Steps to Secure Your Computer

Today, personal computers and the internet are an essential part of our everyday life. People do many things online such as chat, do their shopping, or their banking. But the more business that is done online, the more vulnerable people are to impending security threats . The threat could be a hacker using your computer as a ‘zombie’; a platform from which to launch attacks on other machines, to those wanting to harvest your personal data, a procedure known as ‘phishing’. All of us who use a PC to do anything online needs to be aware of the threat, and this article will list a few basic, simple steps to help secure your machine.

1) Back up your important information and store it away from the computer. Most machines now come with DVD-R drives and so it is a simple matter to copy your data to a blank disc and file it. As an alternative, why not use an external hard drive?

2) Update your operating system, browser, and software frequently. Windows 7 now includes an automated update where the latest patches are downloaded to your machine for you to apply on the next reboot. Alternatively you can access it from the Control Panel (Start-Control Panel-Windows Update). For older versions of Windows (e.g. XP) you can check online for software patches at windowsupdate.microsoft.com. Remember that the older versions of Windows may no longer be supported by Microsoft, so for most effective security protection keep your operating system as up-to-date as you can. In the same way keep your browser updated; most browsers have an option to check for updates from the Help menu.

3) Set up a firewall. A good firewall will block viruses and trojans from getting onto your machine, and anything you are unaware of that is trying to access the internet without your knowledge will be stopped. Windows Firewall is included with Vista and Windows 7 (and is by default turned on), but you may also wish to consider a third- party product such as the well-regarded ZoneAlarm (www.zonealarm.com).

4) Check your browser security settings. If you’re using Internet Explorer go to Tools then Internet Options, then select the Security tab. By default, the level is set to ‘medium-high’. Set this to ‘high’ to block Active-X and Javascript, which can be used by hackers to install more trojans on your machine. It is possible to maintain a list of ‘trusted sites’ (click the green tick for this zone) and add the addresses of those sites you do trust and they will not be blocked the same way as untrusted websites. Firefox security settings are accessed by clicking Tools then Options, then selecting the Security tab.

5) Make sure you have antivirus software. Highly important! Most computers include a version of McAfee or Norton which is valid for 30 days, but once that expires you need to subscribe in order to keep receiving the latest updates. If you do not wish to subscribe and are looking for a free solution, AVG or Avast both offer free versions; if you use either AVG or Avast make sure they are set to update automatically so that the latest antivirus patches are downloaded regularly.

6) Beware of email attachments. A common way of passing a virus around is via an email attachment, it is possible to scan these using your anti-virus software but in general, if you do not recognise the sender, do not trust the attachment. Also, you may get a mail from an address that appears genuine, but is actually a hacker impersonating a genuine company (phishing attacks are often done in this way).

7) Don’t run programs from unknown sources. Just as before, your anti-virus software should be able to scan and detect viruses hidden in downloaded files, but use good sense. In addition, beware of forwarding on a program, the source of which is unknown to you, it could have a funny joke in it but if a friend or co-worker gets a virus from it, you could land yourself in trouble.

Set your machine to show filename extensions. By default, Windows hides file extensions ‘for known file types’. It is better to disable this, you do this by going to Tools, then Folder Options, and selecting the View tab in Explorer. In Vista or later, the menu bar is hidden – to reveal it, press the ALT key once and it will show in Explorer, then proceed as described.

9) If you’re not using the computer, turn it off! Nothing can get to your computer while it’s switched off, so when you’re not using it, shut it down.

10) Make a bootable CD or pen drive so that if your machine ever does get compromised, you can still start it up. Nowadays, machines no longer use floppy drives to boot from a floppy in the event of a computer failing to start from the hard drive, so you would need to use your CD drive or USB pen drive instead. A good way to get to your computer is to have a bootable operating system on a CD or DVD, such as Ubuntu. It will run live from the disk, so if you cannot start your machine normally, you can still reach the files and if necessary retrieve them. Ubuntu is a free operating system based on Linux, and you can get it at http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu/download

Everybody should know these basic techniques so that they can protect themselves, or recover in the event of a failure.

Ronnie Soo is a M3 Master Consultant with Wealth Masters International and a director of 5th Wise Monkey Ltd, we aim to support new businesses from start-up through to maturity.

If you’re going into internet marketing, beware of those who promise you can earn money quickly. Only the correct training will help you to reach the rewards on offer.

This entry was posted on July 28, 2010 at July 28, 2010 and is filed under Wifi Security. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.