{"id":1665,"date":"2011-04-30T09:16:13","date_gmt":"2011-04-30T13:16:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/?p=1665"},"modified":"2011-04-30T09:16:13","modified_gmt":"2011-04-30T13:16:13","slug":"using-public-computers-safely","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/using-public-computers-safely\/","title":{"rendered":"Using public computers safely"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summer is coming fast – at least here in the Northern \t\t\t\tHemisphere – and some of us do a lot of traveling in the summer \t\t\t\ttime. You may find yourself using a public computer at an \t\t\t\tInternet cafe or library. But using a public computer does not \t\t\t\tcome without risks. So we’re going to give you tip to help you \t\t\t\tuse a public computer more safely. <\/span><\/p>\n


\nI got the idea for this tip after I read an article in a \t\t\t\tnewsletter about how to use public computers safely. By the time \t\t\t\tI got done reading it I was rather confused. The article \t\t\t\tdiscussed things like someone peering over your shoulder, \t\t\t\tnefarious software installed on public machines (impossible \t\t\t\tunless the public computer has admin privileges for everyone), \t\t\t\tmaking sure you erase your Internet history and clear the cache \t\t\t\tamong other things. But nowhere did the article mention using a \t\t\t\tportable browser on a USB flash drive. Using this method, the \t\t\t\tbrowser would run directly off of the flash drive rather than \t\t\t\tfrom the hard drive of the public computer. Right now Firefox, \t\t\t\tChrome, Opera and several other Web browsers are available in \t\t\t\tportable versions (but not Internet Explorer).<\/p>\n

Running a browser (portable version) directly off of your own \t\t\t\tflash drive keeps your data on your own flash drive, and not on \t\t\t\tthe public computer. (Just don’t forget to take your flash drive \t\t\t\twith you when you’re done using the public computer.) And using \t\t\t\tPrivate Browsing (Firefox) or Incognito (Chrome) adds another \t\t\t\tlayer of protection – since browsing in those modes doesn’t save \t\t\t\tany data at all – anywhere.<\/p>\n

Even when taking all these precautions – we still don’t \t\t\t\trecommend you do any online banking or online shopping while \t\t\t\tusing a public computer. There’s always a chance – no matter how \t\t\t\tmuch care you use that something could go amiss. There’s no \t\t\t\tsense taking chances. Save your online banking and online \t\t\t\tshopping for a time when you can access your own computer or \t\t\t\tlaptop.<\/p>\n

Public computers, when used judiciously, are great when you’re \t\t\t\ttraveling and need to access your email or send or answer an \t\t\t\temail. They’re great for browsing the Web to looking for things \t\t\t\tto see and do when you’re traveling, and for chatting or \t\t\t\tupdating your social networking accounts. We just don’t think – \t\t\t\tunless it’s an emergency – that you should use a public computer \t\t\t\tto do online banking, credit card payments or online shopping.<\/p>\n

You can get portable versions of Firefox, Chrome and Opera (all \t\t\t\tfreeware) from the following links:<\/p>\n

Firefox:
\n http:\/\/portableapps.com\/apps\/internet\/firefox_portable<\/a><\/p>\n

Chrome
\n http:\/\/portableapps.com\/apps\/internet\/google_chrome_portable<\/a><\/p>\n

Opera
\n http:\/\/portableapps.com\/apps\/internet\/opera_portable<\/a><\/p>\n

PortableApps also offers Maxthon, Iron, and SeaMonkey browsers \t\t\t\tin portable editions too. If you’re interested in these see \t\t\t\t http:\/\/portableapps.com\/apps\/internet\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Also note: These portable browser are great to use from a \t\t\t\tflash drive while at home too – especially if you want to try \t\t\t\tout a different browser without installing it on your PC.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summer is coming fast – at least here in the Northern Hemisphere – and some of us do a lot of traveling in the summer time. You may find yourself using a public computer at an Internet cafe or library. But using a public computer does not come without risks. So we’re going to give you tip to\u2026 Read More »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[1049,1050,715,1048],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1665"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1665"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1665\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1667,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1665\/revisions\/1667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}