Four Ways to Protect Your Home Computer

 

After working on literally hundreds of computers I have reached the conclusion that computer users could prevent 95% of their technical problems by following the four suggestions that I am about to outline below. Follow these suggestions at your own risk, however. Although I’ve successfully used these tools I can’t guarantee that something unexpected won’t happen. As always backup important data.

 

Anti-Virus Software:  This should be a no-brainer. Current Anti-Virus software is simply a must have. Anti-Virus software that is outdated by more than a day is virtually useless. It must be current.  Infected machines are not only slower but they also attempt to spread the virus to other systems. Symantec (Norton) or Mcafee provide the most popular products on the market for anti-virus protection. Either can be found at Best Buy, Office Depot, or other businesses that sell software. There is a free product called AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition that also works well. AVG Anti-Virus can be downloaded by the going to this site:

 

http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/1/

 

Uninstall out of date Anti-Virus software before installing any new anti-virus program.

 

Firewall: A firewall prevents unwanted intrusions into your computer or network from outside sources. Firewalls protect your personal data and prevent hackers from using your computer’s resources.  Firewalls can be established by installing firewall software or by using a router. For technical reasons I prefer using a router but they are a little more difficult to use.  Norton and Mcafee both have firewall software (it can come bundled with anti-virus software as well). Netgear, D-Link, Link-Sys all make reliable and fairly easy to use routers. Routers and firewall software can be found at Best Buy, Office Depot, or other businesses that sell software and computer equipment. Zone Alarm is a free firewall program that I’ve used successfully in the past. It can be found by going to this site:

 

http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/catalog/products/sku_list_za.jsp

 

Windows Update: Many viruses, trojans, and much of today’s spyware and popup adds take advantage of security holes that are a part of every Windows operating system. To plug these holes Microsoft periodically releases hot fixes and patches. These patches and fixes are often critical to the long term usability and security of a computer. Getting the updates are easy. Here’s how:

 

  1. Open up Internet Explorer
  2. Go to “Tools”
  3. Select “Windows Update”
  4. On the web page that opens click “Scan for updates”
  5. Allow the scan to finish.
  6. To the left of the screen you’ll see how many critical updates and service packs need to be installed. Click on that link and then hit the “Install” button. Continue running Windows Update until the number of “Critical Updates and Service Packs” reads ‘0’

 

Spyware and Adware Removal: Systems that are awash in spyware/adware exhibit some or all of the following symptoms: popup adds for no apparent reason, computer performs poorly, icons and programs are mysteriously installed, homepage has been changed, toolbars in Internet Explorer have been added. Spyware/adware has become an increasingly common problem and can be real frustrating to deal with. Luckily there are tools out there that can effectively control the problem.

 

    1. Ad-Aware: In my opinion this is the best free program on the Internet. Run it once a week and it will take care of most spyware/adware issues. Here’s the link:

http://www.lavasoft.de/

Over on the left hand side of the page you’ll see a link for “Ad-Aware Personal.” That’s what you’ll want for the free version.

 

    1. Ccleaner: Cleans up a lot of the mess spyware/adware leaves behind. It also does some nice routine maintenance. Ccleaner can be found here:

http://www.ccleaner.com/