Roz designz: E-tip #5 | Computer Safeguards | Informative Articles on Marketing and Designing your Website

Are you at risk from hackers on the Internet? These days one cannot be too keyboard

careful in safeguarding and protecting computer privacy. This E-tip will touch on the essentials of how to secure computers whether at the office or home and give several safeguards from outside intruders as well as internal computer problems that could most likely occur.

Tips to Secure your PC for Outside Intruders

Anti-virus protection: installing an anti-virus program nowadays is like opening up an umbrella overhead to run from your car to a store when it’s pouring. We protect ourselves from the outside elements. It’s much the same way when installing programming to protect our computers from possible intruders. If you haven’t installed one on your computer this is vital to the safety of your Internet browsing. These two virus programs I highly recommend: Norton AntiVirus or McAfee VirusScan . What is great about either of theses programs is you can go online for current updates or set your PC to automatically check for the virus updates. Newly purchased computers usually have a trial version included and need to be updated in a couple of months. This gives time to get familiar with the program and it’s benefits.

Firewall: Zone Alarm is considered by some to be the Best and is one of the most widely used firewalls on the Net. I highly recommend it and it has blocked some pings on my computer that could have been a breach in my Internet privacy. Firewalls protect your computer from outside Internet traffic that could be harmful. They act as a guardian much like a security guard that is posted outside an office building, gated golf club or community. You cannot pass until you have proven your identity to the guard at the gate. Firewalls offer several filters, exploring the help area when setting up your firewall program is a priority to make sure your settings suit your personal needs. Zone Alarm offers a free downloadable version that can be upgraded at anytime on their website. Commercial upgrades have a lot more features but having a firewall installed is vital to the security of Internet browsing.

Email safeguards: Receiving emails used to be a delight. Remember those worry free days of sending fun little emails all around the Internet? If you are experiencing frustration over the bombardment of Spam emails you are not alone. Any person that has had a computer for a short amount of time and browses the Internet is prey just like the rest of us. There is no foolproof answer to this growing dilemma but there are a few questions that must be considered in order to help bring back a pleasant emailing experience. If we put our emails to the scrutiny of these few questions we’ll be sure to rest easier when sending and receiving email. Think about it, if you receive an email that puts a question in your mind or a few for that matter just press DELETE. If a friend or co-worker has sent you something they can always resend it to you.

Questions to consider

Do you know who the sender is? If not, this can be a red flag and something to look into further before opening any attachments included in the email.

Does the subject line pertain to you? If it sounds a little personal either you know the sender or you don’t, right?

Does the email have sentences with numbers mixed in the words? It’s a guarantee you are SPAMMED.

Have you received an email that asks you to delete files on your PC? Sometimes friends send these Hoaxes or Myths without investigating them thoroughly. This website V Myths has a listing of updated Hoaxes and Myths and can be checked quickly. The sender should be notified that the content was either a Hoax or Myth. They’ll appreciate it in the long run. Some of these are harmless but others can erase the address book completely from the hard drive or worse. See this Example of a Hoax that has circulated for several years. [backing up all files is very important] We’ll cover this in the next section more thoroughly.

The questions above will help you to judge whether opening the email will be detrimental to your PC’s security. Turning off the preview pane in your email program will help filter any unwanted pictures or advertisements that may be questionable material for family viewing.

You can report any Spam email to the Federal Trade Commission at uce@ftc.gov. Most Internet providers [ISP] have Spam filtering services and if they do not will appreciate any reports of spammers. If you feel that an email is life threatening call your local police Pronto!

Additional Articles and Resources:
• Article: Safeguard Your System
• Download: Google tool bar
• Article: Home Computer Security

Tips to Secure your PC from Inside Intruders

From my experience back up is vital in safeguarding files and programs from several possible hazards. In Florida lightening can strike and hit the phone line or setting up a new program to your computer can reek havoc and then the infamous glitches keep reoccurring. There are many instances that can be mentioned here but you get the point. It’s like having a little extra cash stowed away for a rainy day. These listed next are the most popular and easy ways to ensure files, programs and information are safe.

3-½ floppy disk drive: smaller files can be copied to a 3-½ floppy disk. These are slowly phasing out and if your have a newer computer such as a laptop this may not even be an option to insert internally. Portable floppy drives are available at a minimum cost and are great for organizing lots of smaller files. Remember that humidity can be an enemy to these diskettes so, keep them in a cool dry place when possible. High humidity can cause these diskettes to not work in a time span as short as six months.

CD-ROM drives or CD-ROM/DVD drives: CD disks hold a lot more information than the 3-½ floppy diskettes. They are great for copying graphics and backing up small computer programs.

CDR disks allow one time access when storing information on them. After that they are READ ONLY.
CDRW disks give the user options whether to erase or add more files at a later date. If there are files already on it they will not be erased.

EZ-CD Creator

Zip drive: they come with their own excellent back up programs! They definitely come in handy when files are too large for the CDR’s or CDRW’s. Zip drives are now priced reasonably and are well worth the initial investment. Keeping files safe and backed up will save major headaches in the future.

Additional articles and resources:
• Norton Ghost Backup Program
• Microsoft Windows Update
• Article: Essential safeguards for your computing experience
• The Coming Privacy Storm Over RFID Chips: by: Mike Banks Valentine