10 Facebook settings to check now

As Facebook becomes the window to the Web for its more than 500 million users worldwide, the security of the social network has never been a hotter topic.

One recent example is Pam Aughe of Clarkston, Mich., who had her account hacked into by a scammer who tried to bilk her friends out of money. While it can be hard to make a Facebook account hack-proof, there is certainly a lot you can do to protect yourself.

Here are 10 Facebook settings for you to check now.

Your first stop should be your privacy settings, which you can get to under "Account" at the top right of any page. Click "Customize settings" under the grid on that page to see who can see which parts of your Facebook profile. Unless you use your Facebook account as a public page, every option should at least be set to "Friends Only." Then you can make settings more specific, keeping photos hidden from certain people, for example.

If you define lists -- such as co-workers, best friends and employees -- you can make your settings visible or not visible to a whole list of people. To do this go to "Edit Friends" under the Account menu. Type in a friend's name and add it to a list. Then you can make sure that only your best friends, for example, can see the photos you post. Or you can make sure that your students or employees don't see your status updates.

This is the front line to your Facebook security. Good passwords include capital letters, punctuation, numbers and words that can't be found in the dictionary. Resist using anything that someone who knows you well enough could guess. If you think for any reason that your account's security has been breached, change your password immediately. That will end every active session of Facebook for your account, locking out anyone but you.

Facebook also allows you to set what people see if they're not your friend. Under privacy settings, click "View Settings" under the "Connecting on Facebook" setting at the top of the page. Here, you can set what people see when they search for you on Facebook. Take special note of the bottom option, which allows you to set who can see what you have "liked" on Facebook. Many don't realize that by default this option is set to show everyone on the Web what you like.

One of Facebook's most vulnerable features is that much of your browsing is done without a secure connection to the website. Hackers have exploited this hole by accessing your personal information if you use Facebook on a public or unsecured WiFi network. In your account settings, choose Account Security. There's a check box there to enable secure browsing whenever possible. Check that.

One of Facebook's greatest security features is the ability to approve individually each computer or mobile device that logs into your account. To turn this on, go to account settings, click on "Account Security" and choose that you want an e-mail or text when someone tries to log in from a computer that you haven't approved. You also can see all the open sessions of Facebook tied to your account. Someone logging in from five states away? Click "end activity," and they'll be stopped in their tracks.

To see which apps have access to your Facebook information, go to your privacy settings and click edit under "Apps and Websites" at the bottom left of the page. On the next page, click edit settings next to "Apps you use." Here, you'll see a list of all the apps that have your information on file. Click the X next to any app from which you want your information yanked.

This one is even scarier. On the same app privacy page, check out the subhead that says "Info accessible through your friends." You might not know it, but anything your friends can see on Facebook also can be seen by any app that your friends add on Facebook -- including apps that you have no idea were ever given access. To disallow this, click on edit settings and uncheck all the boxes that allow you to choose what can be shared with apps that your friends add. Click save.

Many Facebook scams are click-jacking schemes, which spread by posting links on a bunch of your friends' walls. The only foolproof way to prevent these links from gumming up your wall is to set it so no one can post directly on your wall. Friends still can comment on your status messages, links and photos, but won't have the ability to leave a public note. To change this setting, head to the customize settings area under privacy. Uncheck the "Enable" box where it allows friends to post on your wall.