Who Is Perfect.??

Who Is Perfect.??

A man and his girlfriend were married. It was a large celebration. All of their friends and family came to see the lovely ceremony and to partake of the festivities and celebrations. A wonderful time was had by all.

The bride was gorgeous in her white wedding gown and the groom was very dashing in his black tuxedo. Everyone could tell that the love they had for each other was true. A few months later, the wife comes to the husband with a proposal: "I read in a magazine, a while ago, about how we can strengthen our marriage." she offered. "Each of us will write a list of the things that we find a bit annoying with the other person. Then, we can talk about how we can fix them together and make our lives happier together."

The husband agreed, so each of them went to a separate room in the house and thought of the things that annoyed them about the other. They thought about this question for the rest of the day and wrote down what they came up with.

The next morning, at the breakfast table, they decided that they would go over their lists. "I'll start," offered the wife. She took out her list. It had many items on it, enough to fill 3 pages, in fact. As she started reading the list of the little annoyances, she noticed that tears were starting to appear in her husbands eyes.
"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing" the husband replied, "keep reading your lists."
The wife continued to read until she had read all three pages to her husband. She neatly placed her list on the table and folded her hands over top of it.

"Now, you read your list and then we'll talk about the things on both of our lists." She said happily.

Quietly the husband stated, "I don't have anything on my list. I think that you are perfect the way that you are. I don't want you to change anything for me. You are lovely and wonderful and I wouldn't want to try and change anything about you."
The wife, touched by his honesty and the depth of his love for her and his acceptance of her, turned her head and wept.

In life, there are enough times when we are disappointed, depressed and annoyed. We don't really have to go looking for them.

We have a wonderful world that is full of beauty, light and promise.
Why waste time in this world looking for the bad, disappointing or annoying when we can look around us, and see the wondrous things before us?

I believe that WE ARE HAPPIEST WHEN we see and praise the good and try our best to forget the bad. Nobody's perfect but we can find perfectness in them if we change the way we see them.
 

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Eat Smart .... Eat Idli, Dosa, Uthappam .....

Eat Smart .... Eat Idli, Dosa, Uthappam .....

Good bacteria in your food
DR. JALAJA RAMASWAMY

Fermented food, which contain probiotics, offer a range of health benefits.

Protective and therapeutic: Fermented foods are full of good bacteria. Time for breakfast? Help yourself to a plate of hot steaming idlis, dosas or uttappams and dahi. These are not only nutritious but are safe, highly acceptable and packed with health benefits that are both protect ive and therapeutic against a wide range of disorders. They are all fermented foods i.e. they are subjected to the action of micro-organisms for a few hours causing desirable alterations in food quality. The process also preserves and predigests the food.

The bacteria that cause these changes are called "Probiotic bacteria". They are not destroyed by the acid in the stomach or by the enzymes in the intestinal tract.

What are probiotics?

Normally bacteria are considered harmful; but probiotic are good ones responsible for a variety of health benefits. Probiotics and probiotic foods have been used both as therapeutic and preventive supplements for many ailments including GI disturbances and cancers.

The two most recognised ones are lactobacillus and bifidobacteria. The probiotic bacteria found in yogurt belong to the streptococcus and the lactobacillus strains.

Those food ingredients that can promote the growth of probiotics are referred to as "prebiotics". These are not digested by the intestinal tract but stimulate the activity and growth of selective beneficial bacteria in the colon. Cereals like wheat, pulses including soya, onion, garlic, leek, banana and even tomatoes are prebiotics.

A food that is both prebiotic and probiotic is called "synbiotic". This combination can have a beneficial effect on the host by increasing the survival of the probiotics in the intestinal tract.

India probably has the most diverse variety of fermented foods — Idli, Dosa, Dhokla, Khaman, Batura, Kulcha and the traditional dahi. The commonest probiotic foods are fermented dairy products such as yogurt and buttermilk. Sauerkraut or pickled cabbage is an example of a fermented food widely consumed in the West.

Our digestive system contains many millions of bacteria. In a normal intestine there are some 500 different species. They are important for many health functions including those concerned with the digestive system and immunity.

