Remember when the worst intrusion in your web surfing was a little banner ad at the top of a web page?  those days are long gone.  Internet advertising is big business and like all advertisers.  Internet marketers need to get your attention.  One of the most effective ways to do that is with pop-up ads.

Popup ads take many forms putting advertisiment on top of your browser window or below and appearing when you visit a site or when you exit and generally cause a great deal of annoyance.  Floating ads, which float on top of theweb site in your main browser window, not in a separate window, are one of the newest marketing ploys.

Chick Here To Return to The Top of The Page

What is a pop Up?

A pop up is a window that is opened external to the web page being viewed.  It is presented in front of the active windows.  Pop-Ups need to be minimized, moved or closed in order to continue viewing the original web page.  Pop-Ups are often triggered when navigating to or away from a web page.  A variation of the pop-up is the pop-under.  It is presented behind the active window.

Chick Here To Return to The Top of The Page

How Do Pop-Ups Work?

Most pop-ups are created by a short JavaScript program.  JavaScript is a simple programming language that lets web designers add all kinds of interactive functionality to web sites such as fancy pull-down menus, interactive forms, calculators, cookies and more.  JavaScript shouldn't be confused with Java, which is a full-featured programming language that requires programming expertise to use.  It takes only a few lines of Java Script code added to a web page to create a pop-up.  Java Script allow web designers to specify just what kind of pop-up to display.  They can specify the size of the pop-up window, whether it appears on top of or under your browser window, where on the screen it shows up, and so on.  This open the way for abuse as well.  A window can be created that is too large to fit on the screen, so that there's no obvious way to close it, or a window can be placed off the screen entirely, so it goes unnoticed.

Floating ads can be created using Java Script, often in conjunction with Flash animations and Dynamic Hypertext Mark Up Language.  Using either method, it's simple to create a graphic that floats above your browser window.

Chick Here To Return to The Top of The Page

Where do pop-ups come from?

Many websites use pop-ups to present advertisements.  others use pop-ups as part of the functionality of the site.  For example, a pop-up might ask for a password or other input.  These types of pop-ups through sometimes annoying are presented by the owners of the website and are intentional.  They are largely unavoidable

Another source of pop-ups is a group of software known as Malware.  This group of programs also include Spyware, Adware and Parasiteware.

Chick Here To Return to The Top of The Page

Using Pop-Up Blocking Software

What could be simpler than a pop-up blocker?   It should seamlessly, without any intervention on your part, just block all of the pop-ups ads, right?  Unfortunately, it's not so simple. Pop-up blockers need to distinguish between good pop-ups and bad ones.  Plus, they need to keep pace with advertisers tirelessly scheming to sneak by their blocking.  Understanding how they work and the pitfalls they face will help you use them effectively.

Chick Here To Return to The Top of The Page

What is a Pop-Up Blocker?

A pop-up blocker is a add on utility that works with your web browser.  It monitors your web browsing, preventing a web site you visit from creating a window with a pop-up ad.  It may also go beyond pop-ups and help with other annoyances, like flash based floating ads or banner ads.

Often, a pop-up blocker adds a toolbar to your web browser that lets you control options and settings for the blocker.  Otherwise, it might put an icon in the system tray.  One of the most useful features found in some blockers is the ability to control Flash animations.  They block such animations in general and let you enable them for certain sites.  This is a much better option then uninstalling Flash, since many sites use flash for navigation or offer excellent information using Flash.  Some pop-up blockers also try to block all advertisements, including banner ads.

Chick Here To Return to The Top of The Page

What Are The Limitations of Pop-Up Blockers

As you might expect, pop-up blockers fall far short of perfection.  All pop-ups are not ads, and all obnoxious ads are not pop-ups.  Distinguishing between the two is not always easy.  If the blocker takes a too severe approach, it will produce false positives, blocking pop-ups you want or need to see.  If it's too lenient, ads will get through.

In this way, pop-ups blockers are similar to spam filters.  They need training and guidance to perform well.  Just as you create a white list of people from whom you want to receive e-mail, in the same way, you can specify web sites whose pop-ups you wish to allow.  Often, blockers will make a sound or display an icon to show when a pop-up has been blocked.  You need closely monitor your pop-up blocker's activity to see if it's blocking something you want to see.

