How to Stay Protected and Preserve your Privacy online

This is a topic that will be gaining more and more attention within the coming months.

The big questions are, what should we do to protect ourselves and our data online?

Before we get in to the protection aspect of the internet, lets take a brief look in to the data that we are showcasing online!

Lets say you're 20 years old, and are set to live a full life. By the time your time comes to an end, if you haven't been data savvy, your whole life can and will be preserved online. This includes sites you have visited, comments you've posted, forums you've joined, dating sites you're active on, your life via social media, and so on..

Take a look at Facebook's new timeline feature. They have set out to showcase each and every users life long journey via a timeline. At this point, its an option (sort-of), but moving forward, this timeline feature will become a part of every profile. Right now, if you activate it, you can not go back to the previous profile landscape.

So, how does one stay data Savvy? The key is to think before you post! Is there the potential of something that you're posting online coming back in the future to haunt you? Your online reputation is soon becoming more important than your physical reputation, and you need to be aware of that!

So, first thing is first. Know how you are searchable! do a few google searches both by your name and by the email addresses that you own. Try searching your phone number. The key here is to know what information the web currently holds about you.

Now that you have done that, consider disassociating with email accounts that can trace back to you. Delete all the emails, all the contacts, clear the data that shows your name, country, etc,.. and close the accounts.

Next, create a new gmail account or any other email account you want to use. Now, you're going to create email alerts to this account based on the search quarries you just used to find the information that is present online about you. http://www.google.com/alerts. You can create as many alerts as you wish, under whatever parameters you wish. So, create one for your name, one for your phone number, and one for each of your email addresses. If there are any other parameters you want to monitor, add them too.

NOW YOU ARE AND WILL REMAIN UP TO DATE WITH WHAT INFORMATION ABOUT YOU IS ENTERING THE INTERNET AS IT GETS PUBLISHED (almost in real time)!

Ok, lets move on. If you do not have a virus scan program, be sure to get one now! Don't even wait! If you want one that will provide you with a great level of protection, and is free, try Microsoft Security Essentials. This one will give you a great deal of protection without taking over your systems resources. Combine this with Malware bytes and your computer will be quite strongly protected.

FANTASTIC! YOUR COMPUTER IS NOW BETTER PROTECTED!

Now we need to look at preserving your privacy when you are browsing the internet. You may ask why this is important, so we are going to share a site with you which has recently popped up. This site, youhavedownloaded.com aims to publicize IP addresses who have been associated with torrent downloads. With over 55,000,000 (55 million) users tracked, they have associated IP addresses with the torrents they have downloaded. This is pretty scary stuff if you really think about it..

So, here is a way to protect yourself against threats like this... Its called a VPN (virtual private network). This, if you have joined the right VPN, will mask your IP address, as well as encrypt the traffic and data that you're sharing with the web and it's many servers. There are quite a few VPNs available, and you should research them before you join. Most VPN's come at a cost, but for the few dollars a year that they cost, it is well worth it! Some to coniser are: HideMyAss, BTguard, and StrongVPN. Take some time and research them, and choose one that is right for you.

AND NOW YOU HAVE TAKEN THE NECESSARY STEPS TO (A) KNOW WHAT INFORMATION ABOUT YOU IS ONLINE (B) DISSACOIATE WITH THAT INFORMATION (C) MONITOR NEW INFORMATION ABOUT YOU ENTERING THE INTERNET (D) PROTECTING YOUR COMPUTER AND (E) PROTECTING YOUR IP ADDRESS!

WARNING: By taking the above mentioned measures, it does not mean that you have access to partake in illegal activity online. By doing so, you still risk being caught.

DISCLAIMER: Everything mentioned above has been mentioned in an attempt to realize the threats and take measures to combat them. We do not take any responsibility for users online privacy and safety, and consequently will not be held responsible for any user who has implemented the above mentioned measures and have still faced threats. They are only a guide and are suggested only to encourage awareness and options.