Block Unwelcome Friends on Facebook without ‘Unfriending’ Them

NetGenie has been coming up with regular updates and advisories on how to handle social media and your online profile. Of late privacy issues related to Facebook crop up with increasing frequency. It adds to your worries as your kids are invariably present on Facebook.
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The 10 Golden Rules for Staying Safe Online

All aspects of life are governed by some cardinal principles. Applying those principles helps to gain success and peace of mind to a greater degree. If you have a PC and are connected online, this blog will enlighten you on the basic and easy routine to stay safe online.
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The Dangers Posed by ActiveX Controls & why you need to Disable them

You have been surfing the Internet and suddenly a message pops up saying “Internet Explorer has blocked this site from using an ActiveX control in an unsafe manner.” You wonder what it is and whether it can cause harm to your PC? To begin with, it is good to get around an issue that catches your attention and raises concerns in you, especially if it concerns your safety.
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Social Bots on Facebook Compromise your Security

Did you know that some of your friends on Facebook may not be real humans but bots programmed to steal your private data and influence your buying decisions? Yes, your social network may be infiltrated with social bots. Traditionally botnets are not designed to pose a threat to social networks as users can easily tell the difference between artificial and real people.
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Study says 71 % of users practice self censorship while posting on Facebook

Parents today are increasingly wary of their kids posting indiscriminately on Facebook in a culture that unabashedly encourages over-sharing. However, a refreshing break comes in the form of a recent study by Carnegie Mellon university of students that suggest that 71 percent of Facebook users think twice before posting on the site.
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Study Reveals Teens who Text More are More Likely to be Shallow

Parents keep worrying over the texting habits of their children and it seems they have a point. A recent study from University of Winnipeg revealed that teens who text more are more likely to be shallow. It announced the startling fact after a carefully designed and long research spread across three consecutive years.
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Enabling email Features for More Security & Enhanced Efficiency

So many times you regret sending an email and wish you could go back in time and undo the act? Did you know you can actually do it? And did you know if somebody has been snooping on your mail there is a way to know it? Let us see, as a web mail user how we can adopt practices that make our email more secure and private.
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How to Deal with Kids Posting Photos on Instagram Rampantly

The popularity of Instagram, a photo sharing app, among teens is a raging phenomenon. However, recently when it announced beauty contest on its site, thousands of young impressionable girls – as young as 12 and 13 posted their photos for others to judge.
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Keep a Check on your Digital Profile and Stay Secure Online

This is an age in which information is freely available. As they say, nothing is more empowering than information but there is a flip side to it as well. While Internet makes information easily available for common good, the same cannot be said about personal information that leaks out on it.
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Deal with Caution the Issue of ‘Copyright’ on Web Content

The recent news on how the US plans to implement the dreaded ’6 strikes and you’re out’ copyright law for online content, made many people sit up and probe further into the whole issue. Basically, the 6 strikes law implies that if there is a copyright complaint against the user more than 6 times, the user will no longer be able to access the Internet.
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Know the Apps your Teens are Using and their Related Security Concerns

So your teens just shared with you that they are using Kik Messenger for chatting and Instagram for sharing photos and you have no idea what it means. Well, it sure sounds Latin but a few minutes of effort on your part and you might well be hooked to using them yourself!
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Survey Says Majority of Teens Suffer Cyber Bullying in Silence

Even as the news of 13-year-old Mackenzie Murphy’s attempted suicide because of cyber bullying refuses to die out, a study by Knowthenet.org.uk reveals that majority of teens suffer cyber bullying silently as only a third of them report it.
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Stay Secure against email-based security threats to your PC

As parents you may wish to stay updated with latest issues related to online safety & practices and even look for a suitable security solution for your home PC or network of PCs in order to secure your children’s online safety. However, one often tends to overlook the safe practices with respect to emails.
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Survey Says Smartphone Owners Lax on Security

According to a survey conducted by the security company, McAfee, three out of every ten smartphone owners do not have a password on the device. If they lose their phones or if their phones are accessed with malafide intentions, then there are high chances that their e-mail, bank account, credit card information and other sensitive details will be compromised.
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Smart phones……… Internet …….the phenomenon of War Texting

