A List Of The Proven Ways to Adequately Secure Your Computer And Guard Critical Information
These Days more and more people are using their PCs for all kinds of things from communication to web-based banking and investing to shopping. As we do these things on a more common basis, we open ourselves up to potential hackers, attackers and crackers. While some might be looking to phish your personal info and identity for resale, others simply just need to use your personal computer as a platform from which to attack other unsuspecting targets. Below are a few straightforward, cheap steps you can take to make your personal or home business computer safer.
1. Always create backups of crucial info and store in a safe place separate from your computer.
2. Update and patch your system software, net browser and software frequently. If you’ve a Windows operating system, start by going to www.windowsupdate.microsoft.com and running the update wizard. This program will help you find the most recent patches for your Windows PC. Also go to www.officeupdate.microsoft.com to find possible patches for your Office programs.
3. Install a firewall. Without a good firewall, viruses, worms, Trojans, malicious software and adware can all simply access your computer from the Net. Consideration should be given to the benefits and differences between hardware and software based firewall programs.
4. Review your browser and email132013201320 settings for optimum security. Why should you do this? Active-X and JavaScript are often utilized by hackers to plant malevolent programs into your PCs. While cookies are relatively harmless vis security concerns, they do still track your movements on the web to build a profile of you. At a minimum set your security setting for the “internet zone” to high, and your “trusted sites zone”" to medium low.
5. Install antivirus software and set it for automated updates so you receive the most recent versions.
6. Do not open unknown e-mail132013201320 attachments. It is just not enough that you may know the address from which it originates because many viruses can spread from a well-recognized address.
7. Do not run programs from unknown origins. Also, do not send these sorts of programs to friends and colleagues because they contain funny or amusing stories or jokes. They may contain trojan horses waiting to infect a computer.
8. Disable hidden filename extensions. By default, the Windows operating software is set to “hide file extensions for known file types”. Disable this option so that file extensions display in Windows. Some file extensions will, by default, continue to remain hidden, but you are more apt to see any unusual file extensions that don’t belong.
