I love all that the Internet offers in news, entertainment, great social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, and on and on. But at the same time I'm paranoid. And maybe you should be too if you're sharing snippets about your life on the Web. Like a pickpocket working a crowded public venue, cyber thieves could be collecting information that makes victimizing you so much easier with all the personal data you provide.

The more a criminal knows about you -- your likes and dislikes, your habits, you plans -- the easier it is to con or steal from you.

"Sophisticated computer fraud schemes continue to flourish as financial data migrates to the Internet," said Shawn Henry, assistant director for the FBI's cyber division. "It also underscores the need for continued vigilance on the part of law enforcement, businesses, and the home computer user to be aware of these schemes and employ sound security procedures."

The Chubb Group of Insurance Companies recently issued a warning about divulging too much information on social networks. Tweeting about your Memorial Day getaway plans? Post your vacation plans on your Facebook wall? One of your "friends" or followers, may see it as an opportunity to burglarize your home. If you want to tweet about your vacation or holiday plans, do it after the fact.

"Not too many people are giving second thoughts to the personal information they provide, especially the more youthful users," said Peter Spicer, communications manager for Chubb Personal Insurance. "People don't realize that as they drop information someone may be building a composite of who they are."

Spicer said the insurance company hasn't seen a demonstrable increase in claims directly connected to social networking. But the company is exploring what financial dangers people are putting themselves in by telling all their business on these sites.

Tips to help protect you from theft or a financial or personal loss:

• Birthday blackout. Never divulge your date of birth online (month, day or year). It can be used for identity theft or to answer a security question.


• Pet privacy. The name of your pet is a common security question, so keep your pooch's name private or avoid using it as your security answer or password.


• Trash talking. Increasingly employers are searching online for information about prospective hires. So don't trash your last employer or you might risk losing a job opportunity.


• Neighbor nastiness. You may have an incredibly bad neighbor, but be careful about posting comments about your battles. Derogatory comments can be used against you in a defamation lawsuit, Spicer said.

• Never divulge your street address or even your building if you live in an apartment or condo. Thieves are good at connecting the dots.
• Keep you kid's names offline if possible, especially if they are small. And think twice before tweeting or posting too much information about your kids activities, whereabouts and their schedules.

These tips may seem like simple, common sense. And yet take a closer look at the postings of friends and strangers online, like me you'll see some of the listed mistakes.

Final thought: If you want to tweet or post things about your life or family, find a secure way to do that. Opening up your life online with TMI (too much information) could attract the wrong kind of attention and may hurt you.

Get exactly what you want for your business's website--on time and on budget.

Every business reaches a point where it must have a professional online presence - both in look and functionalty. Educating oneself on all that goes into a successful website project can be overwhelming for a website owner. And the learning curve for an already busy entrepreneur can be steep. Here, are six tips to help you realize an attractive and effective site--on time and on budget.

1. Do your homework
The first step in finding a developer you like is finding designs you like. Start by looking at both the developer's portfolio of work and sites of your competitors and similar businesses that you like. Ask for the advice and input of colleagues and friends. Don't just go to Google and pick the first developer in the list.

But taste is only one consideration. Many developers specialize in creating a particular kind of site. A developer whose previous work includes only small, brochure-style sites might be a poor fit for a large online store or enterprise level corporate website, so it's important to consider the scope of your project as well.

2. Be prepared to collaborate
Many people don't realize how much of their input is essential in order to achieve a success website project. The misconception is that they're simply going to call a web development firm and say, "Make me a website and show me the completed project in two weeks when it's all done" and that it will in fact be done to their liking.

The reality is that the process is a two-way street, a true collaboration--from start to finish. In the beginning, good developers typically ask for detailed descriptions of what prospective clients expect to achieve from their websites, their targeted audience makeup, website goals, as well as the budget established for the project. If a developer provides an online questionnaire, potential clients should complete it as thoroughly as possible.