Did you know that the smart phone that you just bought for your teen could also be used for unlocking the car and carrying out several other functions by sending a simple SMS? And did you know that the same could be used by a hacker to attack your children’s modern day connected devices?
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Understanding the Big Fuss over Disabling Java in your Browser

As a parent you are concerned with your child’s online safety. Therefore you have been religiously searching the Internet to keep up with all that trends and topics to raise your awareness. But the current crop of advisories on disabling Java in your browser keeps propping up a bit too frequently for your comfort.
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Did you Know Tracking Children Online is more Rampant than Tracking Adults?

This is the age of information and being aware about cyber issues is very important for all of us. The reason is that the real life is deeply entwined with life and activities on the Internet. And for parents, awareness of such issues is all the more important to be able to protect children against the dangers presented by online activities.
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Online Privacy: Raising Awareness & Protecting it

On the morning of 7th February, 2013, the commuters in Silicon Valley were greeted with a huge billboard put by Microsoft near Google’s office. It read, “Hey Google stop going through people’s email to sell ads.” The corporate war between the two IT giants has put the spotlight on issue of online privacy like never before.
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Thwart Internet Addiction before it Thwarts your Child

Almost all studies on Internet addiction present a direct correlation between age and online addiction and also between age and neglect of work. Thus teenagers and young adults are more likely to be hooked to the Internet than any other age group which in turn affects their work and life negatively.
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The Do’s and Don’ts of Password Security & Discipline

Your kid is six and already wants a Gmail account in his/her name. A proud moment for parents indeed as your kids take their first baby steps into the Cyber world. However, this should also turn into an occasion for imparting education on password good practices and introducing them to elementary security concepts.
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Safe Online Gaming Practices for Children

According to a recent EU Survey report, 83% of all children worldwide play games online. It indicates the popularity of online games with children and the need to keep your child’s online gaming safe, age-appropriate, and positively instructive.
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Set Ground Rules for your Teens before Buying them Smart Phones

The New Year heralds new beginnings. And as your children step into their magical teens many of you parents would be finally buying the smart phones that they have been pining for. Last year a report by Pew Research & American Life project revealed that nearly 25 percent of children surveyed between the ages of 14 and 17 already have one.
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Acquaint yourself with Netlingo to Keep Kids safe on Internet

While snooping around your kid is never a good idea, a little familiarization with the new-age net lingo that kids use, can go a long way in brushing up your parental instincts towards their online safety. After all pornography, predators, bullies, and more thrive in the cyber world waiting for opportunities to ensnare gullible and young kids.
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Children Need to Mindfully use the Privacy Settings on Social Media

Randi Zuckerberg posted a family photo on Facebook which was meant to be viewed by her friends only. But it went viral as a Twitter user shared them. Randi was obviously not happy given the intimate family setting of the image. Not an unusual occurrence you would say. Well not really but she happens to be the sister of Marc Zuckerberg ─ founder CEO of Facebook!
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Harvard Report says Parents Worried over Teens’ Online Data, Reputation & Interaction

A report produced by Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society delved into subject of parents, teens, and online privacy in times when the cyber world is increasingly entwined with the real life of children.
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Securing Children against the Increasing Menace of Cyber Stalking

A couple of months back when James S. Allen was arrested and sent on trial for child sexual exploitation and abuse several teenage girls and their parents felt relieved. These girls – mostly underage ─ lived in terror and constant threat of this Cyber stalker. The stalker initiated contact with the girls by telling them that he had found their naked images on the Internet.
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Sensitizing Kids of Different Age Groups on Risks and Online Safety

As parents you need to be patient and consistent in guiding your kids towards online safety. This is one of the most assured ways and goes a long way in establishing secure surfing habits among them.

