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Its_War_I_Tell_You
| Its War I Tell You!
As you may or may not know, a new computer is extremely
vulnerable when you first get online with it. There are ways to
insure security though. You can get the Windows Update CD from
Microsoft and install that before you get online. You can also
get most Antivirus Definitions dnloaded and save em to disk and
then install those before you go online. Course you have to be
using that Product in the first place. And you can get
AntiSpyware on a disk and do the same. But how many people do
that in their excitement to take it out of the box and hook it
and see what She'll do.
Sans Internet Storm Center says those people will have their
Puter infected with adware or worse in less than 20 min! Virgin
Puters online stick out like a sore thumb. And the pain from
that sore thumb will be considerably less that the person who
soon realizes their brand new puter is sick. First comes the
shock, then the anger, then the question. How do I fix it? If
they are lucky they can fix it fairly cheaply. It might involve
a lot of time listening to elevator music while you’re in the
hold queue. Either way it’s no fun.
Education is what’s needed here folks.
In this Article I plan on touching on simple easy steps you can
take to keep your Puter Happy and safe. First lets talk about
your online connection itself. Dialup, Satellite, DSL, whatever
you have, make sure they are secure. Call em and ask em. What
kind of Security do they employ to keep your Websurfing secure?
Most often they have the info at their site. Read their Privacy
Policy.
Ok, now the Browser part. A touchy subject with many. I use
Firefox mostly and IE only when I have to. Unless you’ve been
living in a hole you know IE has its Vulnerabilities. Nothing
against IE folks. It gets targeted so much because that’s what
people use most. Hackers, Spammers, Phishers, and the rest know
this and swarm like sharks. Firefox has its problems too. They
are getting noticed and they are having to work harder too at
keeping their browser safe too. Whatever you use, keep it
updated. Whatever you use, get some monitoring software, like
Bigfix or Winpatrol. Learn how they work and you'll be a happy
Websurfer.
While we're talking about software products, let’s think about
what you do online. There are many Products out there that try
and cover all aspects of protecting your puter. It’s hard to
write software though to do all that. I’ve found a mixture of
products do well for me. Right now I use Win patrol, Sygate
Firewall and AVast Antivirus with Ad-Aware SE to cover my bases.
But what works for me may not work for you. So how do you find
the right combination or if you’re lucky the single product that
will do the job? Education. Pure and simple. You have to become
educated in what is going on out there on the WWW and be
prepared for it. We're not talking a lot of money either in most
cases. There is some great products out there that are free! The
Web is diverse, with Forums, Blogs, Instant Messaging, Video
Conferencing, and of course Websites. Especially the new .XXX
ones. Each has its own uniqueness as far as vulnerabilities.
Whatever your preference, make sure you’re safe.
Chances are though, you'll pick up some spyware. It’s hard for
the Hardware and software Suppliers to keep up to the minute
patches available. Although I’ve seen patches available in under
3 hours from some suppliers. Hopefully what gets you will be
harmless, just annoying. This kind just puts a cookie on your
puter and tracks you as you go from website to website.
Marketing info is what they are after. But some Spyware can be
Nasty. They log your keystrokes, and this means your logins and
Credit Card numbers.
And now for Email. How the human race ever did without email we
may never know. Its one of the greatest conveniences ever and
what a timesaver. You don’t need a stamp and there’s no dash to
the mailbox in the rain. But as always, along with the good
comes the bad. People want to use your Bank account to put money
in, They want you to open this attachment, and please just click
on this URL! Spammers, Hookers, Phishers Oh My! My advice, scan
anything that is not from someone you know with Anti-Virus.
Never click on a URL from your Bank. Go there yourself from your
Browser. Check to see if your Mail Program has an option to warn
you if there is anything in the email that may be a virus, like
in Outlook Express. It can be inconvenient sometimes, but worth
it. Some of the better Web based services like Yahoo have a Junk
Mail Folder that helps immensely. I never even open the folder,
I just delete the contents everyday.
Remember, you need to become educated if you’re going to be on
the Internet. I hope to see in my lifetime the end of Spyware.
About the author:
About the Author: Doug Woodall has a website at
http://www.spywarebiz.com There he provides free information and
recommended products to combat Spyware. He is a member of the
IWA (International Webmasters Association) Doug can be reached
at spywarebiz@comcast.net
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