These are mainly the good bacteria and there is a balance between the desirable and the pathogenic bacteria. However, use of antibiotics, a poor diet, alcohol, stress and other reasons can reduce the healthy bacteria and upset this balance.

An adequate intake of probiotic foods helps the desirable bacteria colonise the colon. Antibiotics are the biggest culprit, killing both the probiotic and the disease-causing bacteria. This is why a doctor recommends curds or probiotic supplements with antibiotic treatment.

Probiotics are involved in synthesising and enhancing the bioavailability of some nutrients.

Nutritional benefits

Fermenting the foods produces certain nutrients like an increase in the Bcomplex (folic acid and vitamin B12) and vitamin K. Probiotics also produce short-chain fatty acids, an important energy source for the colon. Some amino acids, growth factors, antioxidants and antimicrobial factors are also produced. Fermentation also destroys certain anti-nutrients like phytates and oxalates that interfere with the absorption of minerals like iron and calcium.

People with lactose intolerance are unable to digest lactose, the milk sugar, leading to bloating, flatulence and abdominal pain and diarrhoea. Consumption of fermented dairy products such as dahi and lassi helps in such cases because the bacteria produce the enzymes necessary to break down lactose. Probiotics also reduce intolerance symptoms such as diarrhoea.

Fermented foods, especially dairy foods, contain certain strains of bacteria that promote the health of the gastrointestinal tract. Prebiotics have also been studied for their beneficial gastrointestinal effects. A synbiotic combination is the best.

Probiotic bacteria prevent the proliferation of the pathogenic (disease-causing) micro-organisms in the gastrointestinal tract. When are ingested orally, such as through fermented foods, they produce antibiotic substances in the intestine, which can destroy the pathogens and also deprive pathogens of nutrients necessary for their growth. Probiotics can also enhance the immunity to microbial pathogens and thus exclude pathogens from the gut.

The microbes in most fermented foods are sensitive to heat and are destroyed by pasteurisation or processing. Some may be destroyed when cooked, which means that when you make idli or dosa it may not necessarily contain all the probiotic organisms originally present in the batter. A cup of yogurt will contain more live beneficial microflora than a cooked fermented product. Fermented dairy products are, therefore, a preferred delivery vehicle for probiotics.

Today probiotics are available as dietary supplements and are used to prevent and treat certain illnesses and also support good health. They provide higher levels of the beneficial bacteria than fermented foods.

Routine therapeutic interventions with probiotic strains may well become a reality soon. It is, however, wise to take them only under the guidance of a doctor. In the meantime go ahead with the fermented foods. They are totally safe and you can have them as much as you can. The fresher the product, the higher the count of good bacteria.

Are probiotic supplements safe? In most cases, yes. In some rare cases, a few side effects such as bloating of the stomach have been reported. However they are not recommended for persons with low immune status, premature infants or neonates.

Other benefits

 There is enough evidence to show that administration of selected micro-organisms like lactobacillus is beneficial both in the prevention and treatment of certain intestinal and, perhaps vaginal, infections.

 Probiotics may help reduce risk of rotavirus-induced diarrhoea and diarrhoea associated with intake of antibiotics and help treat infantile and, to a smaller extent, adult gastroenteritis.

 They may be useful in treating constipation; specific strains of Lactobacilli may suppress the growth of and displace Helicobacter Pylori, which is associated with peptic ulcers.

 Some studies suggest that prebiotics improve calcium and magnesium absorption from the human intestine. This may be associated with a change in peak bone density and mineral bone mass and a reduction in osteoporosis. Probiotics are useful in treating food allergy and inflammatory bowel diseases such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease.

 Some probiotic bacteria can break the milk protein casein into smaller units and provide relief from allergic manifestations such as intestinal inflammation. They may also prevent and possibly treat allergic conditions like eczema and allergic dermatitis.

 Studies on infants have shown probiotic bacteria help increase Immunoglubulin (compounds that confer the ability to fight infections) levels.

 Fermentation of milk is reported to produce certain peptides (chains of amino acids) that inhibit an enzyme which tends to increase blood pressure. Studies on humans indicate that fermented milk could help lower blood pressure when used on a daily basis.

