How to Secure Your Home While Away on Summer Vacation

Summer is the perfect time to go away for a relaxing vacation. An unguarded home, however, is a perfect target for thieves. Take a few precautions before you leave for vacation to provide you peace of mind and true relaxation.

Secure your important information. Purchase a removable or external hard disk drive for your computer. Save all important files and financial records on this hard disk drive only and not on your primary hard drive. This portable drive should be removed from your home when you are away for extended periods and may be stored in a safe deposit box. All important hard copies of deeds, licenses, birth certificates, social security cards, unused credit cards, etc. should be kept secure in an off-site safe deposit box as well.

Secure the perimeter of your home. If you have a sliding glass door, place a broom handle or stick in the track of the door to prevent it from being opened. The latch on a sliding glass door is very easy to bypass. Drill holes in the upper right or left corner of all lower panes of your wooden windows and insert a long nail, which will make opening the window difficult from outside the home.

Ask a friend or trusted neighbor to collect your mail each day while you are away. Ask them to also walk around your home and look for anything strange. If possible, leave at least one car parked in your driveway and leave a few lights on inside the home. Purchase several timers and set them to turn on at dusk and turn off around the time you would normally go to bed. If a thief is watching your house, this may fool them into believing that someone is home.

Perform a walkthrough of your entire home and film everything using a video camera. Store the tape along with all other important items in your safe deposit box. This evidence will be useful to provide to the police and your insurance company if someone does manage to break in and steal or damage items in your home.

Inspect both the inside and outside of your home one last time before you leave. Unplug any dangerous or energy inefficient appliances and raise the temperature slightly on the thermostat. Check that your oven is turned off. Close all blinds or curtains, making it difficult to see into the home from outside. Make sure all exterior doors are locked and place padlocks on all gates, storage buildings, and crawlspace doors.


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How to Snoop-proof Your Computer

Do you worry about people snooping around on your computer or trying to use software or underhanded tricks to spy on you? Be proactive. Learn what signs to look for and how to protect your private information.

One of the most obvious ways that people spy on unsuspecting computer users is to access their computer while they're not around. Improve your security by setting a BIOS password, also known as a "power-on password. To set a BIOS password, you must access the BIOS during start up. If your computer is set to display messages during start-up, it will briefly display the correct key to press in order to access the BIOS. If this message does not appear, try repeatedly pressing the "Esc" key or the "F1" key during the boot sequence. Once you have accessed the BIOS, follow the onscreen menu to set the password. Write down the password or use something very easy to remember because it is difficult to reset this password if you forget it. BIOS passwords are not a 100% fool-proof method for keeping out snoops. Someone who knows what they are doing can bypass a BIOS password if they have enough time to remove the case and gain access to the motherboard. If this happens, you would know it the next time you used the computer because it would no longer require the password or your password would no longer work if they changed it.

Give would-be snoopers one more obstacle by setting an operating system password for every user account that accesses the computer, especially the administrator account. The administrator account is often overlooked and left unprotected by Windows users as it is hidden by default. None of these passwords are effective if the computer is left logged-on all the time. Log off the computer when it is not in use and power it down while you're away.

Other tools that snoops use against you are various spyware programs with capabilities that include, capturing images of your screen, recording your keystrokes (key loggers), tracking your internet browsing history, intercepting email and instant messages or even recording through the computer's attached web cam and microphone. It's difficult enough to prevent intrusion on your computer by unknown attackers accessing your computer through the Internet. It's even more devastating when you are blindsided by friends, family, or guests in your home who snoop into your privacy.

To combat this, begin by uninstalling any programs that you do not regularly use. If possible, do a complete reformat of the hard drive and reinstall only the operating system and the programs you use the most. For Windows users, identify all of the programs that are required to operate the computer using the Windows Task Manager, which may be found by pressing the "CTL", "ALT", and "Delete" buttons quickly in sync. Write down a list of all of the entries under the "Applications" tab and then do the same for the "Processes" tab. Update this list each time you install something new. Grant your primary user account administrative rights to the computer and disable the ability to install programs from all other accounts. Each time you use the computer to access personal information, check your list against the Windows Task Manager and if you find any suspicious entries, identify them by searching for their exact name on Google.

Periodically check the connection from your keyboard to your computer to verify that no add-on devices have been installed without your knowledge. There are hardware devices that function just like software key loggers, which are capable of recording your keystrokes. They may be installed by disconnecting the keyboard and then connecting it through the device into the computer. They are small and almost undetectable unless you are looking for them. Also look for any unidentified USB devices that may be connected to the computer, most likely in the back. A USB wireless access point could be left attached and allow someone to compromise the computer at their leisure without having physical access to it.

If you use a wireless network, log into the router and be sure the wireless connection is secured. Try accessing the network from an unauthorized device and see if you are able to get in. Keep up-to-date antivirus and internet security software running on the computer to thwart malicious attacks from viruses, Trojans, and other forms of malware. If you are still not satisfied with these measures of security, purchase an external or removable hard drive and take it with you wherever you go. Store your private information on this drive and not on the shared computer.


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How to Protect Older People from Becoming the Victims of a Scam

I was taught to always respect my elders, but unfortunately, there are people in this world who do not feel the same way. Do you know if your older friends and family members are safe from becoming the victims of scams?

