A List Of The Proven Methods to Adequately Keep Your Computer Secure And Guard Important Information

These Days many more folks are making use of 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 regular basis, we open ourselves up to potential hackers, attackers and crackers. While some might be looking to phish your private information and identity for resale, others simply just want to use your personal computer as a platform from which to attack other unsuspecting targets. Below are a few easy, inexpensive steps you can take to make your personal or home business computer more secure.

1. Always create backups of important information and store in a secure place separate from your PC.

2. Update and patch your system software, internet browser and software often. If you’ve a Windows operating system, start by going directly to www.windowsupdate.microsoft.com and running the update wizard. This programme will help you find the newest 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 easily access your PC from the Net. Consideration should be given to the advantages and differences between hardware and software based firewall programs.

4. Review your browser and email settings for ideal security. Why should you do this? Active-X and JavaScript are typically utilised by hackers to plant dangerous programs into your PCs. While cookies are relatively innocuous in terms of security concerns, they do still track your movements on the internet 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 automatic updates so you receive the most up-to-date versions.

6. Don’t open unknown email attachments. It is just not enough that you might recognize the address from which it originates because many viruses can spread from a well-known address.

7. Don’t run programs from unknown origins. Also, do not send these sorts of programs to buddies and workers because they contain funny or amusing stories or jokes. They may contain trojan horses waiting to infect a PC.

8. Disable concealed 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 stay hidden, but you are more likely to see any surprising file extensions that don’t belong.