Chick Here To Return to The Top of The Page

Pop-Up Blockers For Free  (HYPERLINK THIS TO OTHER SOFTWARE PAGE) see p188

Chick Here To Return to The Top of The Page

Determine If a Pop-Up Is Due To Spyware

If you are feeling overrun by pop-ups, those pop-ups may be due to spyware or adware on your computer.  If you suddenly see a surge in the number of pop-ups you encounter, or if you are seeing pop-ups and advertisements for web sites where you would not expect them, you may have spyware infection

It is often very obvious that pop-ups from these programs are not coming from the web site being viewed.  For example, if a pornographic ad is presented while surfing a news web site, it is most likely be causing by malware and not the site itself.  If pop-up ads keep reappearing even after you close all of the browser windows on your desktop, that's another clue that you are not dealing with normal pop-ups but instead a possible spyware infection.

Chick Here To Return to The Top of The Page

Spyware,Adware,and Parasiteware 

Combine the money-driven sophistication of spam with the insidious danger of viruses and you got yourself a new breed of super treat call spyware.  Spyware is as bad as it sounds.  It monitors everything you do online and reports that information via the internet.  What's the worst part? The vast majority of people with spyware on their systems don't even know it.  the makers of spyware want to manipulate what you see and do online to force you into buying things from them and their advertisers.  They are developing new methods every day to do this more efficiently, including displaying ads that reflect the home pages you visited along with stealing identifying information about you and using it send targeted spam and changing your search engine results to put their advertiser on top.

What is Spyware

Spyware is a small computer program that monitors your online actions.  It is ususally used by marketing firms to gather information about consumers.  Hackers occasionally make use of spyware to gather sensitive information.  In its most extreme form, spyware can be truly harmful.  It can put you under surveillance, logging eveything you do on the computer and every key you press.  So called keyloggers can steal valuable information like passwords and credit cards numbers or trade secrets.  Such spy software is readily available for sale on the internet and it can be easily installed by anyone with physical access to your computer especially if your system isn't password protected.  It is also spread via e-mail, disguised Trojan-horse style as a legitimate program.

Most spyware, however isn't so cloak and dagger.  They spyware makers don't want to steal your information and destroy your life, they just want to make some money and they don't care what methods they use to do it.  That's what makes spyware so lucrative.  The spyware makers get as many people to install their software as possible, using whatever means possible and then selling advertising for their service, that is selling the right to invade people's privacy and annoy them with targeted advertisements.

Do all free software and services contain spyware?

Not all free applications and services include spyware and not all pop up windows pose a treat.  You can check out the legitmacy of free sotware tools and services before you use them.

Beware of the danger of unauthorized pop up windows,

• Do not automatically click on pop up boxes that warn you of a potential security treat on your computer.  These warnings may be a trick to deceive you into downloading spyware and other unwanted software.

• Ignore pop-ups that tell you that you're a free winner.  Remember the old adage, if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.

• To get rid of a pop-up window, just click the close button or the big X on the top right hand corner of the window.

Adware is a small computer program that presents ads independent of Microsoft Internet Explorer and the website being viewed.  It may also monitor the web page surfed to present targeted advertising.  The ads may even be presented when Microsoft Internet Explorer is closed.  Also adware runs on your computer in the background and ads pulled from the internet.  Often, these ads appear in separate windows on your desktop.  They change over time and can even vary depending on the web sites.  So, if you visit the web site of one rental car company, an ad for a competing company may appear on your screen.

Adware is troublesome for several reasons.  First and foremost, it is annoying.  it constantly bombards you with unwanted advertisements as you surf the web.  If you try to close the advertising window, it will just come back, since the adware program is still running in the background.  Sometimes, the window pop up in the front of your work window, obscuring your view of what you are doing.  Popup ads served by web sites you visit are bad enough, having adware installed is akin to water torture via pop-up.  The really frightening part of adware is that it often customizes the ads you see based on the web sites you vist.  It is tracking what you do on the internet and relaying that information to a server, which then delivers a related ad.  This is a serious invasion of privacy.  That's why these days, adware has become almost synonymous with spyware.

Parasiteware is a small computer program that may also be spyware and adware.  It comes bundled with other software.  users are unaware that the software is being installed.

Some of the symptoms of spyware or other unwanted software on your computer

Your computer may be infected with spyware or have other unwanted software, if you notice any of the following:

• Your browser home page settings have changed and no matter how many times you adjust them, they change back to the new unwanted settings every time you restart your computer.

