Q.-"Is it really safe to shop on the Internet?"

A.-YOU have heard plenty about shopping on the Internet, but are you afraid that someone could steal your credit card or checking account numbers when you click "send"? Many people are, until they know how it works!

BILLIONS of dollars in merchandise are sold every year on "the web", and it will continue to grow! It is very convenient. You can find merchandise that you probably would have problems finding locally, plus, you can get some really great prices! ONE quote that I have seen puts it this way: "It is probably safer to use your credit card over the internet than it is to give it to someone over the phone or send it through the mail."

ONLY you can decide whether you feel safe giving out your account numbers to purchase items on the Internet...

HOPEFULLY, this will help answer some questions.

WHEN you decide to make a purchase from a site on the Internet, most sites tell you that it has SECURE SERVERS. Your browser (the versions listed below, anyway), will give you information as you go through the ordering process. Knowing what to expect is half of the process....

WHEN you are ready to place your order, at some point you will go to the website's secure server. You should get a screen that looks basically like this with Netscape 3 or 4:

(NOTE the red arrow... if you have unchecked this, you will not get this screen).

With Internet Explorer 4, it should basically look like this:

(NOTE the red arrow... if you have checked this, you will not get this screen).

Both screens above tell you that you are entering a SECURE location. Any information you provide while here CANNOT be intercepted by anyone else. The information is 'encrypted'. Only the page where you send your financial information needs to be secure, not the whole site. IF YOU DO NOT SEE ONE OF THE SCREENS ABOVE, you can verify that the site is secure on the bottom of your browser screen as listed below:

NETSCAPE
shows whether the page you are viewing is secure in the bottom left corner of the screen.

Netscape 3:
--SECURE SITE
--UNSECURE SITE

Netscape 4:
--SECURE SITE
--UNSECURE SITE

INTERNET EXPLORER 4
shows whether the page you are viewing is secure in the bottom center of the screen.

--SECURE SITE

If there is NO LOCK seen next to the 'e', the site is UNSECURE