The Internet

          The internet is a wonderful thing in my opinion. There is so much information out there that it is astounding! In just a few years it has more accumulated knowledge than I could imagine. I have learned how to repair my dishwasher, my windows computers, my stove, my lawnmowers, my chain saw and more, all over the internet. I can shop anywhere, bank anywhere, pay taxes, register the car, save all of my writing from the last 20 years, book a hotel and there are hundreds of other things that I have not yet had or wanted to do.
          The internet has changed lives, allowed armies and terrorists to conduct operations. Kids in school take classes on the internet and practice math over the air waves. Not all has been great; some people use the net to bully others, scammers try to dupe people into parting with money, hackers try to destroy things or hold data for ransom.
          Some things to be aware of are free computer scans to fix your computer. Many are nothing more than crooks that plant viruses and malicious software on your computer. My advice would be to use only secure networks, open wi-fi can be dangerous and people sitting by in a coffee shop can worm into your computer. When you want to download a program from the net, only use that companies' server and that includes Microsoft download programs. I have used third party servers in the past to download a program and while I received what I wanted from a third party server, I also got dozens of worthless programs and malicious software in the process.
          There is much more to know than I do, but what I have mentioned above should at least help you avoid a lot of grief during your internet travels.
          One last thing to know, when you are going to click on a link to go to a site that you have not been before, hold your mouse over the icon for the new link and then look down at the lower left of your screen and see if the address showing there matches where you want to go. You can have a mail post with an icon purporting to take you to a bank or credit card company, but when you look at the bottom left of your screen the actual link is an entirely different place. Those are scammers wanting you to go to their site where they are willing and ready to accept your log in and password for your bank or credit card company.
Sadly we live for the bad guys and have to be as vigilant as we can to avoid making things any easier for them to harm you.