Avira Safe Shopping

We collectively spend billions shopping online every year, and e-commerce is the fastest growing sector of the retail market. What’s not to love as you head into a virtual shopping mall that spans the globe? No queues. No bad weather. No shopping to carry. And the selection is mind-boggling. In the era of the pandemic, it’s also a safer option than even a mask and gloves. Yet, if you don’t take precautions, online shopping can be dangerous. Cybercriminals lurk in the online “aisles”, eager to get their fingers on your personal data and credit card details.

Love to grab online bargains? Read this first.

70% off your favorite perfume! It sounds great but a malicious link, website or ad can infect your machine with viruses. Every time we make a purchase online, we potentially open the door to malware or scams. Fake “sales” trick you into paying for goods you’ll never receive. Also, bogus websites and even legitimate online shops with poor security, may result in your email, password, and even credit card details being pilfered. If a cybercriminal can add enough of your personal information to their illegal shopping cart, you may even become the victim of identity theft—so they can impersonate you and even apply for credit cards in your name!

Thankfully, your online security is in your hands. Follow these tips and tricks before you next head off on an online shopping spree:

• Use websites you know and trust: Sales on sites you’ve never heard of can look tempting, but who knows where you’ll end up? Did you know that even search results can be rigged? It’s safest to head straight to your chosen site with no detours or shortcuts.
• Look out for the lock symbol: An icon of a padlock should appear to the left of the URL in the address bar. Plus, the site will start with HTTPS, instead of just HTTP. This means that the site has SSL (secure sockets layer) encryption installed.
• Don’t share more information than you need to: Filling in your address makes sense. If a site wants to know your mother’s maiden name, your city of birth, your social security number, or other irrelevant details…run.
• Create hard-to-hack passwords and use a different one for every site: It should look something like &£8L9iwb3&IBwxMpZ, so a nonsensical combination of symbols, numbers, and letters. Never choose your dog’s name, unless it happens to be as complex as &£8L9iwb3&IBwxMpZ.

For greater ease of use and peace of mind, consider Avira Safe Shopping. Humans are fallible. Technology, less so. The clue’s in the name: It helps keep you safer as you browse and buy online—and it’s free! Read on for the highlights of this nifty tool.

Free software for safer online shopping? Yes, please.

Avira Safe Shopping Software is a free, discreet add-on (also called a “browser extension”) that helps secure your browsing. Think of it as a shield: It can help block malicious or phishing websites, so you won’t even be tempted to shop there. It’s also a shopping buddy: Use it to help you find good deals on the items you’re looking for—and rest assured that they’re from legitimate sites. Avira Safe Shopping also works harder than that. This busy little extension warns you if unwanted apps (“potentially unwanted applications”) are trying to sneak onto your system, where they can slow you down or collect private data.

Have you heard of browser hijacking? It’s not as violent as it might sound and occurs when unwanted software is injected into an internet browser to change its behavior. It could start spying on you or display constant ads. Trust Avira Safe Shopping to help thwart that too, like a discreet online bodyguard.

Switch the individual features on and off as you need them, so you can tailor it to suit you. It also displays the number of blocked ads and trackers on each page so you can see how just effective it is!

Why not judge for yourself? Add it now to your Opera, Firefox, or Microsoft Edge browser. Please note, that for Google Chrome, only the nifty price comparison feature of Avira Safe Shopping is available. So, you can still grab a bargain and rest assured it’s from a trusted site, but you’ll be doing without the additional online protection.

Even more online security? Help yourself.

Avira offers a portfolio of solutions for your online privacy and protection. Don’t even think of navigating the virtual jungle without these must-haves:

• Trusted and independently verified anti-malware: Avira Free Antivirus helps protect your device from various types of online threats, from ransomware and adware to phishing attempts and worms. For Avira powerful protection, minus the ads, consider Avira Antivirus Pro.
• Updated software: Outdated software contains security loopholes known to cybercriminals. Help keep them out with Avira Software Updater. It easily helps fix security flaws in common software, including apps like Zoom, and it’s free! For a small fee, the Pro version does it all automatically.
• Strong passwords for your online accounts: Minimum 8 characters. Numbers. Symbols…hard to hack passwords are nearly impossible to remember. Leave the job to Avira Password Manager. Remember just one master password and it does the rest. The Pro version also scans your passwords to help check for weak or reused ones and can notify you if an online account has been hacked.

Avira also offers all-in-one solutions, which take the headache out of combining the right tools. Avira Free Security (yes, it really is free) is packed with a diverse spectrum of features, including a VPN for safer, anonymous browsing and even a PC cleaner for a more revved-up machine. If you’re prepared to subscribe, treat yourself and your devices to Avira Prime. It’s like an all-you-can-eat buffet of Avira premium features, including VIP customer support. Guten Appetit, as they say in Germany, where Avira was originally founded.