Establishing Online Dating Relationships: Safety First
Online dating can be fun, and a great way to meet someone. But don’t neglect safety and common sense when you try to hook up with a potential mate.
Dating Online Safety First
At minimum, we recommend taking caution in the following areas.
Protect Your Computer
Take care of your equipment and systems before you head out into the Internet realm. You need to have a firewall and anti-virus protection for your email and for when you search websites and interact online. At the bare minimum, you may want these two solutions that are offered at no charge to home computer users (i.e. not for commercial use):
- Free Firewall Download: ZoneAlarm www.zonelabs.com
- Free Anti-Virus Download: AVG Anti-Virus www.grisoft.com
Protect Yourself
Take care of yourself, too, by choosing appropriate dating sites. Seek and choose a reputable online dating service. How? Begin by asking around with friends, neighbors, co-workers and others you may know who have tried online dating, and see which places they recommend.
In addition, search “online dating services” and bookmark their URLs or website links, the fees, rules and regulations, complete contact information of each and any other useful information that spikes your interest. Then compare each place. Try only those places where you feel safe. Avoid the others.
Dating should be fun and exciting, but you do need to take care. Make sure you arm your computer – and yourself- with the correct tools and knowledge! Then meeting mr or miss right should be easy to do.
