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Tips and Tricks to Stay Safe Online

Being online is something everyone does in today's world, whether it's work, entertainment, or just casually browsing the web. While scrolling the web can be enjoyable and relaxing, people will always be browsing for personal information. This page will go over different ways to be safe online and protect your data, don't worry, this isn't going to have every part end with "now download my software and install it to bla bla bla" like nearly any other guide page out there. 

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I will go over the following on this page:

  1. ​Scam Emails​

  2. Ad Blockers

  3. 2 Factor Authentication

  4. Privacy Settings​​

  5. Setting up Gmail filters

Scam Emails

Identifying scams and cleaning up your inbox

For the most part, scam emails are easy to spot. Parts of the email such as spelling can be a direct giveaway that it is a scam or the message can be something like "You have been hacked" or "Click here to claim your prize".

 

There are a handful of details to look out for if you think a scam email has been sent to you:

  1.  You do not recognize the sender

  2. Incorrect spelling in the title or the title is in all caps/mixed upper and lowercase

  3. Emails telling you there is a reward to be claimed

  4. Emails telling you that you have a package ready for pickup/delivery if you did not order anything

  5. ​There is a downloadable file that you do not recognize, usually marked as a document with no preview​​

Netflix Scam

These are just a few examples of scam emails that try to get your credit card information

 
Spam Mail

Cleaning up your inbox

Office 365 Scam

Going through your emails on a near-daily basis can help protect your information as well as keeping the spam emails to a minimum. I used to get hundreds of emails daily most of them being spam until I decided to spend a day going through them and either unsubscribing, marking them as spam, or both. About half of the emails I removed were from websites I signed up for and forgot about.

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Some things to do when going through an inbox with triple-digit emails:

  • See what emails are scams or spam, mark them as spam, and unsubscribe from them, this may take a while so I recommend setting some time aside to do this

  • Go through what emails you do read and mark them as important with a star to confirm these are what you still want to get

  • Find the sites you get mail from and change the frequency from daily(default) to weekly or a different frequency to avoid inbox clutter

  • ​Set up filters to automatically mark emails important, spam, starred, and other filters

Ad Blockers, Should you use one?

Ads are everywhere: social media, search engines, and nearly anywhere else you go. Ad blockers have become a must-have for anyone surfing the web. unfortunately, websites like YouTube have taken action to disable access if an ad blocker is detected and want you to buy premium. I highly recommend using one because it will help clear up web pages by eliminating unwanted pop-ups and fake download buttons. 

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I use Adblock Plus, it is a free extension that installs directly to Microsoft Edge and clears out all ads on every page you visit (with the exclusion of YouTube) There is always the option to disable Adblock Plus if you choose to without completely uninstalling it.

Adblock for Edge

Install Adblock Plus here

2 Factor Authentication and Security

There are 2 main authentication methods,

1. Using an authenticator

2. Using your phone number

An authenticator will require you to get a code whenever you sign into a website, app, device, etc., and is a very secure method as long as you are using an authenticator for the code and not your email. The authenticator app I use is the Google Authenticator App and it has been working great. You can add multiple accounts to it and get all your codes in a single page.

Install the Authenticator here:

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The other method is more secure and it requires your phone number. It's similar to using the authenticator but instead of requiring an app for a code, you will receive a text or call that contains the sign-in code. I only use this method if the authenticator is unavailable for the specific sign in

To stay the most secure (in my opinion), I highly recommend using different passwords for everything. I know only needing to remember the same password can make life easier, but it can also make it easier for hackers and scammers to steal your data/

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What I do anytime I create an account, is write down the account information for future reference along with any backup codes that may be provided.

Toggling the privacy in your browser

One of the easier things to do is toggle the privacy settings in your browser, the options range from no privacy to maximum privacy.

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I prefer to use the medium privacy since it still works great and doesn't reduce site performance, each option will give you details on what gets covered to help you choose which one is right for you.

chrome://settings/security

Google Chrome Privacy Settings

edge://settings/privacy

Microsoft Edge Privacy Settings

Setting Up Gmail Filters

Setting up Gmail filters is something that has helped me greatly when it comes to keeping my inbox clean and clutter free. The process is very simple and only takes a few steps.

Step 1.)

Open Gmail and go to settings, then select Filters and Blocked Addresses, scroll down if needed and select Create new Filter

Filter Step 1

Step 2.)

You will need the email addresses you want to filter for this part, find them and enter them in the "From" section, fill out each category if needed, and then select "Create filter" Mine is grayed out since I have not searched an email address

Filter Step 2

Step 3.)

Now is the easy part, select the filters you want to apply to the email address then select "Create Filter"​

There you go, you now have a Gmail filter. Repeat the process as many times as you need to filter everything you want.

Filter Step 3
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