Securing Your
Computer
10 Easy Steps to Take for Securing Your Computer
System
Today, more and more people are using their
computers for everything from communication to online 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 may be looking to phish your personal
information and identity for resale, others simply just want to use
your computer as a platform from which to attack other unknowing
targets.
Whatever the threat, it pays well to immediately take steps and
protect your computer from these attacks. We provide you here with
some basic information on you can do that on your home computer.
For the enterprise computer system protection, check our
Intrusion Detection Systems article.
10 Easy Steps to Secure Your
Computer
Below are a few easy, cost-effective steps you can take to make
your computer more secure.
- Back-up important information - Always make
backups of important information and store in a safe place separate
from your computer. Update your back up periodically, depending on
how often you add new stuff on your computer.
- Update operating system - Update and patch
your operating system, web browser and software frequently. If you
have a Windows operating system, start by going to www.windowsupdate.microsoft.com
and running the update wizard. This program will help you find the
latest patches for your Windows computer. Also go to www.officeupdate.microsoft.com
to locate possible patches for your Office programs.
- Get a firewall installed - Install a firewall
on your computer. 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.
- Check browser and email settings - 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. At
a minimum set your security setting for the "internet zone" to
High, and your "trusted sites zone" to Medium Low.
- Install antivirus program - It goes
without saying that you should install good antivirus software and
set for automatic updates so that you receive the most current
versions. This should be one of the most essential,
always-active features of your computer security.
- Do not open email attachments - Unless you
100% trust the sender, 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 unknown programs - Do not run on
your computer system programs from unknown origins. Also, do not
send these types of programs to friends and coworkers because they
contain funny or amusing stories or jokes. They may 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.
- Do not leave your computer on if not being used
- 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.
- Make a boot disk - 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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