Securing Your Computer System Today is more than a necessity! As more people use their computers for everything from online chatting - to online banking, investing and shopping, sheer number of electronic data being passed to and fro is staggering.
While online interactions and money-transfering, product and service orders become regular activities, hackers, attachers and crackers are never without people - and computers - to practice their skills on.
While some may be looking to phish your personal information and identity for resale, others simply just want to use your computer (your computer's resources and internet connection) as a platform for attacking other unknowing targets.
Below are a few easy, cost-effective steps you can take to make your computer more secure.
Always make backup copies of important information and store these in a safe placel - that means - separate from your computer!
Update and patch your operating system, web browser and software frequently.
If you have a Windows operating system, start by going to http://www.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/
and run the update wizard.
This program will help you find the latest patches for your Windows computer.
Also, go to
http://www.officeupdate.microsoft.com/
to locate possible patches for your Office programs.
Install a firewall. Without a good firewall, viruses, worms, Trojans, malware and adware can all easily access your computer from the Internet. Consideration should be given to the benefits and differences between hardware and software based firewall programs.
Review your browser and email settings for optimum security.
Why should you do this?
Active-X and JavaScript are often used by hackers to plant malicious programs into your computers. While cookies are relatively harmless in terms of security concerns, they do still track your movements on the Internet to build a profile of you. As a minimum precautions, set your security setting for the "internet zone" to High, and your "trusted sites zone" to Medium Low.
Install antivirus software and set for automatic updates. This way, you'll receive the most current versions.
Do not open unknown email attachments. It is simply not enough that you may recognize the address from which it originates because many viruses can spread from a familiar address.
Do not run programs from unknown origins.
Also, do not send these types of programs to friends and coworkers!!! They contain funny or amusing stories or jokes, but may also contain a Trojans horse waiting to infect a computer.
Disable hidden filename extensions. By default, the Windows operating system 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 likely to see any unusual file extensions that do not belong.
Turn off your computer and disconnect from the network when not using the computer. A hacker can not attack your computer when you are disconnected from the network or the computer is off. Consider making a boot disk on a floppy disk in case your computer is damaged or compromised by a malicious program. Obviously, you need to take this step before you experience a hostile breach of your system.
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