A majority of people spend a lot of their digital and computing time on their mobile phones or mobile devices these days. But, if you need to do any heavier work or have applications that you’re otherwise familiar with, you’ll have a home computer system that you have as well. Whereas a lot of privacy and security functions are built into mobile devices, you have to pay more attention to your network at home.
There are several different ways that you should handle these IT security matters. First of all, you should consider using a VPN on your home security system. It protects a lot of privacy issues. Second, you should have software that will regularly find and clean adware from your system. When you are browsing, you can install plugins that block ads from scraping information from you. And, you should understand what cookies are and what they do in the digital realm so that you can interact with them accordingly.
Using a VPN
When you use a VPN on your computer, you are essentially disguising your IP address. If you don’t use a VPN, every single place that you connect to will know exactly what machine you’re coming from. Not every person wants the entire world to know precisely where their computer system is, or what sorts of sites they connect to. Even in private modes on a computer where history is not recorded, your IP address is still being noted by every single place that you visit.
Cleaning Off Adware
Most people know what viruses and malware are. Fewer people are as familiar with adware, or how to remove it from your computer. It is not as dangerous for your computer system, but it still does slow things down, and it will still take information from your computer and give it to some remote location that you do not grant permission to. Usually, virus protection software will also handle adware protection.
Blocking Ads
Most people don’t realize how many advertisements on their computer are directed toward your browsing habits. Because your browsing history is logged in your IP address is known, targeted advertising can become an extreme nuisance on your computer. If you install ad blockers on your browsers, at the very least, advertisers will not get a direct link to your line of vision every time you go to a new website.
Understanding Cookies
You may notice that when you go to certain websites, a pop-up box shows up to tell you that they use cookies. Most people never look too far into what cookies mean. However, if you really want to be secure and private in your browsing habits, you should at least have an essential concept of what cookies do and why you need to approve or disapprove of their use.