Translations by Nick Ellery

Scam emails, where people pretend to ask for help in exchange for large sums of money

Phishing email, where the message appears to be from a bank or other online service, asking you to enter your personal and financial details, or passwords.

Below are some tips for keeping safe online:

You should never reply to unsolicited mail, or even click on the links in the mail. Doing so usually results in more junk mail being sent to you.

Never click on links in emails which lead to websites asking for your password or similar. It is possible for the text of the link to give one address, when really it opens up another (possibly dangerous) address. Instead, type the link into your web browser yourself and proceed from there.

If a website asks for your financial details, ensure that it is secure. In the <application>Firefox Web browser</application>, secure websites have a <emphasis>yellow</emphasis> address bar with a padlock icon to the right of the address. Click on the padlock to read more information about the security of the website.

Only download and run software from sources that you trust. By default, you can only download software directly from Ubuntu.

Make backup copies of your files

A problem which you may occasionally encounter is the unexpected loss of some of your work and settings for one reason or another. The causes of such <emphasis>data loss</emphasis> are many and varied; it could be anything from a power cut to accidentally deleting a file. It is highly recommended that you make regular back-up copies of your important files so that, if you do encounter a problem, you will not have lost those files.

It is wise to store back-up copies of files separately from your computer; that is, you should make use of some form of file storage which is not permanently attached to your computer. Options include:

Writable CDs and DVDs

External hard disks and flash memory devices

Another computer on the network

A simple way of backing-up your files is to manually copy them to a safe location (see above) by using the <application>File Browser</application>.

Alternatively, you can use a dedicated back-up application, such as <application>HUBackup</application>:

Install the <application>hubackup</application> package from the <quote>Universe</quote> repository (see <ulink type="help" url="ghelp:add-applications">Add Applications</ulink>).

To make a backup, press <menuchoice><guimenu>System</guimenu><guisubmenu>Administration</guisubmenu><guimenuitem>Home User Backup</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.

Select the files which you would like to make a backup copy of and choose the location which you would like to save the backup to. If you have a CD or DVD writer, it should be present in this list.

Press <guibutton>Backup</guibutton> and follow the instructions given on-screen.

To restore a backup made with <application>HUBackup</application>, press <menuchoice><guimenu>System</guimenu><guisubmenu>Administration</guisubmenu><guimenuitem>Home User Restore</guimenuitem></menuchoice> and follow the instructions on-screen.

Some general advice on how to keep good back-ups is given below:

Back-up on a regular basis

Always test your back-ups after you make them, to ensure that they have been made correctly

Label your back-ups clearly, and keep them in a safe place

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