Five Tips to Making On-Line Shopping Safe and Secure!

On-line shopping definitely offers a ton of advantages, such as no wait times, instant payment, and 24/7 service; however, there’s always a flip side to every coin.

In this case, if consumers don’t stay careful and watch their backs, they can easily fall prey to hackers, ID thieves, and other pitfalls.  Thankfully, George Otte, CEO and Founder of Geeks on Site, has put together the following five tips to help on-line shoppers stay safe and secure:

• Use your Credit Card, not your Debit Card -- Credit Cards offer better protection against fraud.  With a Credit Card, you are only liable up to $50 as long as you report the fraud within 30 days.  Debit Cards on the other hand, are more difficult to get refunded and sometimes you only get a partial refund.
  
•  Shop from known retailer’s websites -- Search engines may redirect you to scam or spoofed websites.  Spoofed websites are created with exactly the same appearance and infrastructure as the original website, with the sole purpose of stealing your user credentials.  Be sure to verify the website address at the address bar of your browser.
  
• Update your System -- When shopping on-line, make sure to use the latest brand named browser available for your system, such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Internet Explorer as the latest versions of each have increased safeguards to prevent adware, spyware, and phishing attempts.  Having an updated antivirus or antimalware is essential when preventing fraud.  Both the browsers, as well as approved antivirus programs offer some type of verification of websites, making sure they are the original site and not a spoofed one.
  
•  Shop at home -- Public LANs and WIFI networks, such as libraries, cyber-cafes, airports, or even work computers could be compromised with malware.  Hackers also have access to these networks and could be tapping into them to get your personal information.  Always do your on-line shopping from network secured with a WEP or WPA password.
  
•  Don’t save your information online -- Saving your information on-line such as name, address, and Credit Card number might be convenient for your next purchase, but there is always a chance that the company keeping your information could have a data breach.  Then your information, as well as thousands of others, will be at the mercy of a hacker.  For this reason, it’s best to always enter your information every time and not save it in a server which you don’t have control over.

Geeks on Site is a South Florida-based company with a team dedicated to providing premium quality computer repair and support services to homes and businesses nationwide.  As one of the fastest-growing companies in the computer repair industry, they pioneered online remote computer repair, being one of the first companies to provide this method of service nationwide.

George Otte is the Founder and President of Geeks on Site computer repair.  He has been in the IT industry for over 10 years.  A Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, Mr. Otte quickly developed his own computer repair business at the age of 21.  His technicians assisted residential and small business clients, after which he took his company to the next level by being one of the first to repair computers remotely via the Internet.