Anti-Bullying Day is a day when the world joins together to stand up against bullying in our schools, on the playground, and online on social media. It’s recognized at different times of the year depending on what country you live in. These are special days that bring awareness and focus to help stop bullying, as well as standing up for those who are currently being bullied.

Parents, teachers and kids of all ages can all work together to ensure no one is ever bullied. Kids can do their part by being a friend to those who are victims of bullying and including them in activities with their group of friends. Even the simple act of sitting with someone in the lunchroom can go a long way to help them feel like they are not alone.

The Origins of Ant-Bullying Day

The idea of Anti-Bullying Day began in Canada in 2007. It’s also called Pink Shirt Day in Canada and takes place on the last Wednesday of February. It began when people came to the defense of a boy who was bullied simply because he wore a pink shirt to school. This is why there is also another day called International Day of Pink, which is held the first week of April.

Countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, France and New Zealand will honor “International STAND UP to Bullying Day” on February 28th or 29th. Schools may call the day by different names, but the goal is always the same; to stop bullying and help those who are currently being bullied.

The United nations declared every May 4th as International Anti-Bullying Day. Regardless of when any country commemorates this important day, it’s vital for all of us to speak out against bullying. It’s a reminder to stand along side those who are bullied – regardless of their age, race or gender.

Bullying has been around since there have been schools, or when any group of friends throughout history have gathered together to play. It only takes one person who feels the need to ‘get their kicks’ out of picking on someone in the group. The invention of the Internet has rapidly spread the problem. Bullies now have the ability reach their victims at home through social media. This is called Cyber Bullying. On the Internet, the effects of bullying can cause even more hurt and damage and do it much more quickly.

Things You Can Do to Stop Bullying

No matter where bullying takes place, it’s important for kids to also stand up against cyberbullying. If you know of someone who is being bullied, tell let your parents, a teacher or school counselor. There are also other things you can personally do to help. As mentioned, sometimes helping means just being a friend to someone who doesn’t have one.

On social media you can stand up for someone by speaking out against harmful comments about another person. It may be by making simple comment in defense of someone. If you see one of your friend connections taking part in bullying, you may want to talk to them about what they are doing. Ending your social media connection with a person who is bullying you or others is also be a very healthy thing to do.

If you being bullying, the first step is to tell an adult you trust. They can guide you in what you can do to help it stop. Sometimes bullying can happen within friendships. If you have a friend who are being cruel to you, this is called a toxic friendship and a toxic relationship. Distance yourself from them. They are not a true friend who cares about you.

You’ve probably heard the term used for people who are watching something happen but are not part of the action. They are called bystanders. If you were walking down the street and an old lady drops her groceries, and you do nothing to help her, you may be called a bystander in a negative way.

The same can be said for bullying. Of course, you always have to make sure you are safe when you help someone, but whether you see injustice against another person in the school yard or on social media, you have to decide. Will you be a bystander who does nothing, or someone who will step in to help? The same can be said for cyber bullying on social media.

How Will You Make a Difference on Anti-Bullying Day?

So, whether your school asks teachers and students to wear pink on your own Anti-Bullying Day or not, it’s important to remember that everyone can make a difference. Remember, a large group of people saying NO to bullying is made up of individuals. If everyone said they can’t make a difference just because they are only one person, many great causes around the world would lose their power. That’s often be referred to as “The Power of One”.

Do you see someone who needs a friend?

Do know of someone who is being bullied?

Maybe you are the one who being bullied.

Talk to someone about how you can stand up for yourself in a safe way, or do something else to prevent it from happening again. Don’t be afraid to block or hide someone from view on social media. You may even decide that a particular social media platform is not for you and delete your account altogether. Talk to your parents about this if you need help.

It’s also ok to have compassion for the bully. The are human too. Why do they do what they do? Which brings us to our final comments on the subject of bullying.

A Final Word for Bullies.

Are you a person who is bullying someone else?

You may wonder why it makes you feel better to be hurtful to others. Perhaps you are involved in other destructive behavior. Maybe you are being bullied or hurt by an adult. Teachers and school counselors are there for you too. Talk to them.

When it comes to teaching your children, some things are easier than others. Teaching your kids to be nice to others and to eat their food before dessert is basic, but showing your progeny what electricity is, how it is used, and how they can save it is more difficult than teaching them other things.

However, with kids leaving lights on, playing video games all day, and leaving their electronics on, many households can save money by simply teaching your kids to conserve energy and work towards raising sustainable child.

The Basics

If you start with talking about the basic of electricity, you can slowly teach your kids what they need to know about energy and how to save it. Explain to your kids that everything that plugs into the wall uses electricity and that when you leave these things on costs money.

There are a few ways you can illustrate this point to your kids. Turning off the lights and turning them on and showing them that for the lights to come on, you need to pay for power. It is also helpful to make distinctions between objects that plug into the wall and objects that do not according to MoneyPug, a site used to compare energy prices. This is one way to make sure the connection between electronics working when they are plugged in and not working when they are not. Once your kids understand the fundamentals of electricity, there are many ways to make it fun and educational.

