How You Can Protect Your Personal Computer

I recently had a couple of friends ask me for advice on what they should be doing to better protect themselves when 'surfing-the-net'.

So, taking into consideration that not everyone is as technical or computer savvy as the next person, I dispensed the following pieces of advice; realistically these should reduce the chances of something bad befalling you PC.

1. Ensure you have Anti-Virus Protection and that it is updated daily.
2. Ensure you have Anti-Spyware Protection (which may or may not be part of your A/V solution) and update it regularly.
3. Do not download files, launch attachments or click on links in email from people you don't know or trust!
4. Use a firewall - if you can't afford or don't know how to set up a hardware-based variant, get a software one (if you use Windows XP you already have one, so use it!)
5. Use a secure browser to protect yourself and ensure you use HTTPS type communication when performing credit card or banking transactions. If you are uncertain of a sites legitimacy, use McAfee SiteAdviser to check it automatically for you.
6. Make sure your system is up to date with system updates and patches.
7. Never click on links in email from your bank or any other financial institution (including Pay Pal or similar), go directly to the site yourself and find what they were referring to. (Not all messages received are legitimate and some financial institutions now have policies against sending linked messages to their customers/members).
8. Store highly personal information inside an encrypted file or folder.

There are a lot of applications available online that are FREE for personal use and with which you can make your time online that much safer.

Here are a handful of suggestions (this list is not exhaustive by any means):

Anti-Virus - Avast or AVG Anti-Virus or Avira AntiVir
Spyware - Microsoft Windows Defender or Ad-Aware SE Personal or SpyBot
Firewall - Zone Alarm or Comodo or Windows Service Pack 2.
Browser - FireFox or Opera
Encrypted Storage - TrueCrypt

Some food for thought at the very least, I'm sure you will agree!

Dave
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http://www.poscribes.com