 Although the evidence is weak, some studies have reported a modest reduction in cholesterol levels after consumption of fermented milk products for two to four weeks.

 Animal experiments have shown that probiotic bacteria reduce the risk of colon cancer. Some epidemiological studies suggest that consumption of fermented dairy products may have some protective effect against cancer of the large colon. Regular consumption of thayir sadam may be a simple way to lower the incidence of colon tumours.

 Probiotics may be useful in preventing alcohol-induced liver damage, a common condition in many societies. Studies from Johns Hopkins Hospital in the United States suggest that orally administered probiotics could be superior to the conventional therapy in the treatment of hepatic encephalopathy, a common and dreaded complication of liver disease.

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Useful tips to beat PC hackers

Useful tips to beat PC hackers

Expert speak: Useful tips to beat PC hackers
Vineet Kumar

You do it almost everyday. You login into your computer, send e-mails, open attachments from friends and strangers, shop online, transfer money using your banks secured payment gateway, chat with friends and upload personal information on social networking sites.

But have you ever given a thought to someone who is keeping a close watch on all your online activities. Someone, somewhere in some corner of this planet trying to get inside your computer and filch one of the most important resources of information age: personal data.

Data that can be abused to make purchases online, send malicious programmes to all those on your contact list and many such things to harm you. Welcome to the age of hackers (these are people who try to gain access to your computer using various hacking tools and misuse your personal data) and spies lurking on the vast Internet highway.

But don't worry. There are ways in which you can beat the hackers.However, when it comes to security nothing is 100 per cent secure. Loads of exploits are developed everyday. Updating the knowledgebase should be a regular process. Following could be few of the many measures that could be taken to protect your computer and all things that you do online:

~ Install the latest antivirus software (I recommend Kaspersky, Eset Nod32, Quickheal, F-Secure) on the computer and never ever disable or turn it off. Install a personal firewall ( www.sygate.com and www.zonelabs. com offer free versions) and Spyware Checker (I recommend Spybot Search & Destroy).

~ Keep updating antivirus/anti spywares at least every 15 days. Use separate Trojan removers like anti Trojan shield if possible. Full system scan with your anti virus at least once in a week or better set it to scan periodically and give a small interval say every Friday (the day may vary according to your choice).

~ There are a few free online scanners available at http://housecall. trendmicro. com or http://www.kaspersk y.com/kos/ eng/partner/ us/kavwebscan. html, and http://support. f-secure. com/enu/home/ ols.shtml.

~ Get System's health checked regularly at http://www.pcpitsto p.com/. The site checks the overall system health, tunes up the system and finds out the vulnerabilities. It's a free service.

~ Don't ever download or open attachments whose source you are not certain about. Even if the source is trusted, see if the content is relevant. Even non-executable files like *.Doc files can contain macro viruses and Trojans. There are some special sort of programmes called worms, which don't need human interaction. You just open a mail or visit any website and that's it. So always stay alert. Avoid opening e-mail attachments that contain '.vbs', '.scr', '.exe', or '.pif' file extensions. Files that end in these extensions are most likely to contain some sort of virus.

~ Web browsers like Fire Fox, IE 7 & Opera offer good security features. Test your Web Browser for Vulnerability at http://bcheck. scanit.be/ bcheck/.

~ Never download any files specially executables over P2P (peer-to-peer) sharing networks, because you cannot be absolutely certain what they are. P2P file sharing programmes can lead to the installation of a lot of adware and spyware. Try downloading executables from authentic and well-known sites; don't just download files from anywhere.

~ Try not to visit porn sites, Warez, sites of cracks and serials because most of them have hell lot of latest spywares, Trojans and viruses .One visit and you are gone if your virus definitions are not up to date.

~ Be familiar with the installed programmes on your computer. If you notice a new programme installed, which you didn't in the first place, possibilities are that it might be something malicious.

~ Read the installation agreements carefully when you download something from the Internet. Pay attention to the terms and conditions or EULA (end-user license agreements) of the program being installed. Reference to third party installation should be given more attention. Some EULA's tell you that, if you install the program, you have also agreed to install some spyware with the software. Do check the independent sources as some EULA's do not mention about the Spywares.

