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All Just just about Computer Virus5 Critical Steps to Protective
Your Computer on the Internet
by:
John Lenaghan
Spyware, viruses and worms... oh my!
If you are connected to the internet, you need to do sure you get your computer set up properly if you want to avoid problems down the road.
With all the viruses, spyware and different threats on the cyberspace today, no computer should be set up without the proper protection.
And that protection necessarily to be in place as before long after you hook up your new machine as possible.
The following five steps wish do your computer a more harder target for threats. You still won't be all immune to problems, but 99% of the time the threat wish pass you by, looking for the easy mark.
1. Running a Personal Firewall
A personal firewall is code that au fond does your computer invisible to hackers, worms and different threats that can infect your computer over the internet.
Setting up a firewall is the absolute 1st thing you should do if you're going to connect to the internet. Without a firewall, your computer could get infected in as little as one minute after connecting.
If you have a brand new computer running Windows XP Service Pack 2, there is a firewall built into Windows. It wish already have been turned on once
you 1st set up your computer.
If you're running an older version of Windows, even as an earlier version of Windows XP, there is no firewall mechanically
set up for you. In this case there are two possibilities:
- Your computer came pre-loaded with a firewall such as Norton Cyberspace Safety or McAfee Cyberspace Safety
- You have no firewall installed and should transfer
one ASAP.
If you don't have any personal firewall code installed, you should do so right away. Zone Alarm is a really nice firewall program that has a version that you can transfer
and install for free.
You can transfer
the free version of Zone Alarm from http://www.computer-help-squad.com/zonealarm
2. Turn on Windows Updates
Again, if you're running Windows XP Service Pack 2 this is already set up, but otherwise you should turn on Windows Updates. Microsoft releases updates for safety problems and different bugs in Windows on a regular basis.
These updates wish support your computer running better, and they often fix safety issues that could compromise your information or privacy.
If you are running Windows XP Service Pack 2, you can double-check that automatic updates are turned on by clicking Start, then click Control Panel, then double-click Safety Center. The window that opens wish tell you if automatic updates are turned on, and lets you turn them on if they're not.
To turn on automatic updates in earlier versions of Windows XP, click on the Start menu, click Control Panel and then double-click on System. On the "Automatic Updates" tab, click the option to "Automatically transfer
the updates and install them on the schedule I specify."
To turn them on in Windows 2000, click on Start, click Control Panel and then double-click on Automatic Updates. Again, click the option to "automatically transfer
the updates and install them on the schedule I specify."
Now once
Microsoft releases updates, they wish be downloaded for you mechanically
and Windows wish tell you once
they are available to be installed.
3. Install & Update Antivirus Code
Most new computers move with antivirus code these days. You power have Norton, McAfee, PC-Cillin or another brand. No matter what program you have, you wish need to update it once
you get connected to the internet.
It doesn't matter how new your computer is - there wish be new viruses, and new updates for the antivirus software, since it was loaded.
The exact process is several for each brand of antivirus program, but most of them wish have an icon in the bottom right corner of your desktop, beside the time. The icon power be a image of a shield (McAfee), a medical instrument
(Norton) or thing
else.
In most cases, if you point to the icon for your antivirus and click the right mouse button, a menu wish pop up with an update option. It could be just called update or could be thing
like Live Update or Transfer
Latest Updates. If you click on the update option (with the left button this time) it wish install the newest updates for you.
If you're not sure which icon is for your antivirus software, just point to each one for a few seconds and a little title should pop up telling you what it is.
4. Install Anti-Spyware Code
Spyware - and different things best-known as adware and malware - is becoming as big a problem as viruses. Spyware programs can cause a lot of problems with your computer, not to mention they can track your personal information and you ne'er
cognize wherever
it's being sent.
Some new computers power includes antispyware software, but most of them don't yet. There are quite a few anti-spyware programs available, several free and several not. The one I recommend is from Microsoft and is one of the free ones.
One of the reasons I like it is because it always runs in the background and wish mechanically
catch a lot of spyware before it gets on your computer.
Many of the different programs don't catch it until you run a scan. Not only does this allow things to get on your computer, it as well means you have to actually remember to run a scan.
You can transfer
the free Microsoft Antispyware from http://www.computer-help-squad.com/antispyware
5. Set up a Free Email Account
This last item is not as critical as the 1st four, but I would-be extremely
recommend you set up an email account with one of the free services like Hotmail or Gmail.
Once you're on the internet, you'll find a lot of useful information that you want that requires you to provide an email address. In several cases, these folk wish end up causation
you a bunch of spam.
If you use a free email account to sign up for thing
that you don't cognize for sure you can trust, it's not going to fill your main email with a bunch of junk.
This goes for thing
really, not just online information. If you're entering a contest or language up for thing
offline and you don't cognize wherever
your information could end up being used, I would-be suggest mistreatment your free email address.
If worse comes to worse, and your free email address gets inundated with spam, you can always just set up a new one and let the old one expire.
Some of the better free email services are www.hotmail.com, www.gmail.com and www.yahoomail.com.
If you've had your computer for a patch and ne'er
done any of these things, you should still take these steps to get it set up properly. It wish by all odds save you a lot of time - and possibly money - as you use your system.
Just just about the author:
John Lenaghan offers easy-to-understand proposal
at the Computer Help Squad website. Find out more just about these 5 steps - sign up for our account and obtain your free 5-part manual at http://www.computer-help-squad.com/5steps
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