Natural Health Remedies

So you like to hang out on social media sites like MySpace and Facebook? Great fun aren’t they? Well you won’t be laughing when you realize you could be, unwittingly, giving away personal details that could lead to identity theft.

Although I think I’m always careful about these things I started to wonder after watching a TV show about it.

A journalist for the show created an account with Facebook and then befriended random people. They then looked at the profiles of some people who reciprocated and started chatting to them. Using the information gained on Facebook (and info that is linked to from their profiles) they were able to successfully apply for a credit card. Ouch!

Of course money is probably the biggest source of stress for us all so this is definitely not something you want to happen. So what can we do to protect ourselves?

Don’t give out the following information:-

1. Full date of birth
2. Where you live or were born
3. Mother’s maiden name
4. School attended
5. Be careful about listing favourite things – security questions for online banking often ask what your favourite TV show, food, signer etc is.

When connecting to the internet with wireless broadband make sure that it’s properly secure. If you don’t know how to do this ask your local computer guy. The reason you need to make sure it’s secure is because people who aren’t even in your home can tap into your connection. I read about a guy who sat outside in his car accessing the wireless broadband to download images of child porn!

Software to Protect your Computer

• Firefox – It’s said to be more secure than Internet Explorer.
• AVG Free Edition – don’t think that because it’s free there’s something wrong with it. I’ve heard great things about if from people who are computer technicians. You can pay to upgrade if you wish to protect yourself from spyware, spam and hackers.
• Windows Defender – I currently have this installed to protect me from spyware.
• ZoneAlarm – a firewall which gives further protection to your computer.
• Make sure you are running the latest version of your software.
• Avoid file sharing sites. If you do use them make sure to run the file through a virus scanner.

Disposing of Your Old Computer - When getting rid of your old computer take out the hard drive or use an overwriting programme. The reason is that many computers end up in Nigeria which seems to be the epicentre of many scams. I watched a documentary about this; scary stuff!

Check Your Credit Rating - Another thing to do is to contact credit reference agencies to make sure there’s no “abnormal” activity on it. I’ve heard that you can do this online but it costs quite a bit of money. It’s much cheaper to write to the different companies instead. Obviously this will depend of what part of the world you live.

I hope that this will make you think a bit more about giving all your personal details to people you’ve never met. Don’t be one of the 41% of Facebook users who aren’t so careful.

Some further info on identity theft and how to protect yourself:-

• Tips for protecting your ID
• Facebook Podcast
• How to stay safe on social sites
• Don’t be a victim of identity theft

Last week I submitted my blog post  5 reasons you need to laugh more to the Carnival of Healing.  I’m pleased to report that it was accepted.  A lot of other bloggers submitted articles on various topics relating to health and spirituality, here’s a few you might like to read…

Benefits and drawbacks of soy - There’s so much conflicting info when it comes to eating Soy, unfortunately it’s a main source of protein for many people such as vegans.

Eat more locally grown food - I can never understand why New Zealand and South African apples are sold in the UK.  We do grow apples too you know!

Leaky Gut and Native Nutrition -  Joanne gives some advice on how to deal with Leaky Gut.

If you would like to read the other entrants, visit Carnival of Healing.

Natural health along with caring for the environment are two things close to my heart. So I’m pleased to say that the Carnival of Green Living hosted by 21st Century Citizen accepted my article on How a Simple Kitchen Product Revitalized my Hair in 30 Minutes. Although it may not be directly related to the environment in the way that recycling is, I still think it’s important to use natural products instead of ones filled with chemicals, not to mention tested on animals.

There were quite a lot of other entries, suggesting that green living is something that’s close to a lot of people’s hearts. Here’s just a taster (check the rest out here) …

• Garbage Society - Remembering a life with little wastage.
• confess mail shares the inner concerns of one of their anonymous readers with I don’t believe places will be around long enough for me to see…
• More Repurpose, Recycle TT#10 - innotive ways to reuse products and reduce waste.

Really enjoyed my week on Canna. As soon as we got off the ferry we saw a Seal plus a Sea Eagle being mobbed by a Buzzard. Other wildlife we saw during the week included:

Dolphins (well, I would’ve seen them if I wasn’t feeling sick as a dog on the ferry trip back )

Here’s a little video I made of the wave crashing against the basalt rocks. The rocks there are much the same as the more famous Giants Causeway in Ireland.

I won’t be here for another week because I’m going away to stay on the Island of Canna, Scotland. Apparently it’s one of the best places to go for total peace and tranquility.

Some facts about Canna:

• There’s no roads (apart from Land Rover tracks)
• There’s no mobile phone reception
• Wildlife that can be seen on and around the island include: Dolphins, Basking Sharks, Golden Eagles, Sea Eagles and Seals
• The population is 15 and when they made a plea for 2 more families they had over 400 applicants from afar a field as Dubai and India.
• The primary school consists of one child.

I’ve now got to go and pack my suitcase