Earn the person's trust. In order to help an older person protect themselves from fraud and scams, they first have to trust you and be willing to cooperate with the advice that you give them. If someone is reluctant to comply, do not let it upset you and do not become impatient with them. Tell them that you are just trying to look out for their best interest. Some people are independent and are offended when other people try to offer them help. Respect their wishes.

Identify their vulnerable areas. If they do trust you and they do want your help, the first place to start is in their home. There are four areas of concern that many people leave vulnerable; their mail, their phone, their computer, and the doors to their home. Each one has the potential for scammers to gain entry and wreak havoc.

Make the person's mail more secure. Purchase a mailbox with a locking mechanism and key so that the mail delivered to them is safe and cannot be removed by anyone else. Check with their local post office and see how close to the person's house the mailbox can be mounted. The further away from the street the box is, the safer the mail will be and it makes for a shorter walk. If possible, the person should drive outgoing mail to a mail drop box to send it, but if this is not possible, be sure they write any checks in permanent ink that cannot be washed from the check. Also they should not put outgoing mail into the mailbox until close to time for the mail carrier to pick it up. Online bill payment is a preferred method for the elderly to pay their bills if they have Internet access.

Enhance their telephone with user-friendly features. Caller ID is an important feature to help someone know who is calling. They can use this feature to avoid irritating sales people and scammers. Visit the website for the "Do Not Call Registry" and add their number. A mobile phone may actually be a good alternative to a land-line phone for the older crowd because it can be placed in their pocket and taken wherever they go. If the person is hearing impaired, the vibrate feature of the mobile phone can help them to know when someone is calling. Also, they can use text messages to communicate if they are unable to speak. Mobile phones typically include Caller ID and the phone number is usually harder for scammers to acquire. If they do invest in a mobile phone or if you buy one for them, instruct them not to give the number to anyone. Another good rule of thumb is to have the attitude that "If I didn't call someone, then I probably don't want what they have to offer." Be sure that the person you are assisting knows to never give personal information to someone over-the-phone unless they are sure that person is legitimate.

Upgrade and secure their computer. If the older person owns a computer with Internet access, there are several precautions to take. They should have a good antivirus package as well as a firewall, email spam program, and a phishing filter for web sites. Many of these tools are included with certain operating systems. Verify that they are equipped and functioning. Have a training session with the older person and discuss with them the techniques that scammers use to try to get information from people. Show them a few example emails and be sure they are able to identify threats for themselves. If they cannot, ask that they forward suspicious emails or web sites to you.

Secure all entry ways into the home with deadbolt locks and either a peephole or a security camera so that the occupant will always know who is knocking at their door. When strangers come to the door, instruct the person to ignore them unless they know them. No matter what the visitor says, tell them not to be intimidated and to call the police if the person persists. Securing all entrances will help them to avoid pushy salespeople who have no business bothering the elderly to begin with.

Install a set of photoelectric sensors across the person's driveway and connect the output to a buzzer or bell inside the home. This will let the person know they have a visitor well in advance of the person standing at their door and give the older person time to prepare.


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How to Protect Your Family from Home Invaders

The security of your family is very important. Not everyone can afford home security systems or guns. This article describes several easy and inexpensive ways to prepare a home to protect your family.

Always know that if someone wants to break into your home badly enough, they will find a way. That doesn't mean that you should make it easy for them to do so. It is surprising to me how many people have told me that they lock the doors to their home only while away. This is very dangerous! Purchase a deadbolt lock for any doors that are easily accessible to the public and keep these doors locked at all times. Start a habit of locking all doors at all times. If you leave to go to the store, lock the door behind you. When you get home... lock the door behind you. Teach children to lock doors behind them and to always see who is knocking at the door or ringing the doorbell before opening the door.

If the home is equipped with wooden window panes, use a power drill to drill a hole in one corner of each window where the upper and lower panes meet. Make the hole large enough to insert a heavy gauge nail. The nail should be easy to remove in case of emergency. It's not a bad idea to tie a piece of string to the head of the nail to make it easy to pull out. The point of the nail is to make the window difficult to open from the outside.

To secure a sliding glass door, cut a broom handle or stick to fit the space in the track behind the door where it slides when it is opened. It is very easy to bypass the latch on a sliding glass door, so be sure to leave the stick in position while the door is not in use. If you have a fenced-in yard, be sure to lock the gate when not-in-use. Also lock storage sheds with a lock large enough that it may be seen from outside the fence.

Leave a light on during the night, both inside the house and outside. This may just deter someone from breaking in if they think someone may be awake inside the house. Also, it's easier for crooks to operate in the dark. If you own a dog, give them full run of the house during the night. They have amazing hearing and will let you know if someone is snooping around outside.

Cover all windows with shades or blinds at night so that it is difficult to see into the home. If it is easy for someone to see from the outside that you own the latest game system, a huge expensive TV, or maybe some expensive artwork, then it may prove tempting for a would-be thief to put your home at the top of their list. Actually, if you can afford all of these high-dollar items, then a home security system is probably a wise investment too. The bottom line is that your family's safety comes before all material things. If you find yourself in the situation where someone has entered your home, let them take your money or some of your belongings if it means that they leave without harming anyone. Then call the police and file a report.


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