• Unusual items show up on your browser, ones that you haven't set or saved.  For all these, you either cannot remove them at all, or you do remove them, but they keep coming back.  These could be any of these,

• An unfamiliar search site instead of your usual one

• An item in your bookmarks list that you did not put there

• Browser toolbars that you don't want and did not install

• Your system is sluggish, running much slower than it did before.  That may be because spyware and other unwanted software, which use your computer's memory resources have been download to your machine.  The programs running in the background slow down your system causing routine tasks to take significantly longer to complete than they may have before.  You may also notice a much higher frequency of program crashes and system failures.

• Pop-up advertisements are happening all the time, even when you are not connected to the internet, or your browser is not running.

• You see hefty charges on your phone bill for calls that you never made

• There is activity on your computer, as though you are sending and receiving information, even when you are downloading files or even attached to the internet

How can I protected myself from these?

Avoiding spyware requires a little caution and a little self control.  When you're considering downloading a file from a web site or clicking yes to an Active X security warning, stop and think about it.  You should install only software you have reason to trust.  Managing your cookies is another important way to protect your privacy online, and avoiding dialers makes common sense.  As the problem of these annoying problems continue to grow we must to continue to take the right and safe method to combat this such as,

• Don't surf web sites that most commonly install malware.  These include joke sites, cracked software sites and pornographic sites.  Stick to sites you need to do your job.

• Don't open suspicious e-mails attachments.  If you aren't expecting theattachment or you don't know the sender it is best not to open it.

If you know or suspect that your computer may be infected with spyware or other unwanted software, you may want to consider downloading an anti-spyware tool to help you remove it.  While you may know of other helpful sites, you can also download Microsoft's Anti Spyware program.

As with all clean up tools of this nature, they remove the targeted software but do not block your computer from future installations.  updated copies of the tool need to be accessed and run on an ongoing basis, in the same manner as anti-virus software needs continual updates to incorporate the latest anti-virus protection.

Using a spyware utility isn't as straightforward as using an antivirus tool.  If you run a system scan with antivirus software on a random PC, it very well may not show an infection.  If it does show one, there probably won't be any debate about which virus was found and whether it is, in fact a virus.  Whatever the antivirus software finds you will want to delete as quickly as possible.

If you run more than one antispyware utility, you might see a lot of false positives.  That's because an antispyware utility won't delete spyware completely; it will put it in quarantine in case you want to restore it later.  Another antispyware utility may see that quarantines file and view it as a spyware infection.

With a little research and a measured, step by step approach, you should be able to free yourself from spyware problems.  Even if you don't have trouble with spyware, it makes sense to periodically go through your system and remove software you no longer need.  Although spyware can cause pop up ads, many web sites are more than happy to deliver them to you on their own.  Stopping those pop ups is important for keeping your sanity when browsing the web.

Spam

More than pop ups and in your face graphics, an ever increasing amount of spam is spoiling our internet experience.  Spam is an annoying form of electronic junk mail that is becoming more prevalent and ever more  of a nuisance, as get rich schemes, herbal remedies and graphic images of violence and pornography appear in our inboxes.  Spam is having a major impact on the e-mail systems of organizations by clogging bandwidth and storage.  Plus, it appears to have a negative impact on the productivity and morale of employees

Spam is problematic for many reasons.  Businesses overrun with unsolicited bulk e-mails face enormous costs.  These costs come from a variety of sources.  Employees are forced to spend time deleting messages, mistakenly clicking on spam and tracking down messages mistakenly deleted by spam fiters.  Spam also wastes bandwidth, processing power and disk space.  The shocking nature of this sometimes nasty electronic mail even causes distress in employees.

Spam and Hotmail

Microsoft's free e-mail service, Hotmail is the primary target of spammers a sort of spammers paradise.  within a day of opening a hotmail accouny users begin to receive spam.  Collectively, 110 million hotmail accounts reeceive more than one billion pieces of junk mail each and every day.

Though there has not been much business incentive for hotmail to protect its servers from massive spam attacks, the free e-mail services has taken action.  This past November Hotmail began using Brightmail spam filters.

This free anti-spam technique does not guarantee the complete elimination of spam.  If users want a more powerful filter to defend against spam.  Hotmail offers a service that account holders must pay for.

The Future of Spam

Unfortunately, the end of spam is not in sight.  Spam levels will continue to rise through out 2005.  Unless future legislations deems spam illegal, the technology to stop its proliferation will need to be woven into the fabric of the internet, this is precisely what many anti spam enterprises are trying to do.

