Many Americans accidentally stumble onto pornographic material while online. A recent story at CNN (see www.cnn.com for details) tells how a man was arrested for redirecting unsuspecting victims to one of over 3,000 pornographic Websites.

He used common misspellings for sites like Disney, Britney Spears, or Barney, so that people looking for those sites would find pornography instead.

Why would a pornography marketer go after people that aren’t looking for pornography? Because they can make more money by constantly finding new targets and selling to them. Young teenagers and kids are naturally curious, are developing physically, and are more likely to be addicted to pornography later in life if they are exposed to it while they’re young.

This is one of largest industries online, and it continues to grow rapidly. You don’t have to throw out your computer to keep your home safe from Internet filth. But you do need to follow a few precautions.

1. Keep your email safe. Many email services filter out emails you don’t want before you see them- check in with whatever you use now to see if they offer this. Another way to keep your email safe is to use two addresses, one for family and friends and one for everyone else. Guard your private email address closely. Use your public email address everywhere else. If it starts to get a lot of unwanted emails, stop using it and make a new one.

No matter how quickly something moves, especially on Internet, it could always move faster.

Email, web surfing, downloading files (legally of course), none of them ever go as quickly as we want or expect.

Well, let me do my part to perpetuate this microwave oven mentality (why must popcorn take 3 ½ minutes instead of 2?) by giving you some tips and hints for making your online experiences and overall computing as fast as possible (even on a dial up connection).

** Hit The Accelerator **

Sensing a need for faster Internet access in markets where broadband cable or DSL can't or won't go, Internet Service Providers (ISP's) like NetZero offer Internet "accelerators."

Using a system of caches, compression schemes, and other technology to double or even triple your dial-up connection speeds, Internet accelerators can save you hours spent waiting for simple web pages to appear in your browser. ** Though they won't work for everyone in every single situation, check out www.netzero.com, www.propel.com and www.slipstreamdata.com for more information.

** Clean Up Your Hard Drive ** Often a messy hard drive can contribute to slow online experiences. Perform a "Disk Cleanup" and a "Defrag" (available by clicking , , then ) to clean out garbage files on your hard drive that slow your system down considerably.

This will help when running offline applications too.

** Get More RAM **

RAM (Random Access Memory) allows your computer to process data more quickly without writing and reading from hard drive.

Ask any nerd and they'll tell you straight out, "You can NEVER have too much RAM!" RAM costs so little now that virtually anyone can afford to add more memory without a big hit to their wallet.

** Avoid Time Wasters **

Speeding up your surfing doesn't just mean pulling maximum amount of data through your phone line until it melts!

It also means avoiding things that suck your time up and leave you sitting twiddling your thumbs instead of getting things done.

Make most of your time online with these time-saving tips:

Use Google - Search giant, Google.com, consistently returns relevant search results in minimum time.