For example, an email arrives and looks like it's from your bank or credit card company and wants you to click on a link to a Web site to verify your account information. Usually there's an urgency implied in the email, such as your account being cancelled. The email and Web site will look totally legitimate, bearing the logos of the company. However, the Web site is fake, usually sitting somewhere in Asia, and if you enter your account information, it's now stolen.

Never, ever, ever, ever respond to an email asking you to confirm your credit card information, bank information, account number, login account, etc. If your bank sends you email to confirm information, turn off your computer and call them from the number in your phone book. If your Internet service provider sends you email that your account is about to be cancelled, again look up their phone number and call them. Report fraudulent emails to your bank and the Federal Trade Commission.

David: Is the Internet safe for kids?

Jim and Neil: The short answer is: no, not without supervision. There are quite a few Web sites and places on the Internet that aren't for kids, including online gambling, pornography, adult topics, adult chat rooms, etc.

So one answer would be to not allow your kids to use the Internet at all. But this isn't practical because there's also a lot of truly great information on the Internet, such as research for school papers and projects, news and weather, challenging games with other kids, etc. Barring them from the Internet will quite frankly put them at a disadvantage with their peers throughout their lives.

Some very common sense things you can do to keep kids safe using the Internet is to place computers in common view areas in the home, such as the kitchen or living room, openly establish ground rules, including hours of usage, and what is and is not acceptable, enable a parental control program at your Internet service provider, in your wireless router, on each computer, or all three, and if rules are being openly violated, install an activity logging program.

David: What else should I know about?

Jim and Neil: Beyond what we've covered above, most precautions are a matter of common sense. Just because you wear a seatbelt doesn't mean it's a good idea to drive 100mph in a snowstorm. Even with good protections in place, you still need to keep your guard up. Treat the Internet like an unfamiliar bar in an unknown city. Exercise caution, be suspicious, watch over your shoulder, and use your common sense.

The Internet is a fantastic resource of information, and you can't really take the ostrich approach (i.e., head in the sand). Embrace it, but use common sense. Ask yourself, would I buy this or give this information to someone if they showed up at my door? How can this Web site afford to give money to everyone who clicks on the monkey? Who are all these men and women who are dying to meet me, don't they have friends already? Why doesn't my credit card company already have my account information?

Common sense, folks.