Firewalls

Firewalls have a mystique surrounding them.  Not too long ago, only big companies use firewalls to protect their networks.  It wasn't even conceivable that you would have one to protect a small business or a home computer.  Even with the advent of personal software firewalls, many assume that only experts in networking protocols could get one to work on their computer

Forget all of that, although personal firewalls are extremely powerful and configurable, even relative novices can make use of them to add a layer of protection, and control, to their internet connection.  Especially if you have an always on DSL or cable modem connection, leaving your PC open for attack whenever it's turned on a firewall is near necessity to keep your PC secure.

How firewalls work

A firewall is what it sounds like, it stands between your computer against the wild and woodlly internet.  It screens all incoming and outgoing traffic, blocking anything suspicious or harmful.  For example, a firewall can protect you against a hacker trying to break into your system or an internet worm trying to exploit a security vulnerability.

A firewall can be either a hardware or a software solution.  If you have a router for your broadband connection to share the connection or allow wireless access, that router probably has some firewall capabilities.

Limitations of Firewalls

Firewalls can't protect against attacks that don't go through the firewall. Many corporations that connect to the Internet are very concerned about proprietary data leaking out of the company through that route. Unfortunately for those concerned, a magnetic tape, compact disc, DVD, or USB flash drives can just as effectively be used to export data. Many organizations that are terrified (at a management level) of Internet connections have no coherent policy about how dial-in access via modems should be protected. It's silly to build a six-foot thick steel door when you live in a wooden house, but there are a lot of organizations out there buying expensive firewalls and neglecting the numerous other back-doors into their network. For a firewall to work, it must be a part of a consistent overall organizational security architecture. Firewall policies must be realistic and reflect the level of security in the entire network. For example, a site with top secret or classified data doesn't need a firewall at all: they shouldn't be hooking up to the Internet in the first place, or the systems with the really secret data should be isolated from the rest of the corporate network.

Another thing a firewall can't really protect you against is traitors or idiots inside your network. While an industrial spy might export information through your firewall, he's just as likely to export it through a telephone, fax machine, or Compact Disc. CDs are a far more likely means for information to leak from your organization than a firewall. Firewalls also cannot protect you against stupidity. Users who reveal sensitive information over the telephone are good targets for social engineering; an attacker may be able to break into your network by completely bypassing your firewall, if he can find a "helpful'' employee inside who can be fooled into giving access to a modem pool. Before deciding this isn't a problem in your organization, ask yourself how much trouble a contractor has getting logged into the network or how much difficulty a user who forgot his password has getting it reset. If the people on the help desk believe that every call is internal, you have a problem that can't be fixed by tightening controls on the firewalls.

Firewalls can't protect against tunneling over most application protocols to trojaned or poorly written clients. There are no magic bullets and a firewall is not an excuse to not implement software controls on internal networks or ignore host security on servers. Tunneling ``bad'' things over HTTP, SMTP, and other protocols is quite simple and trivially demonstrated. Security isn't ``fire and forget''.

Lastly, firewalls can't protect against bad things being allowed through them. For instance, many Trojan Horses use the Internet Relay Chat (IRC) protocol to allow an attacker to control a compromised internal host from a public IRC server. If you allow any internal system to connect to any external system, then your firewall will provide no protection from this vector of attack.

Anti Virus

Virus Prevention

What Is A Computer Virus

How Is A Virus Activated?

How Do I Know If My Computer Has Contracted A Virus?

Things To Keep In Mind

To Read Another Safety Topics Click Here

Awareness that evey contact between your system and another is an opportunity for virus infections

No antivirus software is enough to prevent virus infections

Think before you open e-mails from unknown sources

Infections cost money and down time, it pays to be cautions

Verify downloads by scanning all files before executing on your pc

Install antivirus software on your home pc

Report all virus incidents to your internet provider

Update your antivirus software regularly

Scan all files that come from outside sources especially the internet

Virus Prevention

Today there are approximately more than 70,000 known computer viruses.  The chance of your Personal Computer, Compact Disk Read Only and Re-writeable and Diskette being infected by a virus is definitely very high.  To avoid being infected, you should always scan any CD's and diskette before using it and you should scan your complete computer at least once a week more often if you are high risk user.

Computer viruses and worms like "Melissa" and "Code Red" receive a lot of media attention because they can spread quickly and wreak havoc on personal computers.