~ Back up your computer data on a regular basis, at least weekly. Copy your important documents and files onto a floppy disk, removable drives, CD or a DVD for safekeeping. Don't wait for the disaster to happen, take the precaution before hand. Create system restore points periodically

~ Use e-mail encryption like PGP to send important information via emails. Don't send important information in plain text.

~ Never respond to unsolicited e-mail. To those who send spam, one response or 'hit' from thousands of e-mails is enough to justify the practice. Additionally, it validates your email address as active, which makes it more valuable, and therefore opens the door to more spam.

~ Beware of phishing attacks. Sites like www.antiphishing. org offer latest updates on phishing along with good security tips

~Don't chat with strangers just for fun. Don't ever accept any file, especially executables from an unknown person on chat. Don't click on any links given by someone you don't know.

~ Do not accept links or downloads from strangers even if it is tempting. There have been cases where spywares like Trojans, keyloggers etc. have been hidden in simple picture files with '.jpg' extensions. You never really know what is contained inside a file which looks attractive.

Today people use binders to club two different files and send you the mixture. Once you click on the file both file gets executed.

~ Be cautious while displaying your profile, especially your personal details, photographs, videos and contacts on social networking sites. Your profiles and contacts may be misused by other people.

~ Install parental control softwares like netnanny that helps you choose what the kids see on the Internet and monitor the activities of children. For more details visit http://www.microsof t.com/athome/ security/ children.

Wireless security

~ If you have a wireless network, turn on the security features: Use MAC filtering, turn off SSID broadcast, and even use WEP/WPA/WPA2 with the biggest key you can get.

Online shopping safety tips

~ While purchasing online, look for signs that online purchases are secure (SSL secured sites or 128 bit encryption) like Ebay.co.in. At the point that you are providing your payment information a golden coloured lock appears (for SSL secured sites) or the beginning of the Web site address should change from http to shttp or https, indicating that the information is being encrypted -- turned into code that can only be read by the seller.

Your browser may also signal that the information is secure with a symbol, such as a broken key that becomes whole or a padlock that closes.

~ Carefully use credit card and online banking for online shopping. Check your credit card and bank statements at regular intervals. Notify the bank immediately if there are unauthorised charges or debits. Avoid using credit card details and online banking on public computers and in cyber cafes. It is very unsafe because most of them are infected with viruses, Trojans and key stroke loggers.

Banks such as HDFC [Get Quote] have launched their services like Net Safe to create temporary credit cards with a limited value to transact online. This way, in the worst case scenario, your damages are limited.

Password security

~ Use two different passwords. One for mail, work and other important access and other for routine purposes like subscribing to websites or public viewing. But remember to switch between them when you start doing transactions after mere browsing. Create another e-mail ID providing false information and crazy usernames like 'whitecat_4u' , 'kkk320' etc. which you use exclusively for subscription to sites. That will prevent spam from coming to your main ID.

~ Create a difficult-to- guess password by taking the first alphabet from each word of a phrase. What is a good password? It is a password which is at least 8 characters long, not easily guessable, contains mixture of uppercase and lowercase letters as well as numbers, and preferably contains special characters like $, *, %, !, * etc. Some examples of a good password are: &(^.1234*cRack&.^).

~ Always use alphanumeric passwordwith special characters and try to adopt phrasing technique to construct passwords which are easy to remember, hard to guess and impossible to crack. Create a unique acronym. Never use a dictionary based password like guest, home etc. It takes little time for a good cracker to crack the password.

Vineet Kumar is the founder and CEO of National anti-Hacking Group.

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Climate Change

Climate Change

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Habits That Help You Manage Your Stress

Habits That Help You Manage Your Stress

Today we have more stress in our lives than ever before – good stress, bad stress, red stress, blue stress . No matter what kind of stress it is, a real crisis or an imagined one, stress is incredibly harmful to our body, mind and soul.