Make a Game Out of It

Making a game out of teaching your kids to conserve energy is one of the best ways to get it done. Not only is it one of the most effective, it is one of the most fun. When you show your kids that different objects require electricity and others that don’t, quizzing your kids can help them figure it out while making it fun. Show them a razor and an electric buzzer and ask them which uses power.

Another way to do this is to show them a broom and a vacuum to explain the same point. So do lightbulbs and candles. Video games and board games. You can have your kids play a game to see who can save the most energy. Whoever wins can get rewards. Children everywhere like competition. When you create a game out of conserving energy, you will be able to make the efforts fun.

Creating an Educational Environment

While making a game out of energy conservation can be fun, you can also make it educational. If your kids are curious or like to learn, it is great to make your environment educational. There are so many options to help you figure out new ways to help the household save money on energy costs. You can use educational material that will provide new tactics and techniques to saver power and teach your kids good habits.

You can even find educational materials that provide month-to-month tools. Each season has benefits and disadvantages. You can learn how to conserve in the winter and how to get the most out of your savings in the summer. This could help you teach your kids how to understand what is important and what isn’t.

Another way to make it educational is to do activities with your kids to show them ways to conserve. Make a project out of building a household wind turbine. Take them to the store for solar panels. Do daily checks to see if things are on and what can be unplugged. When you are teaching your kids, you can make this whole process fun and educational.

If you are trying to show your kids how to save energy, you need to speak to them in their language. Kids are particular and they need certain things. Households in the West all need to conserve more energy and work towards sustainability. You will save energy will not only help you save power and money, it will teach your kids to be better people who live consciously. There are many ways to do this and when you are conscientious, you will have many more tools at your disposal.

Malware is malicious software that infects your computer in the form of a virus, spyware, Trojan horse, bot, adware or a worm. These nasty infections have different purposes, from getting your computer to preform certain tasks in the background, to sending out spam from your email account, to as bad as stealing your personal information.

Malware may infect your computer when you click on a suspicious email attachment, but it is not restricted to that. Malware also comes via software installations from unsafe sources, as well as when visiting infected websites.

Safe Search Kids endorses MalwareBytes for reasons that separate it from other virus removal tools. Mainly – you do not need to purchase the software to clean your computer of viruses. Full scanning and removal of all types of viruses are permitted within the free trial offered.

If you desire to continue protection of your computer, which includes blocking malicious software (malware) from infecting your computer in the first place, then purchasing MalwareBytes after the free trial is recommended. This also allows you to preform regular scheduled scans as often as you like.

How Computers Become Infected

A personal story about anti-malware software in action: One morning I logged on to my credit card account and saw a Western Union charge for $940. It was made in a city half way across the country. I quickly called my credit card company to report it.

Upon further investigation I was informed that thieves obtained my complete credit card information through one of my computers in the house. This is done when your computer becomes infected by a Trojan Horse (malware) and when you log into an account – in my case it was iTunes – the software is able to obtain your personal information for later use. I downloaded the anti-malware program on to all of our computers and did a scan. I found the virus on one of our laptops.

There are many other ways computers are infected with malware, including spyware and malicious Trojan Horses.  Email is one of the biggest ways this happens.  This is why is always important, that no matter how much you may trust the email that is asking you to log into an account, it’s always best to simply to to your browser and access your account directly.

Malware can also be infecting a computer is when opening attachments that seem harmless enough.  There is where having an Anti-Malware program installed on your computer is vitally important to stop infections from happening in the first place.

Download a Trusted Anti-Malware Software

Obviously, no one wants malware on their computer for any reason. But so many computer users fail to take pro-active action to stop it.  Adding to the problem is that not all anti-virus programs do a thorough job of detecting and removing the viruses.  For one, the virus database may not be up to date.

A bigger issue is that anti-virus programs alone do not necessarily block infections from happening in the first place.  This is why it’s important to have an anti-malware blocker, as well as a program that digs deeper in your computer scan with a top rated malware detector and removal tool.

Anti-Malware – Free Scan and Prevention

Every computer should have some form of anti-virus software installed.  Windows 10 users already have a good security system in place, as long as it is activated.  But anti-virus programs do not have the ability to prevent malware the way a program like MalwareBytes can.  Your computers should also have a premium anti-malware program to regularly  scan, clean and protect your PC from all internet threats: viruses, spyware, trojans, bots, adware and worms.

With anti-malware software, dangers are recognized immediately when they try to run or are being downloaded from the web.  New malware definitions are also updated on a regular basis to ensure all new malware programs are detected with every scan.

Beware of less credible virus removing software that makes you pay before you can remove harmful viruses from your computer. Also, do not install any software from a source you are not sure about. The ironic thing is, you may be downloading malware contained in the very software program promising you malware removal. This is not the case with a trusted program like MalwareBytes.

