As you know, "chatting" means talking to other people through the computer (generally speaking). Due to the fact that most of the time you do not see the person that you are communicating with, you cannot be sure who is at the other end of the line. That is, you may think you are chatting to a 12 year old child, when in fact it is a 45-year old man.
Due to this lack of identification, you have to take practical advice in order to avoid becoming the victim of any offence.
Do not give your real name.
Do not give your telephone number.
Do not give your address.
Do not give information regarding your parents or brothers or sisters.
Do not arrange to meet anyone that you have met through the Internet on your own. If you arrange a date, go with your parents.
If you observe any content that is inappropriate for your age, let your parents know.
Do not install pirate software, it could have viruses that can damage your computer.
Do not install any software that indicates that you will be able to see FREE photos or videos; generally speaking, this software has a telephone connection to a 906 number, which is very expensive.
Children's surfing of the net should be guided or supervised by the parents, depending on their age.
Software can be installed to act as a filter between Internet and the user, blocking those contents that are determined, but none of this can be substituted by an adequate education of minors.
Request access restriction to lines 903 and 906 from the telephone company, or else install a programme to act as a barrier to such connections, to prevent "906 diallers".
There is a basic principle: NO-ONE GIVES EUROS FOR 90 CENTS (updated version of "no-one gives a five peseta coin for four pesetas").
If an object is too cheap, one should doubt its authenticity. Buying through Internet could be cheaper, due to the fact that distribution, storage, intermediary costs, etc., are reduced. But one should mistrust ridiculous prices.
Confirm the identity of the seller before buying.
Installation of a firewall. A firewall is a physical device, or software, which acts as a barrier between a computer and a network, Internet in this case. Various products are available in the market, albeit there are also free products for personal use offering acceptable safety.
Installation of the anti-virus. Viruses are one of the most important threats to computers in Internet, based on the amount of damage caused. Constant updating of the same is of key importance; each month over 500 new viruses are discovered, which indicates that if we only install the software and do not update the same, we would be vulnerable to new viruses.
Undertake a constant updating of the operative system. Security gaps are often discovered in the same and manufacturers offer ways of updating the software in order to overcome this problem.
Copy the contents of the hard disc periodically, if possible with a non-erasable system, such as a CDR.
Do not pre-visualize the messages received through the e-mail, thus the action of specific viruses would be avoided, which act with the mere pre-visualization of the same.
Do not read e-mail messages from strangers, particularly if they come in another language. Do you have any friends or acquaintances who might write to you in English? …
Do not install programmes from unknown or unreliable sources, since no-one guarantees that these have not been modified and they may undertake undesirable actions. Use original software. Low-cost and even free alternatives are available for all commercial software.