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ADDRESSING SECURITY CONCERNS ON YOUR PERSONAL COMPUTER

What every newby needs to know!!!

On our homepage, we mentioned that you should use your street smarts when surfing online and securing your PC. The following list provides you with a basic guideline that addresses, in most cases, plain old fashion common sense about securing your pc:

  1. Install a personal firewall and virus protection. Check your system for viruses and Trojan horses on a regular basis. Update your virus definition files regularly, at least once a month. Check the Microsoft Windows Updates website for the latest Windows security updates and patches.
  2. Be careful what you give out. Don't send sensitive information online.
  3. Don't download anything unless you trust the sender, and the file. Be careful with e-mail attachments. E-mail attachments can install a virus or a Trojan horse (backdoor) software on your computer, which can lead to compromise.
  4. Use dummy e-mail accounts. When posting messages to newsgroups or giving out information to strangers, use a secondary e-mail account from a free service such as yahoo or hotmail. You can quickly drop that email account if it becomes cluttered with unsolicited mail.
  5. Don't let your browser be a blabbermouth. You can lower your browsing profile by establishing an alias.
  6. Don't accept unnecessary cookies. You can maintain some degree of control over the way the browser handles cookies. In Internet Explorer you can check the box that says, "prompt before accepting cookies". However, this may cause trouble accessing some sites. You can delete unwanted cookies and temporary files by clearing your browser's cache on a regular basis. These don't always eliminate all traces so try installing a gutter cleaner such as Windows Cleanup.
  7. Use encryption for sensitive data. Check to see that your browser supports the optimum setting of 128-bit.
  8. Consider using an anonymizer. Anonymizers act like an on/off switch for privacy that downloads right into your Internet Explorer toolbar. It prevents tracking by websites, hackers and others; it shields your IP address; it encrypts sites you visit so that your Internet-service provider cannot keep a record of them.
  9. Clear your memory cache after you surf the Internet.
  10. Be careful when installing software. Packages that help you design a personal website will install an active web server on your computer as a feature so that you can view the web pages you develop. This opens a hole in your computer, which can potentially lead to compromise.
  11. Don't save your passwords or credit card numbers on your computer. Programs that save your credit card information and your commonly used passwords are convenient, but beware. The information is saved on your computer in a location very well known to hackers and the information could be easily retrieved.
  12. Consider using an intrusion detection system (IDS). An IDS protects against Trojans and portscans, which could be disguised as normal traffic.
  13. Consider an online evaluation of your Windows-based home system. There are many reputable sites online which offer system evaluations for free. These services check for well-known vulnerabilities like open file sharing access. I have found PC Pitstop to be a very helpful and informative site.
  14. If you have an always-on Internet connection, you may want to shut down your system whenever you will not be using it. I also unplug my modem when not in use or when my younger children are using the computer.
  15. Schedule routine (e.g. monthly) checks of your computer's security to ensure nothing has altered your set-up.
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