Essential apps and tips for a more secure Internet browsing

Internet is a very insecure place these days.

The list of cyber threats lying out there in wait for you is constantly growing and doesn't include only malware and hackers trying to steal your identity.

In fact, legitimate companies, Internet marketers and spammers try to track your surfing activities and your likings, to target you with specific emails and pop-up ads.

This forms a serious threat to your security and your privacy, but there are tools allowing you to counter and block tracking cookies and scripts.You can also make your browsing experience safer by following some more general tip.

 

Browser add-ons

1. Adblock Plus: It blocks most ads, banners, pop-ups and video ads, even on Facebook and YouTube, allowing a safer and faster browsing. If the add-on causes problems viewing specific websites, you can add exceptions and also customize your preferences for specific webpages. AdBlockPlus is so efficient that some spam websites ask you to disable it for you to view the webpage (that's not going to happen).  
2. Ghostery: Detects and blocks "trackers, web bugs, pixels, and beacons placed on web pages by Facebook, Google Analytics, and over 1,000 other ad networks, behavioral data providers, web publishers - all companies interested in your activity". It's based on a blacklist of components, constantly updated, allowing your web browser to block any tracking cookie or script. If so, Ghostery displays an alert and blocks the page, but you can view it by temporarily enabling the blocked component or adding an exception.
3.  HTTPS Everywhere | Electronic Frontier Foundation: Forces your browser to always use an encrypted connection through Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS), instead of the normal HTTP protocol (unencrypted), adding a supplementary layer of security. 

General tips

1. Use a limited right account to surf the Internet: If you use a limited account without administrative rights to surf the Internet, you won't be allowed to install anything on your PC and neither a hacker. On OS X/Linux systems a hacker would need your administrative password. If a confirmation window starts popping up without any plausible reason, this is a big red flag but, if you don't enter the password and the hacker doesn't know it, he can pretty much kiss your ass. On Windows systems, you won't be prompted for a password, but for an action. If you utilize an account with limited rights, even in case you'd wrongly click Continue, you couldn't successfully install anything, not having the necessary permissions. In an OS X system, you can create a limited-right account by accessing System Preferences/Users & Groups and clicking the "+" button (you'll first need to click the padlock symbol and enter your administrative password). For Windows 7, you need to access Control Panel/User Accounts and Family Safety/Add or remove user accounts. Regardless of the specific operating system, I don't recommend activating the Guest account, as it uses a default password, well-known to experienced hackers, and it's very vulnerable (it's the first thing a hacker looks for). If you need an account for a temporary user, you'd better create a standard account named Temporary or something similar. By the way, never name your administrator account Administrator, Admin or Root.  
2. Use a "sandboxed" browser: Sandboxie allows you to run an operating system in a "sandbox", i.e. a virtual machine completely separated by the physical OS, making it possible to test any software without worries. If you browse the Internet by using Sandboxie and your "sandboxed" browser gets hijacked or you get infected by a malicious script of a virus, you can simply delete your virtual machine, and your physical OS will remain unchanged. For more details, see my previous post: Sandboxie - free the explorer in you.