The Secure Computer (Pipe) Dream
Keeping Mules Slides Dress Shoes data and activity secure on a Daewoo Flat Tv Screen Portable that is connected Stroker Motor Oil Pan the internet is a multi-layered process. No system is completely secure no matter how hard you attempt to make it be, however, there are a number of ways to increase your protection against system corruption/crash Ibx Bluecross Blueshield intrusion.
Your first line of defense is to have your operating system (Windows update) secure and up to date. The normal way to do Wyoming Marvel Wine Refrigerator is to have it set to do updates automatically. Using this approach, the operating system will be available to download and install updates that are released either by Microsoft or by the company whose antivirus software you have running on the computer.
The second line of defense is to have some sort of firewall software or hardware installed to prevent spyware from being installed. Typically a hardware firewall works the best. Software firewalls such as Norton’s Internet Security or McAfee’s Personal Firewall (or Canine Pregnancy Test your flavor of the day is) tend to cause a system to bog down and not run as fast or efficient as it previously was. On top of slowing down your computer, a software firewall make ‘break’ when it is updated. What I mean by that is when the software does an automatic update, you Genie Door Opener Instructions have problems receiving or sending emails or possibly getting to any websites. If that happens, it is Nokiaverizon Prepaid Wireless Phones to try to disable the firewall and see if that makes a difference.
Thirdly is the rootkit. Rootkits have been well publicized in the recent past. A rootkit is a general description for a set of programs which work to take control of the computer from its legitimate users. Typically these are installed unbeknownst to the user when installing a piece of software (shareware/freeware) that has been downloaded from the internet. Detecting and removing a rootkit requires special software. Most antivirus applications may detect a rootkit that is installed, but they are not designed to remove them. You can find more information about this at my website.
Why Windows Update?
Microsoft provides a website that you can visit to manually update your computer when you want to if you don’t have it set to do this automatically. Having the computer set to download and install Windows updates automatically is probably the best thing to do since you won’t have to remember to update it manually. Microsoft releases updates on a regular basis, typically once a month. It can be more frequently if they have determined that there has been a newly discovered way to damage the computer.
You do have the choice to NOT install updates, or to pick and choose which ones to install or not. You need to have the system set to download, but not install, updates. Then when the computer ‘announces’ that there are updates available, you can choose which ones to install. I like this option because there may be some updates that don’t need to be installed. For the typical home user, install all of them.
Antivirus/Firewall Updates
These are a must! Especially antivirus updates. Most AV products are set to go out to their servers and download new ‘definitions’ on a regular basis. This Free Computer Technology Lesson Plans frame can change depending on if there are new virus threats out there. As mentioned above, Microsoft typically releases updates on ‘Patch Tuesday’, the second Tuesday of each month. Antivirus company’s can release definition updates as frequently as twice a week, but typically it is once a week. The same goes for Firewall updates.
One thing that can happen with both the antivirus and firewall updates is that you may lose your ‘connection’ to the internet. In other words, if you find that all of a sudden you try to access the internet through Internet Explorer or are trying to receive emails, you may get an error message stating that you have no connection. At this point in time you should disable either or both of these applications and then try to access again. If you can access after disabling, you should restart your computer and try again. If not, contact the support area for the software and get instructions on how to reverse the updates, if possible.
Rootkits
There are people out there that hold the opinion that it is impractical to attempt to remove rootkit software if you suspect that your computer is infected with one of these. The idea is that it will take much more time and effort to try to rid your system of this software that it would to just reinstall the operating system and other software. The subject of rootkits is a bit deeper than what can be covered here and I will leave that for a future article.
Bottom Line
As always, once you have taken the measures necessary to secure your computer against the bad guys with updates and firewalls and scanning the system regularly, it is still up to you, the pc owner to monitor activity on the computer. Even the most experienced computer user has been known to infect a computer unknowingly.
Ron Barrett is the owner of Ron’s Computer Service, your online helpdesk for computer related problems. You can subscribe to his weekly newsletter ‘Bits and Bytes: Decoding the Digital World’ by sending an email to him. He is Certified Help Desk Analyst, CompTIA A+ Certified and has earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Information Technology. He has worked in several companies in the role of help desk analyst, desk top support and network/email administrator. In his Panel Convection Radiators time he enjoys spending time with his wife and three boys, working around the house and trying to perfect his golf swing.