Free Antivirus Tips – 10 Ways to Protect your PC
Today, more and more people use their computers for everything from communication to online banking and investing to shopping. As we do so on a more regular basis, we open ourselves up to potential hackers, attackers and crackers. This is a major security threat.
While some may be looking at substitute your personal information and identity for resale, others simply want to use your computer as a platform to attack unknowing other purposes. Here are some free antivirus tips that can be taken to make your computer more secure.
1. Always make backups of important information in a safe place separate from your computer.
2. Update and correcting your operating system, Web browser and software frequently. Hackers often exploit weaknesses in the operating system. If you have a Windows operating system, first going www.windowsupdate.microsoft.com update and run the wizard. This program will help you find the latest patches for your computer's Windows.
3. Install a firewall. Without a good firewall, viruses, worms, Trojans, malware and adware software can all easily get access to your computer from the Internet. It should consider the advantages and differences between hardware and software based firewall programs. You can find free firewalls online, or they come as part of security suite programs.
4. Review browser and e-mail settings for optimal security. What should you do? Active-X and JavaScript, are often used by hackers to install malicious software on your computer. Although cookies are relatively harmless in terms of security, they still track your movements on the Internet to create a profile of you. The minimum set your security settings for "Internet zone" to High and your trusted sites zone in the Middle or Low.
5. Install anti-virus software and set for automatic updates so that you get the latest versions. There are free products like AVG Antivirus.
6. Do not open unknown attachments to e-mail. It is simply not enough that you can recognize the address from which it is because many viruses can be spread from familiar address.
7. Do not run programs of unknown origin. Also, do not send these types of programs for friends and staff, since they contain funny or amusing stories and anecdotes. They may also contain Trojan programs that are waiting to infect a computer.
8. Turn off the hidden files extensions. By default, the Windows operating system installed on the "hide file extensions for known file types." Disable this option to show file extensions in Windows. Some file extensions will, by default, still remain hidden, but you are likely to have any unusual file extensions, which do not belong.
9. Turn off the computer and disconnect from the network, if not using the computer. Hackers cannot attack your computer when you are disconnected from the network or your computer is switched off.
10. Consider the possibility of making a boot disk on an external Zip drive or DVD drive. Obviously, you have to do this step before you are faced with a hostile breach of your system.
Use these free antivirus tips and you should be able to keep your computer clear of problems.