Tools for Safe and Secure Browsing
COURSE ENROLLMENT STATUS - Enrollment for this course is limited to 8 students. Attendance is limited to ensure social distancing.
COURSE LOCATION – Silicon Room, HOA2 Arts and Crafts Center
COURSE PREREQUISITES – Basic computer skills. This is open to both PC and MAC users. Mac users must know how to install software from alternate sources.
COURSE DESCRIPTION – Two 1.5 hour classes
This will be a “hands on” class so bring your working laptop and power cord, you may also want to bring your tablet and smartphone. I will NOT have time to fix your computer. Bring a USB flash drive for course material. If you do not have a laptop, then you will be using the classroom PC’s.
This class focuses on the safe and secure use of your browser for your computer, tablet or smartphone. We will primarily be working with a modern browser that supports the use of add-ons, such as FireFox, Brave, Edge and Opera. You will be installing a browser with a built in free VPN. We will also install and work with other little known but high security browsers. You will learn to install and use encrypted search engines. I will talk about how to encrypt your DNS. If you don’t know what DNS means you will learn about it at this class. If you don’t wish to encrypt your DNS, then we will “hard code” DNS settings using best encrypted DNS providers. We will also talk about how to change the DNS settings in your router. This is a security feature. We will briefly cover anonymizing tools, encrypted video and cloud storage.
Most of these instructions will work with tablets and smartphones.
COURSE MATERIALS:
Class notes and free software download sites will be distributed during the class. Bring your own flash drive so you can copy these files and take them home with you. All programs (software) required for the class will be provided.
The student should have a personal Flash or Jump drive for transporting files between the classroom and home.
INSTRUCTOR – Steve Solberg
See the Contact Us page on the club's website for the instructor's contact information.