Now that the holidays are over, and we are once again settling into our daily routine, we tend to start doing things we have been putting off until the holidays were over. We go back to our usual activities, whether it is work or school, and continue life as it was before the holiday rush.
Now is a good time to take a look at your computer security, and setup, to ensure that your computer isn’t compromised in any way. Having a compromised computer can be dangerous, especially if any of your data is accessed. There are a few preventative measures you can take to help increase your computer security.
Computer Security Suggestions
There are many things you can do to ensure you computer is as secure as it can be. While your system probably won’t be completely secure, every little bit you can do can provide you with some protection.
- Install anti-virus and anti-malware software. Installing, and using, a good anti-virus and anti-malware application is a common thing to do for each computer. Ensure that the applications are updated, and that they are run at least once a month.
- Install a software firewall. Windows, by default, includes a built-in firewall. The firewall is pretty good, and the latest versions seem to have more options, but a standalone software firewall can have more options and more security features. There are several good firewalls that are free to install and use.
- Use a hardware firewall. If you currently use a router at home, chances are you already have a hardware firewall as they are usually built into the router. If you currently have broadband Internet with no hardware firewall, I suggest you go a buy one as it provides great protection to everything connected to it.
- Install the operating system patches. Operating systems on usually patched on a regular basis, and you should ensure that you have all the latest patches installed. Many of the patches contain security fixes to close known security holes in the system, so update your operating system.
- Upgrade and update installed programs. Ensure that you use the most updated version of each application that is installed on your computer, or that all all the patches have been installed. Much like operating system patches, software patches may also close known security holes.
- Don’t use an administrator account. If possible, switch to a standard user account instead of an administrator account. Having a standard user account will limit what you can do on the system, but also applications, especially unknown ones. On many operating systems, you can always type in the password of an administrator account if something needs to be installed or changed on the system.
- Create longer passwords. Now is the time to also think about changing passwords for various accounts. The longer the password, the harder it is to crack, so choose ones that are longer than ten characters.
These are several options that you can follow to help keep your computer secure. There are many other options, but following the above ones can go a long way to keep you and your data protected.
9 Comments
Very well said. Allowing others to use your internet brought your computer at risk, it must be secure that no one could use it except you. Installing firewall are also good it helps actually. Thanks for this great information.
I agree. Installing anti-virus and effective firewall are necessary in order to have a full protection to your computer, longer passwords on your various accounts are helpful too because many hackers now a days that are very intelligent in triggering computers. A lot of information I learn here and I’m so much grateful for that.
Not to mention you need a firewall for those unscrupulous neighbors that want to use your internet service for free. Not to long ago I discovered my neighbor using my internet connection and i caused my internet to run as slow as molasses. No free Internet this year! LOL.
Having someone use your Internet is definitely an issue. The best thing you can do to stop someone from using your Internet is to secure your router. By preventing people from connecting to your router, you stop them from using your Internet connection.
For myself, I stick with Ubuntu or any linux distributions, as they have less security flaws, and choose really difficult passwords like Et89n8_$3rjijU… Nothing ever happened to me… But windows is more difficult to manage regarding to security issues.
I have recently install Ubuntu on a VM for the first time. So far, it looks good, but I haven’t played around with it for too long.
Great tips! It does create extra work to keep things more secure but in the long run, it’s worth the effort.
Although to be honest, I hate non-Administrator account
Twitter: michaelaulia
I used to hate using a non-Administrator account as well, but I find Windows 7 much easier to use a standard account than the previous versions of Windows. When an action requires an administrator account, Windows prompts me for the admin password, so I don’t need to switch users.
Ah..didn’t know about this as I’ve been using Administrator accounts back in Windows XP (and maybe 95 and 98 too)
Twitter: michaelaulia