital certificate, so the web browser can communicate securely with the client. SSL is available in 40 and 128-bit encryption.

Secured HTTP (S-HTTP) allows individuals to choose encryption for data that pass through a client and a server. When using S-HTTP, the client and the server must have a digital certificate. Companies that have to use verify a client such as online banking companies use S-HTTP. Also, mobile users can also access computer networks through a virtual private network. When mobile users successfully logon to a main office using some type of standard Internet connection, a virtual private network (VPN) allows the mobile user to secure the connection.

Privacy and Computer Security Ethics

It is extremely important for people on computers to protect their computer from data loss, misuse, and abuse. For example, it is crucial for businesses to keep information they have secure so that hackers can’t access the information. A computer security risk is any action that could cause lost of information, software, data, processing incompatibilities, or cause damage to computer hardware, a lot of these are planned to do damage. An intentional breach in computer security is known as a computer crime which is slightly different from a cybercrime.

A hacker is defined as someone who accesses a computer or computer network unlawfully. The term cracker has never been associated with something positive this refers to someone how intentionally access a computer or computer network for evil reasons. Both crackers and hackers are very advanced with network skills. A cyberterrorist is someone who uses a computer network or the internet to destroy computers for political reasons.

An unethical employee is an employee that illegally accesses their company’s network for numerous reasons. A corporate spy has extremely high computer and network skills and is hired to break into a specific computer or computer network to steal or delete data and information. Shady companies hire these type people in a practice known as corporate espionage. Business and home users must do their best to protect or safeguard their computers from security risks. The next part of this article will give some pointers to help protect your computer.

When you transfer information over a network it has a high security risk compared to information transmitted in a business network because the administrators usually take some extreme measures to help protect against security risks. If your not sure if your computer is vulnerable to a computer risk than you can always use some-type of online security service which is a website that checks your computer for email and Internet vulnerabilities. The typical network attacks that puts computers at risk includes viruses, worms, spoofing, Trojan horses, and denial of service attacks.

Every unprotected computer is vulnerable to a computer virus which is a potentially harming computer program that infects a computer negatively and altering the way the computer operates without the user’s consent. Once the virus is in the computer it can spread throughout infecting other files and potentially damaging the operating system itself. A computer worm is a program that repeatedly copies itself and is very similar to a computer virus. Computer viruses, worms, and Trojan horses are all classifies as malicious-logic programs which are just programs that deliberately harms a computer.
You know when a computer is infected by a virus, worm, or Trojan horse if one or more of these acts happen:

Files get corrupted
Programs are files don’t work properly
Unknown files or programs randomly appear
System properties fluctuate

Computer viruses, worms, and Trojan horses deliver their payload or instructions through four common ways. Second, is when an individual runs an infected program. Third, is when an individual bots a computer with an infected drive, so that’s why it’s important to not leave media files in your computer when you shut it down. Fourth is when it connects an unprotected computer to a network. Today, a very common way that people get a computer virus, worm, or Trojan horse is when they open up an infected file through an email attachment. There is no known method for completely protecting a computer or computer network from computer viruses, worms, and Trojan horses, but people can take several precautions to significantly reduce their chances of being infected by one of those malicious programs. When the computer starts up it tries to execute a boot sector on the drives and even if it’s unsuccessful any given various on the boot sector can infect the computer’s hard disk.

Three Affiliate Marketing Strategy

1. Promote each product you're marketing sparately on unique website. It's not good to chunk all together just to reduce web hosting cost, moreover web hosting cost is more cheap now. Had a focusing website on every each product is better. Don't forget to include product reviews on each website so that visitors can have an initial understanding on what the product can do to those who buys them. And also include testimonials from users who have already tried the product. Make sure that these customers are more than ready to permit you to take their names and photos on the website of the specific product you are marketing. You should also publish articles highlighting the uses of the product and include them on the site as an extra page. Make the pages appealing persuasive and include calls to behave on the information. Each headline should draw the readers to try and learn more, even contact you. Highlight your special points. This will assist your readers to understand what the page is about and will need to discover out more.
   
2. Offer available free reports to your readers. If possible place them at the very top position of your page so it they merely cannot be missed. Try to produce an autoresponder messages that will be mailed to those who input their private data into your sign up box. Base on research, a sale is closed normally on the seventh contact with a prospect. Only two things can perhaps occur with the web page: closed sale or the prospect leaving the page and never back again. By placing helpful information into their inboxes at some specified period, you will prompt them of the product they thought they seek subsequently and will discover away that the sale is closed. Be certain that the substance is directed toward particular reasons to purchase the product. Don't make it say like a sales pitching. Concern on significant points like how your product will make life and things easier and more pleasant. Include persuasive subject lines in the email. As often as potential, avert using the word “free” because there are yet old spam filters that dumps those sort of contents into the trash before even anyone reading them best. Convince those who signed up for your available free reports that they will be missing something large if they do not avail of your products and services.
3. Get the ways of traffic that is targeted to your product. Just believe, if the visitor who visited your website has no stake whatsoever in what you are offering, they will be among those who go on and never go back. Write articles for publishing in e-zines and e-reports. This manner you can place publications that is focusing on your objective customers and what you have place up might just catch their stake.

It's more good to try writing a minimum two articles per week with at least 300-600 words length each article. With the writing and maintaining continuously you will make as many as a hundred targeted visitors to your websites per day.

Don't forget that may only 1 of 100 visitors that are likely to buy your product or getting your services. If you able generate as much as 1,000 targeted hits to your website per day, it mean you will get 10 sales per day base on average statistic.

Those strategy sound not very difficult to do if you think about it. Just need a small time and an action plan on your part.