I bought a laptop not so long ago and I want to use it in Cafe’s or public places that offer WiFi. What kind of safety measurements should I watch out for to protect myself when using public WiFi?
One of the most important things you can do to be safe online when using hotspots in public or at home is learn safe computing. Changing your online behavior will go a long ways in keeping your laptop or computer secure from viruses and spyware.
When using public WiFi (open access ) be sure that your Firewall is turned on. Windows Firewall or the Mac’s built in firewall is good enough no need to purchase a third party firewall.
Make sure you’re using a encrypted connection when accessing emails or online stores, you will see a little padlock on the bottom right hand side of the browser and the address in the URL should contain “https”.
If you plan on using public hotspots a lot than using “VPN” service is the best thing you can do, this will encrypt all your data when using public Wifi. HotSpotVPN is a popular one and costs about 9 bucks a month.
Some general do’s and don’ts:
- Don’t click links in email
- Don’t open attachments in emails
- Don’t download anything from unknown sites
- Don’t click on or purchase anything from pop-up ads that tell you you’re machine has a virus or spyware. If you download these fake anti-virus your machine will most likely get infected
- Don’t run as administrator for your daily online activities, create a limited user account with less privileges
- Do keep your laptop or computer updated with latest updates and patches for you operating system, automatic update should be turned on
Try to use vpn service for example.