The holiday season has arrived for many people from different countries and cultures of the world. This time of year is wonderful and special for everyone – it’s the time for having fun, being with your friends and family, giving and receiving presents, and even making dreams come true!

For me, giving presents is just as exciting as receiving them. And what fun it is to shop for gifts, knowing that they will bring happiness and joy to your loved ones!

I’m pretty sure that you will do at least some of your shopping online. It’s not a secret that online retailers offer great deals. But at the same time there is always a potential danger of your money getting stolen by shifty dealers, scammers, and spammers.

OK, so maybe some of you don’t mind giving a couple of hundred dollars to thieves. However, it would be much better to donate that money to charity.

If you want to protect yourself from online fraud, then read on! Here are five simple tips that will help you shop online safely.

1. Use a Secure PC

No matter how careful you are, there is no guarantee that your computer is not infected. Anyone who browses the Internet, visits social websites, and downloads software simply cannot be 100% sure that their PC is malware- and spyware-free. So, before you start shopping, check that your computer has comprehensive protection and run anti-virus and anti-spyware scans. Use reliable up-to-date software.

We recommend using Auslogics Antivirus – not only will it protect you against viruses, spyware, and other threats, but it also has a feature called Privacy Control. This feature is especially designed to prevent hackers from stealing your personal data, so shopping online will be more secure. Auslogics Antivirus has a free unlimited 30-day trial, which will keep you fully protected for the next month.

If you can, avoid shopping from public computers, or a PC that your kids use to play online games and chat with their friends. Those PCs are likely to be infested with spyware, so your private data can get stolen no matter how careful you are.

2. Always Shop From Trusted Sites

There are a lot of sites that offer amazing bargains. In fact, some of them are so amazing that they simply can’t be true! Well, most of the time they aren’t – a lot of websites only pretend to be shops. All they want is to steal your money. Remember, nobody is going to offer you a car for the price of a burger. Therefore, I strongly advise you not to use search engine shopping. Or if you do, check and double-check the website before entering any payment details.

Pay attention to:

• security seals

• shipping, return, and refund policies
• use of secure connection (https://) when the website asks you to enter payment details

You can also research unfamiliar shops on sites like RipoffReport.

Never-ever buy anything advertised via emails from unknown senders and never click on any links in those emails either. Those emails are almost always a scam and links take you to websites that put viruses onto your system. And never shop at web-sites that ask you to wire money or send money orders.

3. Control Spam

If you’re concerned about getting spammed by online retailers, you can always either create a separate email address for shopping online, or create aliases. Here’s how it’s done using Gmail.

For example, your address is myemail@gmail.com and you are shopping at a website called greatoffer.com. So, when giving them your email address, type it as myemail+greatoffer@gmail.com. That way all future communication from that shop will be addressed to myemail+greatoffer@gmail.com.

So if they or someone from their network try to spam you, you will know it’s them and will be able to easily block them.

4. Pay With a Credit Card

Most of you will have several bank cards – some credit, some debit. Both can be used for online shopping, but it’s safer to use a credit card. Experts say credit cards give you less hassle when dealing with your bank, should unauthorized charges show up later on a monthly statement. Besides, you wouldn’t want to pay huge interest on your debit card overdraft, would you?

5. Think About Alternative Payment Methods

Did you know that you don’t necessarily have to use a credit/debit card when shopping online? There are plenty of other ways to pay for the goods you purchased – pre-paid credit cards, gift cards and certificates, and sometimes you can pay in cash upon delivery. Also there are websites like billmelater.com that allow you to shop online without having to enter your bank card details. Besides, online retailers actually encourage you to use a service like that by offering free shipping and an option to postpone your payment for up to 6 months.

These tips should help you shop online safely so that you don’t become yet another fraud victim. Enjoy your shopping and have a wonderful holiday season!

Today more and more people use their computers for pretty much everything – from communicating with friends and family to online shopping, investing and banking.This all makes life a lot easier, yet at the same time we open ourselves up to hackers, crackers and various scams.

Online Fraud

These days, stories of online fraud, identity theft and phishing scams appear on the news so often that many of us don’t pay attention anymore. And that is a big mistake. The Association for Payment Clearing Services revealed that in 2007 banking losses due to online fraud totalled

£22.6 million. And there were 20,682 reported phishing incidents in the UK in the first half of 2008 alone. Bear in mind that many people choose not to report the crime.

Bank officials urge their customers to be wary of online scams, such as suspicious emails claiming to be from the bank, and to use only a fully protected PC with regularly updated anti-virus software and enabled firewall. These measures are effective, but are not enough. There are dangers where caution and even a regularly updated anti-virus can’t help.

Auslogics BoostSpeed at http://www.auslogics.com is not only a computer performance optimization suite, it also includes a number of very useful security applications. It offers advanced protection where anti-virus software can’t help.

Track Eraser

Every time you visit a website or open a file, a record is created on your computer. If someone gets access to this information, they can find out a lot about you – your browsing preferences, which online stores you use, and maybe even something that can jeopardise your reputation or finances. Auslogics Track Eraser protects your privacy by removing all the tracks and history from your computer. Run it on a regular basis to not leave any sensitive information behind.

File Shredder and Disk Wiper

Another danger is deleted files. Simply deleting them doesn’t make them go for good. They are only “forgotten” by your system, but in fact remain somewhere on your hard drive. It’s quite easy to “undelete” them and for them to be used in ways you probably will not be happy to  find out about. But if you delete a file, a folder or the Recycle Bin contents with File Shredder, you can be sure that they will be impossible to recover.

Auslogics Disk Wiper works in a very similar way. It also ensures that files cannot be recovered. While File Shredder deletes files and folders, Disk Wiper literally clean-wipes your hard disk free space. Deleting files and erasing traces of them in such a way makes it nearly impossible for hackers to get hold of any sensitive information that they can use to commit fraud or steal your identity.

PC Security

You may wonder how hackers can access your computer. Actually, it’s easier than you think. Windows XP and newer versions include services that make it possible  to access your computer remotely and bombard you with spam. Of course, these services were not designed for this purpose, but criminals find them pretty useful. These services are called Remote Registry and Messaging Service. Using Auslogics PC Security helps check whether your firewall is enabled, anti-virus is up to date and your system patched. But most importantly, it disables Remote Registry and Messaging Service, thus protecting you from possible attacks.

No one leaves their house with the front door left wide open. And nobody walks around with their bank account number printed on their T-shirt either. But when it comes to computer security, people are often too careless. The more attention you pay to computer security, the less chance you will be the next online fraud victim.

Download Auslogics BoostSpeed from http://www.auslogics.com.