Social networking sites are wonderful for keeping up with friends and loved ones that you otherwise would not get to see or talk to every day. The down side of social networking sites is that people who want to steal your identity or crash your computer like to lurk there even more than your friends do. Be able to protect both yourself and your computer when using these sites.
First, make sure you have a quality anti virus program installed and activated on your computer. Set the security settings fairly high. If you need to access something online that your software is blocking, you can temporarily lower the security setting to allow the download or transaction and raise the security level back up when you are done. This will give you the maximum protection from identity thieves and hackers.
Be careful what information you make public. If you want to make sure the friends you are looking for see you, you can select different information to be more visible than other information. Be sure to go through your online profile thoroughly. Make sure your contact information is only visible to the people you truly trust. Or, you can leave this type of information off of your profile completely and only offer it to trusted friends by private messaging.
Be especially careful about posting pictures of children and grandchildren. If kids are allowed to use these sites, make sure you monitor what information they are giving out and to whom. Though one piece of information might seem harmless, when combined over time you can give away much more than you realize. A child might answer seemingly simple questions, but during the course of several conversations they have given away enough information to find them at school or at home.
Enjoy social networking sites with caution. What the majority of people use for good can be dangerous in the wrong hands.