I thought I would do a special blog on talking quickly about some ways to secure your personal computer. This Blog is directed at Windows 2000/Windows XP or Windows Vista users. I am going to focus on some free security tools and a low cost option to secure your pcs at home. This will focus on everything with the exception of WI-FI security which I will talk about in my next blog.
I personally do not believe in running any of the build in suites which ISP’s provide. They provide some protection which is fine and dandy but their are better low cost alternatives if not free ones which will give you as much protection that you require. The ISP suites are also pretty locked down which means you can not configure them to meet your needs.
At least every user should run a virus checker to prevent you from the most common viruses which are designed to bring down, steal your data and even use parts of your pc without you knowing it is happening. At work the hospital I work at uses the MCafee Anitivirus system. It runs great but I use a free one at home. On my home computers I am currently running AVG free by Grisoft. I have run this virus checker for over 3 years and never have had an issue. The thing I really like is the resource requirement is low. This means it does not use much system memory and that the package does not require a lot of CPU processing power to run.
Avast also provides a free virus checker which also runs very well and is less resource intensive.
Personally I would stay away from running Norton Antivirus. It is very resource intesnive and even slows a new pc down running 4 GB of Ram. Not good at all.
Spyware is becoming one of the most common reason’s computers slow down and get infected. Most of today’s spyware is either designed to steal information from you or to use part of your system to hack other systems. I use 2 free spyware checkers called Spybot and Adaware.
One thing that should be set on your pc is the Windows Firewall turned ON. This Setting can be done via your system control pane and clicking on Windows Firewall.
Speaking of firewalls, everyone should run a router even if you only have one pc. For a description of what a router is please see below:
The cost of a router is about $30-40 dollars.
The last thing that should be done is have automatic Windows updates turned on. This will automatically install all the latest security patches for Windows. Security patches are generally put out once a month by Microsoft but sometimes more often as the need exists.
That is it for now. I will do two more posts in the next 2 days on Wi-FI security as well Backups. These two topics play into the security mix as well.
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