10 Smart Ways to Protect Your Computer against Viruses

Virus infection on your computer may cause a very serious damage and even loss on your business. You can just imagine it may wreck your system registry or your entire computer (with all your receivables data on it!) or all your HTML programs! It will come to total black out screen, it will not boot at all. But that is actually the worse scenario that may happen. Are you going to wait for this worse scenario in your life to happen? I guess NOT, right?
Here are the 10 smart ways that I personally do to protect my computers against viruses, malicious dialers and spywares.
(1)If you are using Windows XP, always turn on the firewall.
(2)Always run all necessary latest updates & service packs (all windows! including all your programs & software!---keep them updated)
(3)Run your anti-virus program everyday (some do it every week) There are many virus programs that you can get for free scanning.
(4)Run your anti-spyware/adaware once a week (I run Spybot Search & Destroy & Lavasoft Adware Personal --- they are shareware, meaning it's free!). What I do is that, I run the Lavasoft Adware first, then run the Spybot Search and Destroy (I also run it with "immunize" tool). These two tools are always on top of my desktop for easy access.
(5)Turn on the pop-up blocker - this feature is available on Windows XP (you can see this under tools>Internet Options >Privacy>click Block Pop Ups. In addition to this, I also download another pop up blocker, the Google Toolbar. I find their pop up blocker the most effective in blocking pop ups.
(6)Never open mails that are suspicious to you or not known to you. If they are in your bulk mail, send it back to your provider as "spam"! I never enable my bulk mail. I automatically delete emails from my bulk mail.
(7)When using messenger (IM) services, be very careful with files being sent through instant messenger. Rather choose to have it emailed it to you. Most of email services now has virus check and clears it if the file has virus or not.
(8)Be very careful when downloading files or any programs from the internet, pay attention on the instructions while downloading it. Downloading may sometimes cause error on the system registry or the entire computer system (one example, my nephew got his computer badly infected with viruses because of heavy downloading of games and music! - I guess!)
(9)Be careful with files that come from a floppy disk or any other external storage when you open it in your CD ROM of floppy drive. You should know its source, or better yet, when you insert it, have it scanned with your anti-virus program before you open the files.
(10)Run defragmentation, disk clean up, registry scanner at least once a week. You can find defragmentation by simply pointing your mouse on drive C: (which is usually the hard disk main logical drive)> right click the mouse>click on properties>click on tools>click on defragment now!
There are so many shareware on the internet that you can get for free! (that is the reason it is a shareware!). Keeping your computer healthy can make you more productive (if you have a business!) or it will make you enjoy more surfing and browsing the internet!

Top 10 Ways to Protect Your Computer from Hackers

 

Because computer use has become an integral part of modern-day living, IT security has naturally developed into one of the foremost worries we have in everyday life. Therefore, it's only natural for IT specialists to create practical methods that the average user can follow in order to protect his or her machine from the ravages of the information superhighway. At any rate, below are the top ten steps you can take to help safeguard your computer from digital destruction:

 

1.           Windows Updates: Let's face it; the many different iterations of the world's best-selling OS have all been targeted by hackers so often that it's become a given to provide continuous daily, weekly, or monthly updates to your Windows-based computer. It's important for you to keep your OS up to speed in order to minimize the possibility of having worms or viruses compromise your system.

 

2.           Software Updates: As with the above example, it's important for you to get the latest fixes or versions of your favorite applications in order to never let hackers find the opportunity to invade your virtual turf. Make sure that your web browsers and other web-based programs are given good upgrades or patches.

 

3.           Anti-Virus Software: Running your machine without an anti-virus software—especially if it's regularly connected to the Internet—is downright suicidal in these modern, computer-virus-ridden times. Get one as soon as you can, and always confirm if its virus definitions are regularly updated. There are many wonderful anti-virus suites available, and AVG is among the best of them because it's both effective and free.

 

4.           Anti-Spyware Software: Spyware remains to be a continuous threat to computer users everywhere, even though it's not as nightmarishly horrid as the days of Bonzi Buddy and CoolWebSearch. Thanks to anti-spyware luminaries like Ad-Aware, the formerly crippling spyware contagion had dwindled down throughout the years.

 

5.           Switch to Macintosh: Even though the Mac OS X has been listed in this very website as one of the least secure operating systems out there in terms of vulnerability volume, this fact only came about because fewer hackers bother to invade this platform in the first place. Otherwise, the Mac is as safe as can be. Therefore, even though no computer is foolproof against malware, the Macintosh gets a pass for the simple fact that it's not as commonly targeted as, say, Windows-based computers.

 

6.           Hacker-Controlled Websites: Common sense dictates that you should avoid going to bad neighborhoods, especially if you carry a lot of valuables. The same could be said in the wild, wild world of the worldwide web. Avoid getting snared by dubious sites dedicated to porn, free downloads, online games, and so on; this way, there are less chances for you to be hacked.

 

7.           Firewall: If you don't have a third-party firewall like ZoneAlarm Pro installed, then it's highly recommended for you to activate your Windows firewall (available on all Windows versions from XP and up). Firewalls help filter your traffic, and there are some products that even filter both incoming and outgoing data streams.

 

8.           Spam Email: Unsolicited messages should never be opened, and that goes double for unsolicited messages with file attachments. Fortunately, web-based email sites like Gmail have an extra layer of protection integrated in them (though it's still not recommended for you to overly rely on them like Sarah Palin did with her hijacked webmail). When in doubt, just delete the message.

 

9.           Data Backup: If you have critical data, work-related documents, or personal files, then you must back them up as often as possible, because you never know what will happen to your computer. From viruses to system crashes, these sensitive bits of information can be wiped clean from your hard drive in the blink of an eye, so it's best to always have a backup at hand.

 

10.      Password Policies: The passwords you pick could mean the difference between a breached computer and a safe computer. At any rate, the most common recommendations when it comes to picking a password includes not using the same password on every one of your accounts, using combinations of letters and numbers, and making sure that your password is as arcane as possible without necessarily making it too difficult for you to remember it.