We’ve all heard horror stories about people having their bank accounts cleared out or their identies stolen, so we should all take some simple precautions to prevent us from being easy targets on line.

Check out Girl Geek’s top ten list to staying safe on line:

1. Strong Passwords

• Use different passwords for all the accounts you may have, this makes a hacker’s job much more difficult.
• Use strong passwords so this means a combination of letters, numbers and common symbols, generally more than 7 letters long.

2. Suspicious emails

• Phishing is a technique where you get a fake email which appears to be from a site you may use regularly. The email may ask you to update details and click a link to do so where they can then harvest your details.
• If you get an email that seems dodgey, don’t do what it is requesting!

3. Keep your wits about you

• If you get, for example, an email from a man offering you hundereds of thousands of pounds and you don’t even know him then yes, this is obviuolsy too good to be true and a con.
• It’s a scam, if you get one, delete it.

4. Secure your wireless network

• Do not leave your wireless network at home un-secure as your network can be hacked and your broadband connection can be used by other people.
• Use some form of wireless encryption (WPA or WPA2), use a strong adminstrator password and ensure only known computers can connect to your network.

5. Shop at secure sites

• Make sure there is a closed padlock in the status bar at the bottom of the screen.
• Make sure there is https:// in the address ba

6. Firewall

• A firewall is a piece of software which makes your computer invisible to hackers searching for soft targets to hack.
• Use a quality firewall to stop hackers cracking your computer’s security easily.

7. Anti-virus / Anti-spyware software

• Install a good quality anti virus software on your computer.
• Keep it up to date as new viruses are being released all the time.
• Install anti-spyware software such as Microsoft Defender

8. Take care when downloading

• Make sure you trust the site you are downloading from.
• Some disreputable sites may attach spyware to another innocent package you are downloading which can send information from your computer back to criminals, be careful of this.

9. Be responsible

• Don’t think “oh, it will never happen to me” and not bother taking precautions.
• Security is your responsibility.

10. Keep sensitive data private

• Be aware not to give too much personal information away on line
• Social networking sites are accessible by everyone so do not add loads of personal details including date of birth as this gives people access to your identity.

For all of you who maybe going away for the holidays, check out www.roamingadvisor.com to get the latest SIM card prices and roaming call charges for your chosen destination. It is the only independent roaming cost comparison engine on the web to help you cut costs when using your mobile abroad and it really is quite a handy little site.

It offers independent reviews and comparisons of all commercially available mobile roaming SIM cards in the UK. Compares SIM card prices and roaming charges on both inbound and outbound roaming calls making it easier for you to find a mobile roaming SIM card that suits your individual travel needs. 

You simply select the destination you are travelling to and see how much you can save!

Check out the website for further details.

Your free personal travel assistant

For all of you who travel a fair bit  www.tripit.com  is a personal travel assistant that automatically organizes your travel plans into one master itinerary. It’s absolutely free and turns your travelling chaos into order.

It does the following:

• Organizes trip details into one master online itinerary , even if arrangements are booked at multiple travel sites, including flights, hotels, cars, trains and more
• Automatically includes maps, directions and weather in the master itinerary
• Gives the option to book restaurants, theatre tickets, activities and more right from within the online itinerary
• Safely access travel plans online, share them, check-in for flights, or print an itinerary

It’s so simple and easy to use, Just create an account and then forward your travel confirmation emails to plans@tripit.com and tripit will do the rest.  

Happy travels!

Things I want, like, have

Check out this fab tool that allows you to find, save and share things from any website when shopping on line. It’s a great way to organise your internet shopping, share it with friends if they want to buy you pressie, making it a lot more fun!

It’s quick and easy to register and you also download browser buttons that allow you to add stuff to your wish list with one click - so start surfing for the things you want and then add them as you go. Easy peasy.

You can also browse around boxedup to find things you like and again add things with a single click.

Create lists to keep track of all your different bits and pieces whether it’s shoes, handbags, clothes the list is endless-so to speak! You can even import Amazon lists. Marvellous.

It’s so quick and easy to use and it’s nearly time for Christmas lists too so what are you waiting for.

Register at www.boxedup.com.

Task Lists

Does anyone else out there like writing lists as much as me ?! errrm possibly not…

Remember the milk is a great way of managing your task lists, fun name too -> http://www.rememberthemilk.com/ 

You can get email or sms reminders, access your tasks from your phone and even share your tasks with your boyfriend, reminding him to a) take out the rubbish, before b) getting you a pressie.  Perfect!