How to keep your computer secure

In this modern age of computers where you can pretty much find anything or do anything you want online your computer becomes an extension of you. It allows you to do the work you do but it also contains a lot of information about you. If your computer becomes compromised this extension of your self won’t work right and your information will then be available to others who will use it for their own gain and your misfortune. The steps listed below are for the most part simple but very effective in keeping your computer and your information secure.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. Don’t click on links in emails no matter how authentic and official they look. If you want to check the link out, manually type the URL into the web browser. This is especially important for sites, like Banks, that keep important information about you on file or need you to log in to the site. The links may take you to an official looking site but instead is just a front which is used to collect usernames and passwords to be used on the real sites. Links could also lead you to install malicious software.
2. Don’t open attachments unless you are expecting them. Opening attachments has got to be about the number one way to get a virus or a Trojan horse in your system.
3. If possible view your emails in plain text rather than HTML. Viewing emails in HTML mode allows the sender of the email to hide things in the email.
4. Don’t download files off the Internet if you aren’t absolutely sure about them. If you must download something, after downloading it and before you open it right click on the file and select “scan for viruses” from the menu that pops up, providing you have a Virus Scanner installed.
5. Update the software on your computer regularly. Use Windows Update to keep Microsoft products up to date. Keep your Internet Browsers, such as Firefox or Opera, up to date.
6. Use a firewall. Windows XP and Vista have a built in Firewall. While very limited in its abilities it works fine if you follow the other recommendations in this document. It only allows traffic to come in that you request from your machine. However, if your computer is already compromised it won’t stop harmful traffic from coming in.
7. Use a Virus scanning program. While it is running in the background it will try to watch out for problems on your computer. It is still a good idea to run a periodic scan of your computer. If you use the computer daily, spend a lot of time on the Internet and regularly download files do a scan every week.
8. Ideally your computer login account should not have administrator privileges, rather it should run in a limited user mode. As an Administrator malicious software and websites can perform any action on your computer they want. As a limited user those programs cannot fully compromise your system. However, running in limited user mode does incur some frustrations. You do not have the ability to create files in the root of your file system which is the “C:” directory. Nor can you write files to the C:\Windows directory or any of its sub directories which can cause problems when you install or run some programs. There are ways to install or run programs as an Administrator while still logged on as a limited user. This method of using your computer as a limited user is not as smooth as you are used to but it is safer. You choose, smooth or secure. MAC operating systems and the newest version of Microsoft Windows , called Vista, force this on you.
9. You should always have strong passwords that include letters, symbols and numbers. You can have strong passwords and still keep them easy to remember. For example use an easy phrase password such as “iluv2phish”. In that phrase you could also turn the letter “i” into a numeral 1. In other instances you can substitute an “a” with an “@” symbol or the letter “o” with the number “0”. It is best also that you never keep the same password, rather you should change it every 90 days or so. I know it is easy just to let your Internet Browser and other programs or websites remember passwords but you should not do this. Not only will it cause you problems if it suddenly forgets your password and you don’t remember it as well but also if your machine is compromised then the hacker now has your passwords also.
10. If a particular web site or service requires you to log in never close the window without first actually logging out. If you just close your window and don’t log out then someone can sit down at your computer, open the program or service up and have access to your information. I have sat down to public computers before and opened up Hotmail, Gmail or even Yahoo only to be looking at someone’s email account. Always log out.
11. And last but not least always back up your important data that you can’t live without or would cause you extreme time and effort to reproduce.