Online safety
Don't be put off going on line by all the talk about cyber crime.
Astons Online and many, many other organisations are here to help you be confident and safe users of online services.
Click here for Get Safe Online, UK's leading and most comprehensive source of online safety and security advice
Astons Online useful information about online safety
Golden rule #1 is always keep your PC, laptop, tablet and smartphone up-to-date by installing the latest updates from Apple, Microsoft, Google and your anti-virus provider (Malwarebytes, Norton, AVG, McAfee, Kaspersky, Trend Micro etc)
Golden rule #2 is never, ever take action in response to unsolicited instruction, request or suggestion. Unexpected emails, phone calls, WhatsApp messages, Facebook asking you to do something must be ignored.
Golden rule #3 is make sure you have a firewall between your PC or laptop and the Internet. Almost all Microsoft, Mac and Chrome workstations have a firewall pre-installed. You just need to check it is switched on.
Golden rule #4 is make back-ups (copies) of your valuable information, photos etc on a separate hard disc, flash drive or USB stick so that your information is safe, even if the worst happens to your PC or laptop. Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry.
Click here for Thames Valley Police "Little Book of Scams"
Click here for Thames Valley Police advice on Phishing which is the sending of phoney emails trying to lure users into unwise, expensive, dangerous or illegal actions.
Click here for Take Five fraud prevention advice
Click here for Action Fraud, UK's national reporting centre for fraud and cyber crime where you should report fraud if you have been scammed, defrauded or experienced online criminal activity.
Forward phishing and scam emails to report@phishing.gov.uk
Forward phishing and scam text (SMS) messages to 7726
Click here to learn more about scams from National Trading Standards
Click here to learn about holiday scams