3. Know what you're paying for
Once the match is made, a contract is the next step. And here clients can't be too careful. Everything that's meant to be included in the project--from the payment schedule to the number of revisions that a client is allowed to request--should be spelled out. While many developers are flexible about small changes, its best to know for certain in advance. Finally, be prepared to pay a portion of the overall project cost, typically 1/3, before any work begins.

4. Be honest, but don't nitpick
Generally, developers provide clients with a mockup of a proposed design before initiating coding and programming for a working site, and this is a very important stage of the project. Clients should be honest if they want to see a different design. Most developers agree that wholesale revisions are usually better than a lot of small changes.

If you feel like the design is way off the mark and it doesn't feel right for your business, don't be hesitant to say so. At the same time, understand that requests like 'put more space on the left and right, or combine this element from this design with these elements from this one' may leave you with a design that resembles Frankenstein. If this happens, neither side of the website collaboration is happy or pleased with the outcome.

5. Agree to a timeline you can live with
While the developer provides a site's visual and technical framework, the client is usually responsible for providing the site's content--most commonly the text and images (line art and photos). Failing to do so as scheduled will usually delay completion of the project, sometimes drastically so.

If the text isn't already prepared, consider hiring a professional copywriter. Aside from taking the burden off the business owner, a copywriter can provide text that's customized for search engines, which will help potential customers find the site when it's finished. Good developers will either offer the service or can recommend several from which you can choose.

6. Be decisive
Content aside, the most common cause of delays or extra costs after the contract is signed are large directional changes or additions - also known as 'scope creep'. Many people under-estimate how long such changes will take to implement. Avoiding such misunderstandings are another example of the importance of establishing not only a good relationship but good communication between developer and client from the start.

A good relationship and an atmosphere that encourages open and effective two-way communication firmly established at the initiation of the project helps ensure any issues that crop up are not only handled professionally but won't jeopardize the successful delivery of the project.

Twitter is often dismissed by "serious webizens" as gimicky, and little more than a collection of musings by limelight starved chatters, but like me you may discover that it can actually be put to work as a valuable support resource for personal or business use.

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Twitter has captured a lot of media coverage lately as it seems everyone from politicians to entertainers to writers and editors of popular media and mainstream journals are all "tweeting". Because so many of us are still trying to wrap our arms around the concept and best uses, we see it most often characterized as a site for sharing ideas as well as the omnipresent status updates, “At a sidewalk cafe, sipping a latte.”

But what if Twitter was used to solve a very real support issue?

A friend of mine recently ran into a problem with a client application failing to run because it required that Internet Explorer 5.5 or later be installed. The oddity is that his computer was was already running IE 7.

We poked around a little and found that Internet Explorer was missing its version information. And we knew enough to know that missing version information causes problems.

Even though a click of the IE help menu displayed the IE 7 splash screen, the necessary version information was not present. Without the browser version number, neither Windows nor other applications can confirm that it’s a compatible browser.

Before going through the motions and hassle of removing and then reinstalling the browser we opted to source the Internet for a solution. I spent a bit of time on Google and posted in a few favorite newsgroups and forums, but nothing immediately presented itself as a solution.

The my friend suggested posting a tweet on Twitter. Within a few hours I received a tweets with suggested help and advice from several "followers", one in particular with a link to a document online that had our solution. As soon as we followed the steps outlined, and restarted his computer, the client application installed properly and he was up and running.

Sure, Twitter has been tagged as a “social” network — and you may not immediately think of it as a business resource — but my experience tells me it is much more than a means of social interaction and can be of tremendous value in sourcing information for business use. It's millions of users have hundreds of millions of opinions, ideas, advice, and yes, resources to share. Like me you may benefit when you tap into that breadth of combined resources and knowledge.

So the next time you have a question or dilemma like the one I described (whether it is business related or not), give your Twitter followers a crack at it, you may just find that the answer - comes to you!