The Good, The Bad and the Internet Savvy - 2 of 2  

Deciphering Web Site Content
Web sites of virtually all stripes are often designed with the maxim "Content is King" in mind. This often produces web pages that are jam packed with a wealth of information and links that can make some sites difficult to navigate and to arrive at the topic you were searching for in the first place. There are, however, a few simple techniques that can be employed to efficiently wade through this internet mess.

When arriving at any website the main menu, usually located near the top of the page or along the left border of the page should not contain too many items or have too many submenus for each menu item. Too many items may indicate that the website is not well organized or that it is too general to provide specific enough information to give a useful experience.

Web sites often attempt to jam numerous unrelated links throughout their content. This is usually a sign that the site is attempting to improve their search engine ranking by cross linking their site without too much regard to the users who might be visiting their site. Alternatively these sites may simply be an attempt to divert traffic to other sites without actually providing any benefit to the site visitors.

Banner advertising is becoming a very persistent marketing tool throughout the internet. Used judiciously these advertisements can be a useful and welcome addition to many web sites. However, if the banners are so large or contain so much animated content that it becomes distracting to a visitor then it might be a sign that this web site should be avoided.

Unwanted Popup Windows, Spyware and Viruses
Starting in the 1980's, through the 1990's and into this new century the internet has seen a huge increase in volume, complexity and creativeness of negative tools that can be anything from an annoyance to a disastrous experience for any user of the World Wide Web. This trend is not likely to stop or slow down anymore than junk mail stuffed in your house's mailbox has. There are, however, a number of very effective methods to combat these threats.

Popup windows are often rather simple advertisements. However, in many cases these advertisements also carry hidden tracking programs or more malignant functions. Regardless, most popup windows are unnecessary and quite annoying. To guard against this most modern internet browsers like Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Netscape's Navigator, Mozilla's FireFox and others provide built-in protection against unwanted Popup windows. In some cases this function is turned off by default. Always check your browser's options/settings to make sure that this function is turned on.

A more troubling invention that has risen through the internet sea is spyware. Various forms of spyware can be hidden on dynamic web sites, piggy backed on download links or delivered through more subtle and complex methods. Spyware is often small functions and programs that report a user's internet navigation statistics back to a marketing source without the knowledge of the user. The usual purpose of marketing information is to solicit numerous specific products back to the affected user. Quite often they can disrupt the normal functioning of a user's computer by changing the browser home page, forcing other programs to run continually reducing the efficiency of the affected computer and affect internet navigation by redirecting to unwanted sites without specific requests for those sites.

The negative effects of spyware can often be prevented by the use of software to detect the attempt of these programs to install themselves on a user's computer and can remove spyware that has already been installed. Many programs have been created for just this purpose. Symantec Corporation retails a number of applications that can be used to detect and remove various forms of spyware. There are also a number of free applications that will perform similar functions including LavaSoft's AdAware SE.

Potentially the most destructive element prevalent on the World Wide Web is the existence of computer viruses. A user can easily receive a virus by opening an email, through spyware, downloading a seemingly innocuous file or in numerous other ways. However, nearly as long as there have been viruses there have been applications to detect, quarantine and destroy potentially these harmful intruders. Once again, Symantec Corporation has been a leader in the fight against viruses providing a free comprehensive encyclopedia of viruses, a free online scanning tool and a retail scanning package for more robust protection. Another provider of these services is Trend Micro and there are numerous other packages that will suit any level of requirements.

A powerful addition to the tools mentioned above is the use of an internet firewall. A firewall for the general user is most often a system of applications that sits between a user's computer and the internet in order to limit or restrict the various functions trying to gain access to a user's computer. It can be set to completely shut down all incoming and outgoing access effectively cutting a user off from the internet or, more likely, be more selective in blocking the various applications and types of data that can travel from the internet to a user's computer and back.

Some computer operating systems, including Microsoft Windows XP, have a basic firewall built in. In many cases these firewalls are very rudimentary and can be difficult to configure. It is therefore always a good idea to obtain another firewall to provide more comprehensive protection and ease of use.

One of the most popular retail firewall packages is Symantec Corporation's Norton Personal Firewall. There are free alternatives as well. In many cases these are not as detailed or easy to configure as their retail competitors but they can provide very effective protection. Zone Labs is one of the most popular providers of free firewall software. It can be difficult to navigate through their site to find this free package (You can't fault them for wanting people to buy their product) so here is the link to the free package: http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/products/znalm/freeDownload.jsp

Summary
The World Wide Web can be a huge, convoluted, confusing and potentially dangerous place to be. However, taking some basic and often simple steps anyone can graduate from potential victim to powerful internet savvy explorer.

Software exists in both free and retail forms to limit and prevent the effectiveness of viruses, spyware and popup advertising. Browsers can be configured to provide extra protection. Users can quickly become familiar with various simple techniques to improve their overall internet experience.

Experience is the best teacher in real life and online but that doesn't mean you have to experience all the negative aspects of the World Wide Web to learn how to protect yourself. The tools, tips and techniques described above are a good start to a full, rich and trouble-free internet experience.

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Resources in This Article
Search Engines
Google http://www.google.com
Yahoo http://www.yahoo.com
MSN Search http://search.msn.com
AOL Search http://search.aol.com

Discussion Boards
VB Forums http://www.vbforums.com
Cooking Cache http://forum.cookingcache.com/community
DoItYourself.com http://forum.doityourself.com

Popup Window, Spyware and Virus Defenders
Symantec Corp. http://www.symantec.com
Free Scanner http://security.symantec.com
Firewall http://www.symantec.com/home_homeoffice/products/overview.jsp?pcid=is&pvid=npf2006
LavaSoft http://www.lavasoft.com
Trend Micro http://www.trendmicro.com
Free Scanner http://housecall.trendmicro.com
Zone Labs http://www.zonelabs.com
Free Firewall http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/products/znalm/freeDownload.jsp

Other Resources
Search Engines Nielsen NetRatings http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=2156451
Search Engines http://www.monash.com/spidap3.html
http://www.allstocks.com/html/most_popular_search_engines.html

Different Types of Web Sites
Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_site
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_portal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discussion_group
WhatIs http://searchsmb.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid44_gci212810,00.html
http://searchwebservices.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid26_gci213351,00.html
Distance Education http://www.outreach.psu.edu/de/what_is_de.html
DefineThat http://www.definethat.com/define/344.htm
TechTerms http://www.techterms.org/definition/webring

Accessing User Forums Sites
VBForums http://www.vbforums.com

Deciphering Web Site Content
Content Guidelines http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT-TECHS
WebCredible http://www.webcredible.co.uk/user-friendly-resources/web-usability/web-content.shtml

Unwanted Popup Windows, Spyware and Viruses
Mozilla & Firefox http://mozilla.gunnars.net/privacy_security3.html
Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spyware
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_virus
Spyware Guide http://www.spywareguide.com

About the Author

Programming for over 10 years, Wayne Klapwyk has worked on various systems including IBM AS/400, PCs and Apple Macs. Over the last 8 years his focus has more and more turned to the web developing sites and applications in HTML, ASP and PHP. He is an integral member of the webbrothers Internet Design team.