However, one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t apply here. There needs to be different approaches for different age groups. For kids below 10 years of age, you need to communicate the basic concepts of risks involved in online surfing, elicit questions and be open and honest with them.
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Protecting your Kids on an Internet Swarming with Dangerous Apps

It has not been long since the public outcry against a mobile App ‘Girls Around Me’, forced its developers to finally withdraw it. The application helped users locate and identify girls who had, in turn, used location services of popular ‘Foursquare’─ yet another app ─ to check in nearby venues. Parents of young girls were horrified at the “stalker” app that blatantly exposed data about women, especially young vulnerable girls. But not every dangerous app is withdrawn and some of them keep posing threats to kids.
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Save their CV’s Right now!

Imagine this! Your teen kid is cyber bullying his junior on a public social platform. At an age of 14, mocking at a junior won’t matter. But at the age of 21, when your kid grows up to a respectable tween searching for a job, an online search by his/her employer has very good chance of landing on the mockery he/she made of someone all those years back. Today’s generation is living in an age where their online reputation will matter more than their business cards in future.
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Keep Your Kids Protected from Violence in Online Gaming!

Blood and gore. Intense violence. Sexual content. Hitting the target. Use of drugs. These are few of the phrases that are used to describe the content of several games in the Grand Theft Auto series, one of the most popular video game series among teenagers. According to a research, about 97% of kids between 12-17 years have played some type of game online and two-thirds of them have played games with violent content. Boys are more likely to play violent games online than girls.
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Facebook unaware of under-age accounts!

What is that Facebook doesn’t really know? No guesses, it is your REAL AGE!
While creating an account, a plain policy on Facebook prohibits anyone under the age of 13 to operate the account. According to the reports confirmed by Facebook, out of all the kids on Facebook, 2 out of 5 kids are under the age of 13! Although Facebook claims that it identifies and removes the underage accounts, it’s a tall task at hand.
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The .xxx world is lurking around your kid!

Porn- The world of adults… Ever thought how does it affect your kids? We all know the Internet is filled with porn. In Internet lingo, it is known as Cyberporn. An ExtremeTech report says, "Porn industry comes third after Google and Facebook. 30 % of total global Internet traffic is porn." ExtremeTech talked to YouPorn, the second largest porn site, about how many people use their "services".
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How safe are you on Facebook?

Facebook is no new word for any of us. It has changed, the very way we interact with our friends, family and colleagues, by facilitating sharing and ease of use. With more than 900 million users and still growing, Facebook has become a seemingly irreplaceable part of everyone’s online experience, is precisely why, Facebook vulnerabilities and scams, hurt most of us.
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Is "I'll Facebook you!" the New "BYE"?

Likes, Status updates, comments, pokes, uploading and tagging photos- welcome to the blue and white world called Facebook! Virtually, Facebook is the third largest country thanks to hyper activity of its netizens. With 2, 77,000 logins each minute, Facebook is the hub for social activity.
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Zip the Gap with NetGenie

An email from a father to his teenage son:

Son,

Your mom and I are waiting for you over the dinner table.  Come soon.

Dad.

Astonished? Don't be. This is the scenario we all live in today. The e-generation of present times strives on 'Likes' and 'Shares', emails and tweet.  With Internet becoming a need from luxury, it has brought a lot number of changes affecting families, their psychologies and relationships.

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Are the Guns Falling Silent?

You know your Internet parental control tool at home is working when your kids start hating it! A loud curse here when Facebook gets blocked or a "I-swear-to-God…" being muttered when Yahoo Messenger is not allowed access to…However, the globe seems to be tilting a little bit on its axis. Internet parental controls are moving away from being the antagonists in your kids’ online world.
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Things are not what they ought to be!

As a parent, you cannot slip into an "Internet oblivion", thanks to your kids’ hyper-active Internet profile. A Kaiser Family Foundation report says that the average 8-18 year old spends 90 minutes a day on the Internet visiting sites that have nothing to do with schoolwork. The double whammy is that most kids have computers right within the four walls of their rooms.
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Is your Kid on the Internet turning you into a Helicopter Parent?

Most of us wish no life without the Internet. But if you are a parent of a kid aged between 5-15 years, you most certainly stand to disagree. You would wish the Internet were a "not-so-important" part of your kids’ lives !
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