To see if you are infected by Malware including viruses, spyware, Trojans, bots, adware or worms – Scan and Clean Your Computer for Free!

Additional Internet Security Solutions

While we have mentioned that Anti-Virus Software is not an effective tool against Malware, please don’t misunderstand. Anti-Virus is still important to protect your computer against infections through your incoming email. These programs are not to be confused with Parental Control Software, which allows you to block access to websites that do not have appropriate content for kids and teens… Learn More!

Selecting an easy to remember password seems like a simple enough thing to do. But when it comes to protecting your online accounts, there are a few important things to consider before you lock in that special password that is all your own and unique to you.

Is your password secure enough? Are you using the same password across multiple accounts? What if someone hacks into a database and learns your password and email address?

Whether it be on social media, cloud backup or a password to your bank account, keeping track of passwords is a hassle. Still, passwords remain to be out first defense against an invasion of privacy that can affect our safety both on and offline. Until fingerprint technology or facial recognition becomes the norm, we all need to learn and develop good password management habits.

Learning Password Management at School

Password management can be an excellent point of discussion that is catered to students of any age that are already choosing their own passwords for their various social media accounts. Here are a few guidelines and tips that can also be used for parents at home, who in many cases are already helping their kids choose passwords for transparency at home and for online protection.

1. The importance of forming a strong password comes before anything else

Make sure your password contains capital letters, numbers, as well as special symbols. Also, do your best to make sure passwords are at least a certain length. These types of passwords may be difficult to remember immediately, so write them down and keep it on a piece of paper at home. Many online accounts save the password on your computer or smart phone app and it may be a while before you have to enter it in again.

If you fail to memorize your password and you didn’t write it down, you can create a new by clicking “forget password”, which will send a password resent link to your email.

2. The dangers of entering one’s password on a public computer

The problem with public computers is that you never know what might be lurking in the shadows. Unless you happen to be the administrator, which you probably aren’t. There might be all sorts of malware hidden in there, including the one that can spy on keystrokes.

Even assuming the computer is clean, there’s always a danger. After all, humans are on the forgetful side of the scale. In other words, your can easily forget to log out of your account and grant full control to the next random person who comes by. Not an ideal situation. Plus, you never know who’s standing behind your back when you enter your password in public.

When using your own phone or computer in a public place, be wary of logging into an account when connected to a public Wi-Fi that does not require users to identity themselves.

3. The problem of trading security for convenience and the reasons why it’s discouraged

Too many people fall into the convenience trap. They start reusing the same password across different websites for the sake of keeping things easy to remember. An additional way to increase security is to learn more about the importance of using a password manager. Thanks to its functionality, users keep the convenience of not having to remember too much. They enable creating different passwords for each account while only having to memorize the master password to access the rest.

Learning Password Management at Home

Often, kids can be more tech-savvy than their parents. But even as a parent you can take the initiative to protect your family with security basics, and beyond, that are often overlooked by those who feel they are already up-to-date on the latest in online safety.

Let’s also not forget that technology is always evolving. Hackers are continually coming up with new ways to gain unlawful access to private databases and accounts. What was good practice for protecting privacy two years ago may not be the best way to go about it today.

1. Remote data wiping technology

Even if you do everything right cybersecurity-wise, what’s stopping you from misplacing or losing your device? Many people tend to be forgetful. So, if you’re not sure where your phone is (especially if you suspect someone has snatched it right out of your pocket), deleting your data before it gets into the wrong hands is a wise course of action. Remote data wiping technology is an insurance policy in this regard.

If you have important information you want to save, you’ll want to set up some sort of online back-up to a cloud account. This way you can easily restore your device if you wipe it clean. Of course, make sure your online back-up account also has a strong password.

2. Two-factor authentication

Malware programs can steal your passwords right from under your nose. With two-factor authentication you can greatly increase protection of your accounts. Two-factor authentication asks anyone logging in to perform an extra step (like entering a PIN from a confirmation SMS) before granting access an account. It can restrict access in case of a data breach or stolen password.

3. Password variations that use the same core are a terrible idea

Never underestimate the creative mind of a hacker. If they can get close to guessing your second password based on another, it won’t take long before they succeed. Randomly generated passwords are a much better idea than different variations of the same password.

4. Personally identifiable information is a no-no

Let’s put it this way. The street where you live, as well as your birthday, are all facts that can be available to anyone. Anyone willing to go to great lengths to get them, that is. Therefore, you should avoid constructing passwords around publicly identifiable information.

5. The importance of changing your passwords often

Changing your passwords regularly is a good cybersecurity practice. But it also tends to be forgotten, especially when many accounts do not require changing your password regularly. Again, with a password manager, having to remember a whole new batch of passwords becomes a non-issue.

No matter your age or expertise, the creation of a good strong password is often taken for granted. Whether it’s a social media account, a website for online shopping, your online banking access – or an app on your phone, each one of your accounts is an online profile of you that’s worth protecting in as many ways that are available.