Top 10 things to Keep your PC secure
Written by admin on January 15, 2009
PC security is a major issue in these modern, Internet enabled times. Every PC owner needs to take some steps towards ensuring their system is secure. Below are 10 things you can do to increase the security of your system.
1. Enable Windows firewall; as a bare minimum you should use the inbuilt Windows firewall to secure your Internet connection.
2. Turn on automatic updates, this will ensure that your PC receives any security fixes deployed by Microsoft automatically.
3. Install a good anti-malware solution; if you don’t like using third-party software then Microsoft have an excellent product named Microsoft Defender available for free download.
4. Find yourself a good anti-virus solution. There are many excellent free antivirus software suites available including Avast! and AVG Free.
5. Do not accept files from anyone unless you are sure that they use their PC responsibly. If you absolutely must copy files from somebody else make sure you run it through your virus checker before opening it.
6. Do not visit dubious or illegal websites, quite often these sites will contain malware embedded into the website code, the best way to avoid this is simply not to visit them.
7. Never open an e-mail that is not from somebody you recognize, e-mail is one of the most common ways that viruses are distributed. Additionally, never open any form of e-mail attachment without checking it out with your virus scanner first.
8. Avoid using peer-to-peer sharing applications such as Kazaa, BitTorrent and other forms of file sharing software. A very high percentage of files available for download in this fashion have been infected by viruses, either by the original creator on purpose or by being hosted upon a PC which has a virus infection.
9. Use your PC responsibly, if you download illegal music, videos or pirated software and visit pornographic or other illegal sites you are leaving yourself wide open for a whole host of security breaches.
10. If you are a frequent user of instant messaging style applications such as MSN or Google Talk then make sure that the antivirus software you have chosen includes an instant messaging module, which can scan incoming files from your instant messaging contacts.
These 10 simple tips above will go a very long way to ensuring that your PC continues to be secure now and into the future, always remember that your first line of defense is you, if you use your PC responsibly you will find that security risks are minimized to the extreme.
Posted in: PC tips
