You probably don’t even think about it, but unfortunately, there’s millions of people surfing every second and not all of them are nice and cuddly! Try to protect yourself with our simple rules.

• Don’t be personal - Be careful if you need to give out your name, address, phone number or any other piece of personal info. Sometimes you have to if you’re online shopping etc, but be sensible. If they ask for other personal info, go elsewhere, there are plenty of sites to choose from.
• Competitions - Be careful when entering competitions etc, you could be signing up to services you don’t want.
• Downloading programs - Check the terms & conditions, it may say free no the site and they could tell you different!
• Abuse - If you receive anything abusive, report it.
• Links - If you get an e-mail from someone you don’t know, don’t open their links or attachments, they could be computer viruses or inappropriate sites.
• Photos - Don’t send your photo to anyone, without checking it out first and if you download photos, make sure they’re from approved free sites. If you take photos from other sites, you can get into trouble.
• Passwords - Keep them private, don’t even tell you mates, people can access all your private files with them and there are eyes and ears everywhere.
• Respect - Have it for yourself and others.
• Be happy - Only give out as much info as you’re happy with. If a site has a compulsory field you have to fill in, and you don’t feel it’s really necessary, go elsewhere. Before you fill it in, use your head.
• Credit-card safety - When ordering or giving your credit card details make sure there’s a credit card safety symbol on the site. It looks like a yellow padlock and simply means that your details will be safe.
• On-line banking - Make sure the site is secure.