If your kids are Web savvy, there’s no doubt that they’re coming upon sites that offer up free games, cool screensavers, latest music tracks from their favorite artists, fantastic offers to win prizes, and a host of other hip happenings – most requiring a simple click of a link or button to kick off a download on their computer.
What our children don’t know is that not all downloading is safe, secure, and/or legal. Let’s take a closer look at what our kids need to know about downloading. Nightmare on Main Street
It can happen to anyone, anywhere. You really shouldn’t think for a moment that it can’t happen to you. Friends recently related this story about their family computer, shared among the two parents and their two boys – ages 11 and 9. Their cute and curious nine-year-old decided he wanted to download a popular movie from a Web site called LimeWire. He was able to figure out that it was free and ready to be sent directly to his computer. He just couldn’t wait. With a simple click of the “Download” button, he was ready for a fun viewing of one of his favorite films. Instead, strange things began to happen. He turned off the PC, and went off to play.The following day, the dad of the house turned on the computer to check his email and he couldn’t believe what he saw.
Literally hundreds of pop-up messages started to display on the monitor in a random and haphazard fashion. His security software (an inferior freebie that he now regrets using), was telling him that multiple viruses have been discovered and they cannot be removed. Worse yet, other screens were popping up everywhere, many with violent and pornographic images.He shut down and restarted multiple times, hoping that the problem would just go away, but that didn’t happen.
In fact, things went from bad to worse. Trying to take matters into his own hands, he attempted to get on the Internet and research the specific names of the viruses that were being indentified on the screen. He proceeded to follow some half-baked instructions he was receiving from one source or another, frantically clicking some designated keys as more pop-ups and more horrid images continued to display.
Finally, the mayhem on the screen ended, but the bad news did not. He lost virtually every file on his computer. This included loaded programs, financial files, school information, and his wife’s complete collection of Bruce Springsteen recordings that she purchased and downloaded online from iTunes® . Even worse than losing the Boss, all of their family photos (that were not even backed up) were lost forever!What Happened?
You can’t really blame the nine year old for his misdeed. He didn’t know any better, and that’s perhaps the best thing we can take away from this story. We need to educate our children about the dangers – and often illegal ramifications – of attempting downloads. It could’ve been a game, a screensaver, a television show, or anything else that a child might be curious about. In this particular case, it happened to be a movie. Instead, it was a virus program loaded on the family PC that was designed to destroy a hard drive.
Believe it or not, there are people out there who get a thrill from spreading malicious code like this, and kids need to be aware of this.Everyone should take caution when downloading things over the Internet. If there are sites that offer free software (movies, television shows, music, games, etc.) then it’s likely these sites are illegal because that software is owned by someone and it’s being offered for free, you truly never know what you will be getting from them.When downloading illegal software, you have literally no defense from a legal standpoint. Going after the Web site that caused the problem will be fruitless. Even the FBI and the CIA are looking for these bad guys.
Children need to learn that when downloading something, they MUST be sure that it is from a respectable site. These ‘good’ sites will unlikely have viruses on their programs, but you, as parents, should still ensure you have quality virus and spyware protection installed, such as Norton Internet Security ™ or Norton 360 ™.Taking Action
Kids will usually value “free” over “safe” and that’s a belief system that needs to change. Here’s what parents need to do:
Teach your kids to be extremely cautious. Never click ads or links that are included in emails or Instant Messages.
Tell children to NEVER click the download link or any type of “Get This Now” button unless they check with you first. Even if the site was recommended by a friend, they should confirm with a parent that it’s OK to download ANYTHING onto the computer.
Teach children to never click "yes" buttons anywhere on the screen. They need to read all of the text carefully and, again, check with you before clicking.
Explain to kids that they should download games, movies, music, screensavers, and any other software ONLY from trusted sites. Don’t buy them an iPod if you’re not planning to register them into iTunes at the same time. That would be like an open invitation for them to become a pirate.
Instruct your kids to immediately report anything suspicious to an adult.
Oh, and one other thing: always back up your files in case something does happen. You don’t want to lose important documents, family photos, or your favorite songs!
