Securing Your Computer System

[gkd_uk]

Hi all
A quick tutorial on how to secure your computer. Hope it helps.


Today, millions are using their PC's for tasks such as communication, shopping, research and online banking. As people are starting to perform such tasks on daily basis, they open themselves to potential hackers and other attacks. Whilst some hackers will phish your personal information and sell your information or use for fraudulent activity, other hackers just want to use your computer as a machine from where they can attack other targets. Some may use your machine as a spam server and spam thousands of online users daily. Below is a list of techniques you can use to make your computer more secure from such attacks.

1. Always make backups of your data and store in a safe place, separate from your computer e.g. an external USB drive. This way, if you are attacked and your hard drive is corrupted you can easily restore your data without paying too much for your data to be restored by a professional.

2. Update your operating system and software when there are updates available. If you have a Windows operating system, start by accessing the windows updates website and following the simple and easy to use update wizard. You can easily access this by opening a Internet page, clicking tools and the Windows updates. The Windows Updates website will scan your website and identify any updates your computer requires. It is also worth accessing the Microsoft update website for updates for Office applications and other software you may have installed. The Microsoft Updates website is www.officeupdate.microsoft.com or you can click on the Microsoft updates link when you access the Windows update website. It is also a good idea to stay up to date with your service packs. If you are using XP, the latest Service Pack is 2.

3. Install a firewall. If you are a home user, there are many free firewalls available for download from the Internet. Without a good firewall, you computer is at risk from viruses, worms, Trojans, other programs which can easily be planted on your PC whilst you are connected to the Internet. Always do your research on which firewall is best by checking reviews online and asking friends. The most common firewall used is software but many people also use a hardware based firewall. You may have a basic firewall in your router but it is also good to have a software firewall installed on your computer. XP Service Pack 2 and Vista have firewalls built into them as default but people still feel the need to have another software firewall installed.

4. Review your web browser and email security settings. Programs such as Active X and JavaScript are used by hackers to install malicious programs into your computer. Whilst cookies are harmless in terms of security concerns, they can still track your improvements on the Internet. This way, they can build a profile of your movements whilst you surf the net. So never think cookies are harmless. As a minimum, it is always best to set your security settings for the internet zone to High, and your trusted sites zone to Medium Low. You can get to these settings by opening an Internet page, clicking Tools and then Internet Options.

5. Install a good piece of antivirus software. If you are a home user, you will be able to download and install software such as AVG for free. Always set your AntiVirus to download and install updates automatically so you are always protected. Like always, do your research on which AntiVirus software to use.

6. If you receive an email attachment from a sender that you do not recognize, do not open but delete, as email attachments can contain malicious programs or viruses which are executed when opened.

7. Do not run programs which you are not sure about. You may come across a program you find funny so you may decide to forward this to all your friends. Never send such programs to friends as they may contain a Trojan which will infect your friend's computers.

8. By default, Windows operating systems have been set to hide file extensions for known file types. To easily identify suspicious file extensions, you should disable this option so that file extensions can be seen in Windows. You can switch this on by going into My Computer, clicking tools, clicking folder options, clicking view and then unticking hide file extensions for known file types. By doing this you may come across a file extension you are not sure about and perform some research to find what it is.

9. Switch off your computer and disconnect from the network when it is not in use. A hacker will not be able to attack your computer when you are not connected.

10. Consider creating a recovery disk incase you need to restore your computer. It is also a good idea to create a boot up disk onto a floppy.

Hope the above tutorial helps

[pow-wow]

Yeah its a good tutorial, Thanks for Sharing!

[kappa84]

I would add some stuff to your good tutorial, I hope you don't mind:

Anti-Spyware/Adware

There are 3 ways in which an user can get infected:
1. involuntary infect, in which the spyware uses browser’s vulnerabilities
2. clicking “yes” to all the pop-ups
3. once you’re installing a program that contains adware it usually installs others adware that are not necessarily harmful, but can create you lots of inconveniences.

To get rid of such programs there is a lot of anti-spyware software, mostly are free, and its are doing a very good job. The only difference between a free anti-spyware and a paid ones is that the last have realtime protection. Here I would recommend Spybot Search and Destroy and Lavasoft Ad-Aware SE.

Firewall
I personally recommend Comodo firewall, it’s brilliant.


Browser and mail client

Try not to use the same password for all your e-mail accounts, windows logon etc.

Windows Install

It's recommended to install Windows with the network cable unplugged.

[gkd_uk]

Thanks for the additional info

[stretch]

If you're serious about security it's better not to use Windows at all. lol!

[alec11]

Originally Posted by stretch

If you're serious about security it's better not to use Windows at all. lol!

What OS do you suggest if we want a secure computer?
is it Mac or Linux?

[tb987]

Originally Posted by stretch

If you're serious about security it's better not to use Windows at all. lol!

And you had better not connect it to the Internet

[henery008]

To be secure is very important. So thanks for sharing such a useful information

[zurk]

This is a good post
A few years ago our computer was always invaded by viruses and spyware! This tutorial is the exact same thing (or policy) we do now to avoid having being invaded by adult sites ever again!

[Vilice]

Thanks for all this info .For the seurity problem is becoming more and more important