How to Protect Your Computer Against Remote Access Trojans

Remote access trojans can infiltrate your computer causing all sorts of trouble and compromising the security of your system. They can work silently in the background gathering information and slowing down your computer in the process. The good news is that with the proper software and safe internet and email habits you shouldn't have anything to worry about. This article will spell out the things that you need to do to safeguard your system from remote access trojans.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Back up all of your data and do a clean restore of your computer. In case you have any unknown problems with remote access trojans, or were surfing the internet without proper anti-virus software, doing this will give you a clean slate to start from and eradicate any malicious programs that may have been hiding in the background.

2. Install both anti-virus and anti-spyware software before attempting to browse around on the internet. Often times your internet service provider will give you free software like this and will also continue to provide the updates free as well. Many companies also offer "lite" versions of their anti-virus programs that don't provide all of the bells and whistles but still get the job done, and are much better than having no safeguard at all.

3. Ensure that you have an operational firewall on your computer that is up and running. This will help immensely to protect you against remote access trojans and help to keep unwanted individuals from accessing your computer and it's file system.

4. Do not open any unknown email attachments or respond to emails from unknown senders. Doing either one of these things can make you extremely vulnerable to remote access trojans. People that send these malicious emails are usually counting on the fact that they can dupe you into downloading their files or responding to the email based on a catchy subject line. If you are unsure of whether or not you know the sender of the email, err on the safe side and don't open it or download any of the attached files. If it is important enough and the sender is legitimate, they will find another way to contact you or send another message with a more specific subject line.

5. Stay away websites that contain pirated software or file sharing. This includes websites that offer torrent downloads and similar file sharing systems. These sites are absolute breeding grounds for remote access trojans and all sorts of malicious software disguised as legitimate programs.

6. Have a separate email address for filling out forms online and for junk mail. Many times when you fill out a form online and they ask for your email address they will sell it to other companies and continually spam you. Occasionally people with malicious intentions get a hold of these email addresses and use them to try and send spyware. If you keep this email address separate from your personal email it will reduce your chances of accidentally downloading a malicious file.

7. Turn on the website checker function in your browser. Most popular web browsers have a function that checks the credentials of a website against a database of known good websites and will be able to tell you if you are entering a site that could pose a danger to your computer.

Tips & Warnings

• Pay attention to what the search engines indicate about malicious web sites. Google and Yahoo both have a feature that will alert you if they think a website or webpage returned in the search results will harm your computer.