Since John and I will be moving to Oregon come October, we need to get some computer things squared away. We do all our banking on-line.

Is there a way to use the Internet at public places (such as the campgrounds we will be staying at) and do our on-line banking but have it encrypted or secured if the public place's Internet service is not protected? I hope that makes sense!!

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Yes. Your bank should encrypt the contents of their site. Go to your bank and login. If the website address begins with https:// rather than http:// (notice the 's' on the first one), then it is secure. If you see the https, then you have nothing to worry about. That is your banking institutions built in security measures. Great question, though!

Sorry for the delay on the answer!

I had been told that even if the bank's site was secure, what mattered was on my end - if I'm in a public place and someone is "monitoring" my computer, they can see what I type for my ID and p/w even though it is on a secured network. Is that true?

It might be. I suppose that it is better to play it safe than sorry.

Hi, I am not hardly a computer guru, but I understand that hackers have so called password sniffers that they can use at local hotspots and such. However, I also understand that such hacker would not likely be "phishing" at a camp site, but more likely a starbucks and such. Also, most online Banking sites require users to answer security questions when attempting to access there account from a new pc. Depending on the difficulty of your security questions,this would eliminate the use of having "hacked" someone's password.
I was given some good advice recently on security questions. Instead of answering the question, "What is your mothers maiden name?" with Smith or Jones. Answer it with another password such as L3x!ngt0n.

Hope this helps you.

That's definitely good advice for that question. Great input!

Thank you VERY much!!! )

Another idea is to change your password before the trip. Then, use that password to access your online banking. When you get back from the trip, change your password back. I've used many public places around Lexington, KY and have never had an issue of one of my accounts being hacked into.

Another idea is to download and install LogMeIn from http://www.logmein.com . Then, when you're on the road, you can go to logmein.com and access your own desktop from any computer connected to the internet. I use it all the time, and it works great!