Firstly, eBay, banks and other companies will never (or should never) send you an e-mail about requesting to update your details. What they will do is let you update your details through their own website, and possibly give you a message through their website asking you to update their details. If you forget your password and you have to get it e-mailed, try and receive it as quick as possible and then delete it after you have read it.

When updating your details

When you are updating your details, especially when it comes to banking, you should see a padlock symbol in the bottom right of your browser window and the internet address should start with https://. Not the usual http://. This means you're connected via a secure connection. Again, check the full address, if it where theopenworld.com, you should see theopenworld.co.uk or ©theopenworld.com as the main part of the address. If the address is something like http://69.89.29.49/ do not put in any details! We would never cloak our address to be an IP address, so be very careful.

Attachments

Never open attachments from what looks like a suspicious e-mail. The attachment will either be a virus, or, a tracking device that sends a message to the sender to say that the address is valid and that you have read it. Basically it's a trap and very difficult to get out of once they know your address is valid.
 
If you, like many, are suffering from spam problems may we recommend a piece of software called Thunderbird (from the creators of Firefox) and you can download it at from here. Its a free utility and works well.

Viruses

Keep your antivirus software up to date as much as possible. Make sure that your antivirus software is set to scan all incoming and outgoing mail. We do scan all addresses for viruses, but you can never be to careful. If you do not have antivirus software, we would recommend Norton Antivirus - It's the best, easiest to setup and keep up-to-date.

Surfing & staying protected

We have been on about needing a broadband connection in order to really experience the Internet, but a lot of people have concerns about the security of high-speed 'always on' connections. There are countless places on the web that offer to 'test your internet security', but to be honest it's wise to be a little cautious about who you trust, especially if you think you have a security problem to begin with. You shouldn't have to give them any personal details to take a security test, like in the case of this security test that was recommended to us by a network security specialist. Just by entering the address into your browser window you will initiate the test, which probes all available ports into your computer in a variety of devious ways. The test only takes a few minutes, and the plain English report once it's finished will point out any issues you should be dealing with.