Sources used in this document:

The internet presents significant threats to privacy, such as malware, spyware and most certainly a host of other "wares" unknown to this user. Consequently, the preservation of privacy and necessarily security are vital aspects of internet usage. The suggested Gizmo's Freeware site (Gizmo, 2013) was used as a starting point. After simply entering "privacy" in the search bar, the researcher is quickly led to the link for a web page called "How to harden your browser against malware and privacy concerns" (Chiron, 2013), which then led to numerous ways of protecting privacy/security.

This exercise is nerve-wracking because I do not know Chiron and must trust your recommendation of this web page and other links to which it may lead; nevertheless, the exercise was followed. The page addresses privacy problems for many web browsers but the one of particular interest here is "Internet Explorer" due to its primary use. The author notes that while "hardening" the browser is important, increasing security so the computer is not unwittingly communicating with potentially harmful sites is also important (Chiron, 2013). Per the page's instructions, Adobe Flash Player was first addressed. The "Flash Player" was opened and the Storage tab was used to block all sites from storing information on the computer. The problem with making that change is that there is a warning that it might reduce functionality and desired information storage on some sites. After some consideration, the option to block these sites was chosen anyway. If there is a problem with functionality or desired storage in the future, then I know how to modify that storage aspect. In addition, under the Advanced tab, Adobe was allowed to make changes to the computer in order to allow update installations by Adobe. The web page also advised removing Java plugin and separately searching for and removing "npDeployJava1.dll" (Chiron, 2013). The warning about Java's use for exploitation was surprising but the instructions for removal were followed.

After alteration of Adobe and removal of Java, the web page suggests using search engines other than the major search engines of, for example, Google. This is problematic, as Google is the primary search engine used multiple times per day due to its high functionality and efficacy; in addition, tracking my searches would probably only result in boring the data collector rather than exposing me to any significant threat. The author seems to be saying that the alternate search engines offered are not as good as Google; consequently, that change was not performed. The page will be kept in favorites and the alternate of StartPage (Chiron, 2013) will be tried at a quieter time when Google's power is not needed