Your Computers Safety (March 28 2007)
Today's computer users are more at risk then ever before. With virus's, crackers and spyware expanding just as fast as computers things must be done to help protect your computer.
There is a ever expanding list of computer virus' that do more harm then ever before. But the most effective virus' aren't always the ones that do most damage to a single computer. For instance a self-replicating virus can pass itself on to multiple users without anyone ever knowing. We have virus's out there that will send emails through your email account automatically. But not all the time is it easy to track.
For instance a email generated from a virus could very easily adjust the sender information to make it look like it came from someone else, or at the same time it could just use the infected computers owner first and last name. To prevent this it is best to keep your computer software upgraded. For instance, Microsoft is constantly releasing updates to their Office programs. By keeping your software up to date it makes it more difficult for a email virus to exploit the needed information to replicate. And at the end of the day the best security function is to have a lot of preventive measures setup. Of course Anti-Virus software is always suggested however try and avoid the big name brands such as Norton or McAffe as they can create bigger issues then virus's. They can also create more problems then needed. For instance Norton makes changes to a users Microsoft Outlook settings which in the end can cause your email to stop working, as the intentions may be good by Norton it can lead to bigger problems down the road.
A good example of a good antivirus program is AVG's Free Anti-virus download available at http://free.grisoft.com
By avoiding using anti-virus software you only increase the chance of your computer becoming infected and the possibility of your computer helping spread virus's & spam instead of stopping it.
Another major piece of software for computers is software called Firewall's. A firewall creates a wall between your computer and all traffic coming into your computer and going out. While not all wall's are perfect it is important to keep your firewall software up to date so you have the best patches on potential holes. But by installing a firewall doesn't mean your computer is safe. There is no software available that will guarantee your computer is 100% secured from outside intruders.
The main purpose to the firewall is to make it as hard as possible for someone to be able to gain access to your computer. A cracker (most commonly referred to as a hacker) will spend hours trying to break into a computer system however if the cracker continues to fail to make any progress eventually he/she will give up unless they are trying to enter into something such as the Pentagon. Therefore a cracker will not spend days trying to gain access to a random users computer. Instead they will usually move onto another user.
Norton Internet security is an example of a firewall however as with Norton Antivirus by installing Norton software you can simple create more problems, therefore I would highly suggest something like ZoneAlarm. ZoneAlarm alerts you everytime something on your computer tries to pass information through your NIC card. It also allows you to give certain software permission to access the internet or your local network automatically without prompting a request everytime. ZoneAlarm does the same with incoming connections as well. It shows connection requests that have been denied automatically but will also prompt you to allow certain types of connections such as Remote Desktop connections. The good thing about ZoneAlarm is that it provides suggestions on what to do with each request.
Lastly another important piece of software is Anti-Spyware software. Spyware is more of a newer thing then Virus'. By installing anti-spyware software you setup a monitoring system that tracks any additional bugs that are attached to software that you download or install. For instance, by downloading something off the web you could be downloading a bit more then your aware of. For instance Bonzi software released BonziBUDDY which appeared to be just smart software that helped you browse along the web and do basic computer functions. Little did users know that the software actually tracked their information and sent it back to Bonzi software. The software would then serve ads on your screen depending on the information you inputted into your computer creating highly targeted marketing. While BonziBUDDY is one example there are many other possible spyware programs you can download unintentionally. With software today it could very easily track your credit card numbers you input into a computer or other personal details which could be used against you in such instances are identity theft.
Good programs to help combant Spyware are Microsoft's new Windows Defender and Ad-Aware.
