PC help - Internet

Here's a question I get asked often. Before I answer, a little about me, I've been working in the IT field for about 10 years. I've done jobs from tech support to network admin and learned a whole lot along the way. Anyway, back to the topic. The question is, how do I stay safe on the Internet? Well the best piece of advice I can give is, MAKE SURE TO READ WHAT YOU'RE ABOUT TO CLICK ON. I've met way too many people who blindly click on pop ups and dialogue messages while surfing. The worst part is they don't bother reading any of it. If you don't read it how do you know you answered it correctly? When a website is trying to get you by throwing a pop up or dialogue box at you, "NO" may not mean NO and the "red X" may be "grayed out" or unavailable. The 2 I hear most often are Anti-virus 2009 and a scary warning message about viruses detected on your system. To tell it to you bluntly, if you ever see these, STOP, read the message and then analyze it. I'm sure you're using an anti-virus program on your computer, the best thing to do is use that to see if you really do have viruses on your system. The Anti-virus 2009 is nothing but a nuisance, I know because I've spent hours removing it and all that it brings. If it turns out you can't avoid clicking something if you ever see these then there's always the fail safe option which is, ALT + F4, which will close all open windows including Internet browsers that have NOT been minimized to the task bar. Make sure all your work is backed up before you use this. For those pop ups that automatically minimize to the task bar and won't allow you to close them, just restart your computer. Make note of the website you went to so you don't go back there again. I know a lot of people don't want to hear that but hey, I'd rather keep my system and information safe than be tempted by some website.