If you have just bought a new personal computer for your home and want to secure it various vulnerabilities (including protecting it from viruses and spyware). Internet hold dangers for the unwary computer user.
Without proper precautions, your data is at risk every minute when your system is connected to the web.
Here are some of the most useful handy tips to make your PC secure.
1. Vaccinate Your PC – Computer viruses are vile bits of code that can cause a lot of damage to your PC. To stay safe, install the best antivirus software you can afford – a good antivirus suite from companies like Norton and McAfee is standard, or download and install Microsoft Security Essentials.
Infact you can download AVG Antivirus 2012 from http://free.avg.com/gb-en without paying any fee.
2. Check your Firewall – Firewall can either be software-based or hardware-based thatfilters and monitors the data sent to and received from the internet. It stops anyone accessing your PC over the internet without permission.Windows gives you a built in firewall. You must ensure that your firewall is ON before you connect to the outer world through internet.
Tocheckyour, click Start -> Control Panel -> System -> Security -> Check Firewall Status. The firewall status should be “ON”.
3. Stay Upto Date – To protect your PC from vulnerabilitiesyou can, or should, make sure your PC is kept up to date and has the necessary patches to keep it safe. Updates helps to cure bugs that cause crashes and add new features.
To update manually click Start -> type ‘Update’. Now click Updates Windows -> Check for Updates to see any new updates. Click Install Updates to apply them. You can automate the process by configuring Automatic Updates in Windows.
4. Password -Apasswordis a secretwordthat is used forauthentication. Make sure all the user accounts on your PC should be protected by a password. To set passwords, lick Start -> Control Panel -> User Accounts and Family Saftey -> change your Windows Password. In case if there is no password cluck Create your Windows Password.
You must choose a strong password whichis difficult to guess. You can visit to get some useful password creation tips by Microsoft Safety & Security Center Password Checker.
5. Get Early Warnings – Mostly our PC gets infected by visiting an infected website. To safe your PC from visiting such infected websites download McAfee SiteAdvisor tool or AVG tool.
6. Limit Admin Access – It’s a good idea to use your PC with a standard user account, and use your Administrator account only when you need to make big changes. As if a hacker comes along, they will find it difficult to infiltrate your machine.
In Control Panel select Add or Remove User Accounts -> Create new account. Select Standard User and provide an account name. Don’t forget to set password for account.
7. Test Files For Viruses – When you are not sure about a file you have received and your PC antivirus software hasn’t flagged it as dangerous, don’t open it. Instead try F-Secure’s Online Scanner. Here you can upload your file and the scanner will test it.
You can visit Virustotalto analyse your file. This use 40 different antivrus dystems to analyse files.
8. Back Up Online – Data can be accidentally deleted, damaged by a virus or a hard disk failure, etc. Therefore you should have a backup plan to save all critical data. You can back up files online using Microsoft Skydrive.
Visit Skydrive , and log in with your Live username and password. Click Add Files, select all important files on your PC and click Open to upload them.
9. Try a PC Check UP -You can use F-Secure’s excellent Health Check website to have your PC health check. Accept the license terms by clicking the box, and then click Run Check. On completion, the test will give a full report. Never click on internet pop-ups that appear and offer yourmachinea check-ups.
