With a website of this nature, internet security is a serious issue, and I detail, below, some measures which you may wish to take in order to ensure that any personal information you divulge over the Internet remains private and confidential.

SHARED COMPUTERS

In the first instance, if you are using a public computer I recommend you check whether Google Desktop Search has been installed. If so then you should disable it for your entire session since it retains any passwords and other sensitive information you may use.

COMPUTER VIRUSES

All computers are vulnerable to external attack from viruses, worms, and trojan horses. These can disable your software and sometimes make the computer incapable of working. Trojan Horses even enable others to take control of your computer. A good anti-virus product is a necessity in eliminating threats. Here the market leader is BitDefender Internet Security v10 which will detect and remove such viruses.

SPYWARE

Spyware is software which can be placed on your computer without your knowledge when you access some websites. Its purpose is to provide companies with information about your computer and in particular which websites you visit. It can be used to obtain passwords and other confidential information. In order to protect against such intrusions I recommend that you install anti-spyware software such as Spy Sweeper

This is the market leader in detecting and removing uninvited spyware on your computer.

FIREWALLS

To engineers, a firewall is a solid wall that prevents fires from spreading throughout a building. Homes, for example, may have a firewall between the garage and the rest of the house to prevent garage fires from reaching the living accommodation. With the rapid growth of the Internet, the term "firewall" is more commonly used in computer networking. Like the firewalls used in homes and buildings, computer firewalls act as a barrier between different computers. For companies with a computer network or for individuals with an internet connection a firewall is critical. Without a firewall, intruders could destroy, tamper with, or simply read files on your computer The market leader in firewalls is ZoneAlarm which will prevent such intrusions and can be set to exclude any persistent unsolicited software.

The above items are all available to download from the internet immediately

GOOGLE'S RECOMMENDATION

I also recommend you use a web browser other than Internet Explorer. Due to the popularity of IE it is the first choice of developers who create viruses and spyware since their software will reach the widest audience if it is suitable for IE. In this connection I use Firefox which is recommended by Google. Far fewer viruses and adware programmes have had to be blocked by my system since Firefox was installed. It is available to download free below.

If using a public computer I recommend that at the completion of each session you click the "Tools" tab on your Browser, select "Internet Options" and clear all of the entries, especially files, and cookies.

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