Steps to Protecting Your Computer on the Internet
Spyware, viruses and worms … oh my!
If you are connected to the Internet, make sure you get the computer configured correctly if you want to avoid problems down the road.
With all viruses, spyware and other threats on the internet today, no team should be created without adequate protection.
And that protection should be in place as soon after you connect your new machine as possible.
The following five steps to make your computer a much harder target for threats. Not to be completely immune to problems, but 99% of the time the threat will pass you by, looking for the easy mark.
1. Running a Personal Firewall
A personal firewall is software that basically makes your computer invisible to hackers, worms and other threats that can infect your computer over the Internet.
Configuring a firewall is the absolute first thing you should do if you are connecting to the Internet. Without a firewall, your computer could be infected in just one minute after connecting.
If you have a new computer with Windows XP Service Pack 2 is a firewall built into Windows. Which have become the first time you set up your computer.
If using a previous version of Windows, even an earlier version of Windows XP, no firewall automatically set up for you. In this case there are two possibilities:
- The computer is pre-loaded with a firewall such as Norton Internet Security or McAfee Internet Security
- You have no firewall installed and should download one ASAP.
If you do not have personal firewall software installed, you must do so immediately. Zone Alarm is a very good firewall program that has a version that can download and install for free.
You can download the free version of Zone Alarm http://www.computer-help-squad.com/zonealarm
2. Enable Windows updates
Again, if you are running Windows XP Service Pack 2 this is already created, but otherwise should turn on Windows Updates. Microsoft releases updates for security problems and other bugs in Windows on a regular basis.
These updates will keep your computer running better, and they often fix security issues that could compromise your information or privacy.
If you are running Windows XP Service Pack 2, you can check that automatic updates are enabled by clicking Start, then click Control Panel, double-click Security Center. The window that opens will tell you if automatic updates are turned on, and you can turn if they’re not.
To turn on automatic updates in earlier versions of Windows XP, click the Start menu, click Control Panel, then double-click System. On the “Automatic Updates”, click “Automatically download updates and install them on the schedule you specify.
To turn them on in Windows 2000, click Start, click Control Panel, then double-click Automatic Updates. Once again, click the option to “automatically download the updates and install them on the schedule you specify.
Now when Microsoft releases updates to be downloaded automatically and Windows will tell you when they are ready to be installed.
3. Install and update antivirus software
Most new computers come with antivirus software these days. It is possible that Norton, McAfee, PC-Cillin or another brand. No matter what program you have, you will need to update when connected to the Internet.
No matter how the team is new – there will be new viruses, and new updates for your antivirus software, since it was loaded.
The exact process is different for each brand of antivirus program, but most of them will have an icon in the lower right corner of your desktop, beside the time. The icon can be an image of a shield (McAfee), a stethoscope (Norton) or something else.
In most cases, if the point to the icon for your antivirus and click the right mouse button, a pop-up menu with an upgrade option. It could be simply called update or could be something like Live Update or download the latest updates. If you click on the update option (with the left button this time) to install the latest update for you.
If you are not sure which icon is for your antivirus software, just point to each one for a few seconds and a small pop-up title should tell you what it is.
4. Install Anti-Spyware Software
Spyware – and other things known as adware and malware – is becoming as big a problem as viruses. Spyware programs can cause many problems with the computer, not to mention that you can track your personal information and you never know where you are sending.
Some new computers might include antispyware software, but most of them yet. There are a number of anti-spyware programs available, some free and others not. The one I recommend is from Microsoft and is one of the free.
One reason I like it because it always runs in the background and automatically captures a lot of spyware before it reaches your computer.
Many of the other programs do not catch until you run a scan. This will not only get things on your computer, it also means that you really have to remember to run a scan.
You can download free Microsoft Antispyware from http://www.computer-help-squad.com/antispyware
5. Setting up a Mail account
This last item is not as critical as the first four, but we recommend that you configure an email account with one of the free services like Hotmail or Gmail.
Once you’re online, you will find a great deal of useful information you want requires you to provide your email address. In some cases, these people just send a bunch of spam.
If you use a free email account to register for anything you do not know for sure you can trust, it will not fill the main email with a bunch of garbage.
This goes for anything really, not just online information. If you’re entering a contest or signing anything offline and you do not know that your information could end up being used, I would suggest using your free email address.
If bad comes to worse, and its free e-mail address is inundated with spam, you can create a new one and leave the old expired.
Some of the best free email services are www.hotmail.com, www.gmail.com and www.yahoomail.com.
If you’ve had your computer for a while and never done any of these things, you must take these steps to get set up correctly. Definitely save you time – and possibly money – as you use the system.