Anti virus software will also protect you from Trojan horses.  Trojan horses are typically sent to computer systems through e-mail.  They are particularly dangerous because they have the potential to allow others to gain control of your computer system remotely, without your knowledge or consent.  These programs can capture and send sensitive information stored on your hard drive to any person who has gained remote access to your computer.

A variety of anti virus software packages are available on the market today.  Many of these products install anti virus updates to your computer automatically, as long as you have the update feature enabled.

Here is the basic prescription for computer virus protection.

• Be very careful whenever you are booting your computer from a floppy diskette because the most common source of virus infection come from here.  Make certain that you are using a write protected system diskette that has been scanned with the latest antivirus scanner.  Never boot your computer from a system disk that has been in someone else's computer and has not been scanned by you.

• If you warm boot your computer by pressing on CTRL-ALT-DEl and if you left a diskette in the diskette drive, the system will attempt to boot from there first.  It is good practice to avoid to this at all cost.

• Know your software source is another important virus avoidance strategy.  Never accept software with doubtful origins and never run a newly copied program on your computer before thoroughly checking it for virus using the anti virus program.

• Here are some other suggestions for preventing virus infections.  Those write protect tabs on each diskette are your most useful tool in the fight against virus.  They should be used on all boot diskette, programs diskette and even data diskette.  It's easy to remember that if the tab is open and you can see through it.

• Do not open any files attached to and e-mail from an unknown, suspicious or untrustworthy source.

• Do not open any files attached to e-mail unless you know what it is, even if it appears to come from a dear friend or someone you know.  Some viruses can replicate themselves and spread through e-mail.  You also need to be cautions from senders you know, however you should use extra caution with those you don't.

• Do not open any files attached to an e-mail if the subject line is questionable or unexpected.  If you really need to look at the message, always save the file to your hard drive before doing so.

• Delete chain e-mails and junk e-mail, do nor forward or reply to any to them.  These types of e-mail are considered spam, which is unsolicited, intrusive mail that clogs up the network.

• Do not download any files from strangers

• Exercise caution when downloading files from the internet.  Ensure that the source is a legitimate and reputable one.  Verify that an anti-virus program checks the files on the download site.  If you're uncertain, don't download the file at all or download the file to a floppy and test it with your own anti virus software

• Update your anti-virus software regularly, over 700 virus are discovered each month, so you'll want to be protected.  These updates should be at the least the products virus signature files.

• Scan all new files before opening, when downloading files and attachments.  This is the same for files copied from disk, shared drives or other removable media.

• Scan your system regularly, after installing anti virus software and keeping it up to date, it is important to scan your whole system on a regular basis.

• Back up your files on a regular basis.  If a virus destroys your files, at least you can replace them with your back-up copy.  You should store your backup copy in a separate location from your work files, one that is preferably not on your computer.

• When in doubt always exercise on the side of caution and do not open, download, or execute any files or e-mail attachments.  Not executing is the more important of these caveats.  Check with your product vendors for updates, which include those for your operating system web browser and e-mail.

Chick Here To Return to The Top of The Page

What Is A Computer Virus

A computer virus is a mischievous or malicious program that attaches itself onto legitimate programs.  Depending on the motives of the virus author, the virus may display a message or images, erase files or alter data.

Chick Here To Return to The Top of The Page

How Is A Virus Activated?

Once a computer is infected, a virus can be triggered by an action such as powering on your computer or executing infected files and or a date or both.  Some virus will lie dormant for months and if you share any of infected programs with others you'll be giving them the virus also.

Chick Here To Return to The Top of The Page

How Do I Know If My Computer Has Contracted A Virus?

Once a computer is infected, a virus may or may not display signs of its presence.  These signs vary greatly depending on the nature of the virus.  Here are some of the more common computer virus signs you should watch out for.

Screen Graphics

Chick Here To Return to The Top of The Page

Things To Keep In Mind

No anti virus program is safe enough to prevent all virus infections.  Think before you open e-mails from unknown sources.  Keep you you anti virus software files as up to date as possible.  Scan all files that come from outside sources especially the internet and finally you are the best person to stop virus from spreading.

Chick Here To Return to The Top of The Page

E-Mail Hoaxes and Chain Letters

What Are Internet Hoaxes And Chain Letters?

Recognizing a Chain Letter

How To Spot An E-Mail Hoax

What To Do If This Happens To You

To Read Another Safety Topics Click Here

What Are Internet Hoaxes And Chain Letters?

