There is a whole bunch of stuff you can do to protect your identity and to make it very hard for anybody to get information out of your computer, having said that no Computer System anywhere in the world is safe from identity Theft Period.

We will start of with some simple things and progress to some more complicated things, but all the simple things will be very easy to do and will be free, and easy..Nice..

1. Whenever you are on the net and you use a user name and a password, and the computer says Do you want to remember this password on this computer, Yes, No, Not Now, always alway always choose No Always. Store no passwords on your computer, instead write them in a book that you keep in a cupboard or safe or somewhere.. then there are no passwords that are on your computer.
2. Consider whether you have to buy anything on line at all..... You can instead Browse for something on line and then ring up the company concerned and give you details over the phone to them.... using an account that is not your main account and one you keep a good eye on. This has 2 advantages, no debit card or credit card info is passed over the internet, and the account used is Not you main account with most of your money in it.
3. Never Ever Ever Ever answer an email from any Bank, Building Society, Savings Bank or any other bank that asks for any personal information, instead mark the e mail as spam , delete it completely and do not open or even look at any documents attached to it Period
4. Install a Hardware Firewall at your home, this can be a Router with security on it, Install a Software Fire Wall, Run An Anti virus Program on you computer that updates at least once a day and best once ever hour or so. Do a virus scan once a week, this can be automated, but only if you leave your computer on when its supposed to run.
5. Know where does it say that you have to give wholly accurate information when you fill in a form on line, you can make it up and write it down somewhere and resubmit the same information the next time it is required, if it is required. If it is a legal thing you should be doing this in a written letter or in person!!
6. If you have to buy something on line buy it using a Credit Card and not a Debit Card, and buy it from a company you are absolutely sure is based in the United Kingdom.

This list above is just a tiny start, but all the things on it are relatively do able for anybody.

The date and time this page was created / last updated.

November 10, 2006 9:12 PM