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My friends and I all had jobs we hated while we were in high school. I worked the fast-food circuit, flipping burgers and trying to avoid burning myself while deep-frying chicken patties and french fries. I guess it taught me some basic cooking skills, so it wasn’t all that bad. I very much preferred it over one of my buddies’ jobs; he took a gig as a door-to-door salesman. He had to wander through neighborhoods, knock on strangers’ doors, and deliver a sales pitch for vacuum cleaners. I wasn’t much of a people person back in those days, so I would have taken the greasy kitchen over his job any day of the week.
But when I got to college and needed some money, I found myself taking a job as a cold-calling telemarketer. As I dialed each number, I always envisioned a family trying to enjoy a peaceful dinner and being rudely interrupted. It’s happened to me countless times, too.
With a mobile phone as my primary line, I don’t hear from telemarketers much these days. But there’s a new annoyance in their place, one that plagues my Web surfing more and more with each mouse click: pop-up ads.
Much like the door-to-door salesman and the telemarketer, these ads are rarely a welcome intrusion, and they always seem to be advertising products or services that I neither want nor need.
Not all pop-up windows are ads, but those that are can sometimes be more than a harmless nuisance. Some of these pop-ups contain malicious code that can infect your computer with viruses or spyware. Usually, all it takes is one click, and that means anywhere on the window. This is why you should never attempt to close one of these windows by clicking on the “X” button in the top right corner. Instead, use the keyboard shortcut Alt+F4, which will safely close the active window.
The Internet is a dangerous place. Sometimes you set out to do a bit of care-free cyber surfing, but then a giant wave of harmful pop-up ads appear and suddenly you’re in over your head in shark-infested waters! And then there are the shrieking eels! Wait…I lost the analogy.
I think what I was trying to say is that most, if not all, of the major Web browsers come equipped with some very valuable tools to help keep you safe while you’re browsing the Internet. There is usually a pop-up blocker, and this can be customized to allow certain sites to display pop-ups while others get blocked.
Another great feature is the lock icon, which shows you whether you are on a secure Web site. This can help you avoid becoming a victim of phishing, an Internet scam that tries to lure you into giving personal information to a fraudulent Web site that has been designed to look like a banking site, for example. If you can recognize the common tricks of phishing sites, you’ll be on your way to safer surfing.
This week’s tips will show you where to find these features and how to use them. The tips include:
- It All “Ads” Up – how to use the pop-up blocker in Internet Explorer and Firefox
- Locked and Loaded – using the lock icon to tell if you are on a secure Web page
- Getting That “Non-secure” Feeling - deciphering a common Internet Explorer warning message
- Phishing: Don’t Take the Bait – learn all about phishing and how to avoid it
The links for these tips can be found on the blog entry for this week’s podcast at www.productiveUpodcast.com.
That’s all for this week. If you’ve enjoyed the podcast and the tips, be sure to head over to iTunes to write a review for us. And don’t forget to drop us a line on Twitter @productiveUcast.
Until next time, we hope these tips will help you recognize the Internet equivalent of walking down a dark alley at night. See you next week!
Music courtesy of Clayton & Fulcrum
