How to secure your PC?

How to secure your PC? 

 

Securing your PC is not rocket science but it's essential in order to minimize the chances of viruses/worms/malware infections. As you probably know or may have experienced it yourself at some stage before, viruses or any other class of malware will never do any good to your computer, they will only do harm and cause problems and above all headaches and frustrations for yourself.

By following these simple steps below, you will save yourself some downtime, headaches and money.

Step1: Ensure all programs and software installed in your computer is currently up to date. This can be done once a month, by opening the program/software and then looking for an option that says “check for updates”. However, modern software comes with an automated update process, that automatically checks and reports when there is an update/patch available. Take advantage of this feature whenever possible, this will not only protect your computer but will potentially reduce web-based or network based attacks, that takes advantages of security weakness that lies within the program source code.

For instance, a malicious user or an attacker could use exploits or application designed to take advantage of this security weakness and make their way into your computer. Viruses/works on the other hand employs this same technique, in order to get into your system. Therefore, by updating all your applications/software/OS you are closing this security holes, and reducing the chances of injections.

Step 2: Keeping all your computer program/software updated is only the first step in protecting your system. In addition, having a good firewall in place will also help minimize attacks, for example some viruses/worms are designed to establish a connection back to its author/creator machine so they can remotely control your computer and potentially steal any sensitive information you have stored in your computer. Some firewalls have the ability to detect this kind of attack and block them on the fly.

There is also a type of firewall called IDPS or Intrusion Detection and Prevention System. They are designed to detect and block attempted attacks to a system. So if the system administrator, fails to keep the system up to date, they will be your last line of defence. Generally they can cost a lot more to buy and to implement than a personal firewall and furthermore they are designed mainly for corporate or large network system, that has lots of sensitive information.

Comodo and Norton Firewalls are good choices for personal firewalls and I would recommend using them.

Comodo Firewall
http://www.comodo.co...ecurity-pro.php

Norton Firewall
http://www.symantec.com/norton/360


Step3: Install an anti-virus and maintain it well updated. Its very important, as it keeps your system safe from infections caused by virus/worms/spywares. Viruses/worm can cause damage to your computer and even steal sensitive information from you, I would recommend using either Avast 5 or Kaspersky to protecting you PC against malwares.

These products have been highly rated and have been recommended, by popular computer magazines (eg, PC user)

Avast 5
http://www.avast.com/

Kaspersky
https://www.kaspersk...ternet_security

Norton
http://antivirus.norton.com/norton/p...e|kw0000004480


Step 4: A rule of thumb, is to never open attachments from unknown sources, never click on web-links or email links that you are not familiar with or not expecting. If you do receive an email, requesting you to click on a link or to open an attach, discard the email and block the sender, this will most likely be an attacker trying to steal your information.

Step 5: A lot of us, not just the beginners make this mistake and it can be easily corrected. Try not to use the same password, for every web site you sign up with very bad idea. Never ever use a word from the dictionary to create a password, use a word that is not in the dictionary or perhaps a phrase, preferably 10 to 20 characters, with upper and lower case if possible and a combination of numbers and symbols.A brute force attack against this sort of passwords would take a very long time to crack. Change you passwords every month or so, keeping in mind to always use the method mentioned above and do not disclose your password to anyone.

Step 6: Do not use administrator account to log on to your computer; use limited account as often as possible, this will limit the chances of damages caused by you or computer viruses, as well as making your computer much more secure.

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