Internet hoaxes and chain letters are e-mail messages written with one purpose to be sent to everyone you know.  The messages they contain are usually untrue.

Chick Here To Return to The Top of The Page

Recognizing a Chain Letter

Chain letters and most hoax messages all have a similar pattern.  From the older printed letters to the newer electronic kind, they all have three recognizable parts they are

Chick Here To Return to The Top of The Page

How To Spot An E-Mail Hoax

• Note whether the text was actually written by the person who sent it to you.
• Look for telltale phrase like "Forward this to everyone you know."
• Look for statements like "This is not a hoax" or "This is not an urban legend"  They usually mean the opposite of what they say.
• Look for the frequent use of uppercase letters and multiple exclamation points.

Chick Here To Return to The Top of The Page

What To Do If This Happens To You

• Check if you have received any internal hoax or virus advisory
• Do not forward the message
• Delete the message if it is from un-trusted source

Chick Here To Return to The Top of The Page

Eugomics

Lighting Lessons

To Read Another Safety Topics Click Here

Lighting Lessons

So you're sitting at your computer working through another headache. Don't be too quick to assume it's the task at hand that's giving you the pain; it could be the way you're lighting it.

Many things about working on a computer are visually demanding. There's the frequent eye motion, the continuous eye focusing and the need to constantly realign your field of vision. This explains why some statistics suggest that as many as 90 per cent of computer users experience symptoms of Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS).

In fact, CVS can be defined as a set of eye and vision difficulties linked to work-related use of the computer. The collection of symptoms includes eye strain, headaches, dry and irritated eyes, blurred vision, and neck and back pain. But setting your workspace up with the proper amount of light — minus the glare — can reduce the likelihood that you and CVS will ever make each other's acquaintance.

"When we look at the computer, we simply do not blink enough," says Suzanne McLaughlin, president of Orientations Nova, an Amos, Que., e-commerce company that sells full spectrum lights online. "That makes our eyes dry out, and can lead to symptoms of Computer Vision Syndrome."

According to the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, " 'good' lighting means providing enough illumination so that people can see printed, handwritten or displayed documents clearly, but are not blinded by excessively high light levels."

But the whole enterprise gets tricky when you're talking about simultaneously lighting the documents on your desk as well as the computer. You want a room with general brightness that is not too far off the brightness of the computer monitor itself. "What you're trying to avoid is sharp contrast," says Susan Yearwood, an Ottawa-based occupational therapist and professional. "General lighting should be on par with the level of brightness coming off your screen."

In a typical office environment there are potentially four sources of light: natural light, overhead lighting, task lighting and the light coming off the monitor.

Go Natural

Natural light can be either a blessing or a curse. On the one hand, there's no better light for our eyes. But it can be annoying when it's glaring back at you as a reflection from the computer screen.

Ideally, your office window should be neither behind your back nor behind your computer. If this positioning can't be helped, make sure you've got some serious window blinds on hand.

Anti-glare screens are OK, says Yearwood. However, flat screen monitors already have anti-glare properties.

A good way to check for glare is to turn off your monitor and sit in front of the black screen. That way, you'll distinctly see any flashes of light coming back at you. You should also dust your screen regularly, and watch out for stark white office blotters and desk surfaces: they also reflect bright light.

Review Your Light From Above

Overhead lighting should never be placed right above or behind the screen, since it can bounce into your eyes. McLaughlin says one of the worst offenders for the eyes is the standard incandescent bulbs that people use all over their homes and offices. Another offender is the standard fluorescent tubes used in stores, offices and public buildings. She suggests replacing both of these bulbs with full spectrum compact fluorescent spiral bulbs (for lamps and overhead fixtures) or full spectrum fluorescent tubes — which promote better vision and save energy.

Focus On Task Lighting

If your overhead lighting isn't sufficient, supplement the scene with a task light. Task lights are desk or floor lamps designed to complement an overhead light's illumination of a workspace. Since a monitor is already bright enough, you should pick a desk lamp that can be used to illuminate documents while avoiding excessive light near the monitor.

Tracey Kelly, commercial manager for IKEA of Sweden, suggests "asymmetrical" lighting, which throws a triangular pool of light as opposed to a circle. "This way you can adjust it so you have a stronger light on your keyboard than on your screen."

And while you're at it, don't stick your desk lamp on the right-hand side of your desk if you're right handed — you'll cast your own shadow.

Chick Here To Return to The Top of The Page