4 Tips To Use Public Computers Safely

Hey Everyone!

We've all run into a situation when we have to use a public computer at an internet café, library, or school to check out Facebook, check banking information or to send an email. User beware! First, you have no guarantee that the computer is protected; it might be riddled with viruses, and, second, unless you're careful the next user might learn a lot more than you'd like about your online session. Here are some steps I recommend taking before you use that public computer.

1. Don't let the web browser store all of your secrets. Every web browser on a computer keeps a history of sites you've visited and downloads the files and information from that web site for faster loading of sites you visited before. That's fine at home, but when you're using a public computer, you don't want the browser storing your history. Fortunately, modern browsers can protect your privacy. You can right-click on the Firefox icon and choose "Enter private browsing." For Firefox, pressing Ctrl+Shift+P during a normal browsing session switches to private browsing. In Chrome, the private browsing mode is called "Incognito mode." Be sure to shut down the browser when you're done. Private browsing doesn't disable the Back button so you don't want the next user backing into your Facebook session or email account.