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The Dangers Of "Free" Internet Stuff
By Will from Holland
How often do you get a pop-up that appears to be from a company like Microsoft warning you about spy ware?
I’m sure you have spy ware on your computer, but many times the “warning” isn’t from Microsoft, guaranteed!
Most of these pop-ups are ads from random companies trying to trick you into downloading “free” software.
Free? I want free stuff!
Everyone likes to save money. Free services for your computer can be very enticing. But many of these “free” services end up costing you your privacy, or worse.
The programs you download are usually set up to monitor all your online activities, and most then share your personal information with third parties. Depending on the spy ware, this personal info can include financial account and credit card information, online account access information, and even medical information.
And who gave them permission to invade your privacy? That’ll be you.
But, hold on: you can easily stop these things cold.
Here are some handy tips on how to avoid getting taken:
- Separate the risky free services from the good ones. The red flag is that the companies either have shady privacy policies, or worse, no privacy policies. Go figure. Tip: If they want you to “register” just to look at their privacy policy, take a hike outta there.
- Be skeptical while checking out all the offers. Our recommendation: Don’t use the service or program if there is no privacy policy, if it can’t be found easily, if it’s hard to understand, or if you dislike its info collection and sharing policies.
- Protect your computer and your personal information properly. Always use up-to-date virus protection and firewall protection, ALWAYS! And don’t forget to check out reviews of reliable free and for-fee products.
Want to know more on privacy topics? Explore some more of our articles and you might save yourself some money and hassle. Also be sure to give us your feedback.
Cheers, Will
