Click Smarter

"It was free, so I downloaded it, and I didn't know what it was." Those words would make any computer enthusiast cringe as I did when I heard them uttered earlier today on campus. While that mentality keeps me employed, it is still painful to know what little thought is sometimes put into our digital activities.

In fact, clicking around on the internet can have significant consequences. With features like auto-fill, remember-my-password, or sign-in-with-Facebook, we can make big mistakes without even realizing it. Clicking a bad link can lead you to give away your credit cards and banking passwords, accidentally hitting "delete" or "clear history" can erase stored passwords to accounts you do not remember how to get back into, and "friending" the wrong people online can grant employers, exes, or enemies access to your photos, relationships, and semi-personal information. At the same time, however, the internet is an essential tool in getting by in our world. So how can we use it safely? Presenting:

Safe Computing: A Blog Series

Over the next few posts, I will be releasing valuable tips on clicking smarter. Whether you are college student looking to get hired, an online shopper worried about your banking information, or a high-tech computer fiend lying awake at night as you struggle to evade your business partner and best friend's unannounced attempts to hack your email accounts, this applies to you.