Certainly, there are threats on the Internet that no one can control, so you have to take measures to stay protected, like secure browsers, antivirus software, and firewall software. But there are those threats that users do have control over, and with some changes in computing habits, these threats can be prevented.

Perhaps one of the most pervasive ways that virus and malware are spread are through websites and emails that entice the you to click on a certain link or open a certain attachment, and by doing so, you inadvertently install some malware on the computer, which starts a snowball effect inviting more malware. Before the user knows it, the computer is compromised. A good rule of thumb is this: If you have doubt about what it is you are about to click on, don't. Suppose you get an email with a supposed cute kitten animation attached. It has "FW: fw: FW: RE:" in front of the subject line, and the text message body is garbled. It is probably best not to open the animation. Suppose you get an email from Ebay saying your account is past due and you don't remember selling anything on Ebay. In this case, it would be best not to click any link in the email, but manually going to Ebay's site, logging in, and checking your balance. I personally paranoid about such things, and never click the link provided from banks, Ebay, Paypal, etc. even if I don't suspect anything. This rule of thumb extends to more than just email. Staying off of suspicious websites too will prevent malware from being installed. Such sites are include, but not limited too sketchy download sites, sites with illegal software and cracks, sites with illegal music, pornographic sites, phony "Internet security" sites, and torrent sites.

Sometime you may inadvertently browse to a website that you would not suspect as being a malicious site. There are fortunately, available databases that filter content. A content filter is a program that blocks known sites that are disreputable because they contain pornography, hate speech, gambling, pirated software, spyware, or advocate some sorts of illegal activity. Content filters also weed out content based on heuristics. The software looks for keywords and phrases on the pages themselves that would be characteristic of one or more of the aforementioned categories. If the page meets such criterion, the page is block.

Many parents are concerned about the pages that their children may be looking out. By adding a content filter to a computer, parents have tighter control over the sorts of pages that a child may be viewing. In keeping with Biblical principles, it is the parents responsibility to protect the minds of children from the corrupt teachings of the world and raise them up in the ways of righteousness. Implementing filtering can be a way to help protect against things that are harmful to children.

Men, no matter how mature or godly may be, are susceptible to the lure of Internet pornography. Internet pornography is abundant, free, and easily accessible. According to a 2006 survey, 53% of the Promise Keepers men said they had viewed pornography. Pornography was not isolated to a particular age group, but is predominately a problem with men ages 35 to 49. Content filtering can help prevent some temptations. A man can allow his wife to install a content filter on his computer and not have access to the password to disable the filter. This will in part help protect men from the dangers of pornography.

There are a number of content filters available for home computing. A few commercial products include Safe Eyes and Net Nanny. There are also a few free content filters, such as K-9 Web Protect. Installing one of these will help protect users from potential sites that could prove to be harmful.