Here are a few self-care habits for dealing with stress

1. Get in the habit of noticing.
Take an inventory of all the things that just don't feel right in your life or that you know are causing you stress. For example, when you approach certain people, places or situations do you feel more stress and tension? Once you have your list in place, look at what you can change yourself, and do it. You can also use this list to predict stressful situations before they occur.

2. Get in the habit of asking for help.
For what you can't change yourself, you need a team. Build a team of experts to handle your list. A coach, at the top of the list, will help with the big picture and will keep you honest about your efforts. Other team members might be a family doctor who listens to you, a financial planner, a massage therapist and an exercise partner.

3. Get in the habit of bouncing back.
Think of Plan A as your basic self-care plan while stress is under control. Now imagine something happens and you are under stress. Instead of abandoning all self-care because you can't do it all, have a Plan B ready beforehand.

4. Get in the habit of relaxing.
If you practice relaxation techniques (breathing, meditation, imagery, music) every day, then when stressful situations come up you'll have the tools at your fingertips.

5. Get in the habit of gratitude.
Our attitude comes from our emotions and our emotions come from our thoughts. Thinking about what we're grateful for and what we're good at can keep things positive. It's not about shying away from what's challenging you - it's about approaching life from a place of strength and not as a victim.

6. Get in the habit of creating.
Experiment with a new recipe in the kitchen, write a poem, bang a drum, do a craft, take a dance class or do something else that feels creative to you.

7. Get in the habit of putting your stuff away.
Physical clutter can really impact mental, emotional and physical health. Get rid of things that don't make you happy when you look at them. Organize your stuff. Find a place for everything and keep it there.

8. Get in the habit of breathing.
This is the simplest and quickest way to relax yourself in a stressful situation. The minute you focus on your breathing it automatically gets slower and deeper.

9. Get in the habit of daydreaming.
Take yourself away on an imaginary holiday. Just close your eyes and go! Picture somewhere you've been or somewhere you've dreamed of.

10. Get in the habit of giggling.
Laugh out loud every day.

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Things u never knew about ur cell phone

Things u never knew about ur cell phone

THINGS YOU NEVER KNEW YOUR CELLPHONE COULD DO...

1.The Emergency Number worldwide for Mobile is 112. If you find yourself out of coverage area of your mobile network and there is an emergency, dial 112 and the mobile will search any existing network to establish the emergency number for you, and interestingly this number 112 can be dialled even if the keypad is locked. Try it out. I’ve tried it myself & it works in India.

2.If you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys are at home, call Someone at home on their cell phone from your cell phone. Hold your cell phone about a foot from your car door and have the person at your home press the unlock button, holding it near the mobile phone on their end. Your car will unlock. Saves someone from having to drive your keys to you. Distance is no object. You could be hundreds of miles away, and if you can reach someone who has the other “remote” for your car, you can unlock the doors

3.Imagine your cell battery is very low, you are expecting an important call and you don’t have a charger. Some Nokia instruments comes with a reserve battery. To activate, press the keys *3370# Your cell will restart with this reserve and the instrument will show a 50% increase in battery. This reserve will get charged when you charge your cell next time.

4.To check your Mobile phone’s IMEI serial number, key in the following digits on your phone: * # 0 6 #
A 15 digit code will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your handset. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe. When your phone get stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this code. They will then be able to block your handset so even if the thief changes the SIM card, your phone will be totally useless.

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Identifying STROKE

Identifying STROKE

Remember The 1st Three Letters. . .

S.T.R.

STROKE IDENTIFICATION

During a Barbecue, a friend stumbled and took a little fall. She assured everyone that she was fine and had just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes. (they had offered to call paramedics). They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food and while she appeared a bit shaken up, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening.

Ingrid 's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital. (at 6:00 PM, Ingrid passed away). She had suffered a stroke at the Barbecue. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Ingrid would be with us today. Some don't die. They end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead.

A neurologist stated that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can
totally reverse the effects of a stroke. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is
tough.
RECOGNIZING A STROKE
Remember the '3' steps S. T. R.

Read and Learn!
Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke.

Now
Doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:
S* Ask the individual to 'Smile.'

T* Ask the person to 'talk,' to 'speak a simple sentence coherently meaning in a fluent manner. ( i.e., It is a sunny day today).

R* Ask them to 'Raise Both Arms'.

NOTE: Another sign of a stroke is this:
Ask the person to 'stick out' their tongue. If the tongue is 'crooked' that is if it goes to one side of the mouth or the other,
it is an indication of a stroke. If they have trouble with 'any one' of these it is an indication of a stroke.

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Credit Card Fraud

Credit Card Fraud

Always keep your CREDIT CARD in sight, when you give it for swiping......

Mumbai: The next time you decide to use your credit card on a shopping trip, think again. The Mumbai police have busted a hitech credit card fraud which they believe is the crime of the future.

Four gadget-savvy youngsters from Andheri, two of them software engineers, got together to earn a quick buck and ended up ripping off over Rs 3 lakh of citizens' money. The foursome were arrested by the Juhu police on Tuesday. Interestingly, one of the boys was all set to leave for the United State s for a job in a wellplaced computer firm ..
According to the police, the mastermind of the gang is 19-year-old Leo Paul. A second-year engineering student at a Bandra college, Paul had read about a magnetic card-reading device which could store data once you swipe a card through it. Data from at least 12 such cards could be stored at a time. Paul realised that if credit cards were swiped though the machine, the personal data of a customer stored on it could be accessed. He then teamed with Akash Kamble, a 19-year-old Lokhandwala resident, and ordered the card-reader from USA , using the Internet, since it's not available in India .

"The boys befriended a waiter at Kings International hotel at Juhu to take their plan ahead. Every time someone ate a meal in the hotel and paid by credit card, the waiter would discreetly swipe it through the magnetic card-reader, which is no more than 6-inches long and can be stored in the pocket,'' said investigating officer
Ramesh Nangare .

Once the waiter was done, he would hand over the device to Paul who would download the data from the cards on to Kamble's personal computer. The duo would then feed the data into blank cards, available in the grey market. The cards were now ready to be used in
Shopping malls and theatres, or to withdraw money from an ATM.

Senior inspector Pradeep Shinde said that the boys forged information from more than 22 cards in this manner. The fraud came to light after officials from HSBC bank complained to the police. The cops quizzed customers whose cards had been duplicated and discovered they had all visited Hotel Kings International and paid by credit card. Investigators then caught the waiter who led them to the four youngsters. Paul, Kamble and the two other collegians identified as Manoj Chauhan (24) and Mahesh Valani (20), have been remanded to police custody.

NEW-AGE CRIME

A portable magnetic cardreader can store data from around a dozen cards tha t have been swiped through it; made in China, the device was bought on the net for Rs 18,000.

The card-reader is connected to a computer and the entire data is transferred there.

The data is then stored in blank cards available in the grey market..

These duplicate cards can now be used to buy a fortune and also withdraw money from ATMs.

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Internet Security

Internet Security

Have you ever felt uneasy about entering your credit card information
in an internet transaction? If yes, please read on.

Difference between http:// and https:// is all about keeping you secure.

HTTP stands for HyperText Transport Protocol, which is just a fancy way
of saying it's a protocol (a language, in a manner of speaking) for information
to be passed back and forth between web servers and clients.

The important thing is the letter S which makes the difference between
HTTP and HTTPS.

The S (big surprise) stands for "Secure".
If you visit a website or webpage, and look at the address in the web
browser, it will likely begin with the following: http://.

This means that the website is talking to your browser using the
regular 'unsecure' language. In other words, it is possible for
someone to "eavesdrop" on your computer's conversation with the
website.

If you fill out a form on the website, someone might see the
information you send to that site.

This is why you never...... ever........ ..... ever enter your credit
card number in an http website!

But if the web address begins with https://, that basically means your
computer is talking to the website in a secure code that no one can
eavesdrop on.

If a website ever asks you to enter your credit card information, you
should automatically look to see if the web address begins with
https://

If it doesn't, then there's no way should enter sensitive information
like a credit card number! In internet banking, your bank's website (
after log in) will open with https://. If it does not, then do not
carry out any transaction but report it to the concerned bank.

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