Keeping your computer safe.

As I am often asked to come over and fix peoples computers, I thought I’d write up a little tech article to address the most common problems.

The Number One reason peoples computers break, or are slow, or any other issue can all be related back to “Computer Security”.

Buy yourself a brand new computer, plug it in, and get on the internet, and within days your PC will be about 90% slower than it was when you pulled it out of the box.

Do you have “Top Secret” data on your PC?

Do you use Quicken,? Quickbooks?
Do you download your bank data?
Do you check your bank balance online?
Do you buy anything online with a credit card?
Pay bills online?
Store your budget on your computer?
Do your taxes on your computer?
Scan in your Birth Certificates? Social Security Cards? Drivers Licenses?
Do you check the box on a website to remember your passwords?

Any one of these things can put your person information at risk.

I have compiled a list of things you should do to keep your PC and your information safe, and keep your PC from slowing down and crashing all the time.

1) NEVER send valuable information via Email! EVER!

Never email anyone your SSN, Account number, or ANY password via email. EVER. Never respond to anyone asking for this information. Email leaves your computer and goes through a number of other public computers before it gets to its destination.

Any of these computers can easily read your message. A hacker can put a program out there that searches emails that come through for words like “Account” “Credit Card Number” “Password” etc. They make copies of messages containing this data.

2) Install a firewall. NOW!

When you first connect your computer to the internet, it will get hit several thousand times with programs called “Port Scanners”. These programs just sit there and scan the net for unprotected PCs. Once you connect, it will find you in a matter of seconds, and load Trojan software on your PC.

This is one reason your brand new, state-of-the-art PC begins to slow down after you connect to the internet.If you can help it, you should never plug your PC directly into your Cable or DSL modem. This puts you directly on the Net with no protection. Buy a cable/DSL router. This will put a barrier between your computer and the net. It doesn’t slow you down at all. You can find one for about $40.00. It will also allow you to connect multiple computers to the internet.

This is called a Hardware firewall.

Second, install a Software Firewall on each PC you have connected to the net. You can find a great FREE firewall here (http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/ ). Download it and install it. It will start to ask you if programs are allowed in and out. I

t will soon learn what is OK and what is not.Now you have blocked 99% of the hacking attempts that are coming at you.

3) Get rid of all that Spyware.

When you visit a website, it may put a “cookie” on your PC. A cookie is simply a little file containing information. It may be a simple as your State. This way when you go back to a site, it will know what State you are in.

More often than not, it is a tracking cookie. A program that will track what websites you visit. This data is sent back to the original website. They usually use this data for marketing purposes. If you go to a lot of sport sites, then they may want to show you mostly sports ads.

Some cookies do much more damage.

Most computers I am asked to fix contain about 300 of these Malicious tracking cookies. With each of these cookies talking back to their website via YOUR internet connection, you will see a MUCH slower browsing experience.

Get Rid of them!

One good, FREE, tool is AdAware
(http://www.download.com/3000-2144-10045910.html)
Download it, install it, update it, and run it.

You’ll be surprised how many cookies, etc. you have.This program contains a list of what each of the “bad” cookies looks like. It compares each cookie to its list of known bad cookie, and marks and deletes them. You have the option to update this list. Since they update this list daily, you should run “Check for updates” every time you run it, to make sure you have the latest list. (Just like with a Virus Scanner)Get rid of the spyware/Malware/Adware and your PC will speed up tremendously.Run at least once a month, if not weekly.

You can also set AdAware to run whenever you boot up your computer. Not a bad idea.

4) Install an Anti-Virus

Here is another place you can get free Anti-virus software: http://antivirus.comodo.com/ You should install it, and set it up to check for updates daily, and automatically scan your computer. Also make sure to set it to automatically check your email attachments as well.No Computer should EVER be with out Anti-Virus Software.

5) Keep your PC updated

Occasionally (ok, daily) Microsoft will discover that there is a security hole is Windows, or Internet Explorer, or some other software. They fix the hole and then put out a patch so you can update your computer.

If you are on Windows XP, you can set up your PC to automatically download and install the updates once Microsoft releases them.If you haven’t updated in a while, or ever, then there are probably a TON of security vulnerabilities that every hacker knows about, but you haven’t plugged yet.

Go to http://update.microsoft.com/ It will automatically scan your PC to see if you need updates or patches. After installing these, go back and scan again to see if you need more. Repeat until it says you have every available update.

Now go to Control Panel – Security Center – Automatic UpdatesTurn Automatic Updates on.

6) Passwords

Even if you password protect something, a hacker can easily CRACK your password. A good cracking program will attempt to repeatedly guess your password until it gets it right. For most passwords, this takes only a few seconds. I have done this myself, to check my own password security.

Easy passwords are cracked in the first 10 seconds. Make sure you have a GOOD password.If the word is found in a dictionary or is a person’s name. It will be cracked in seconds.

A cracking program is loaded with dictionarys of words and names. Within seconds it compares your password against this dictionary. Then it starts to try alternatives of those words.

Example: John Smith has a username of Jsmith.

Most likely he will try a password like one of these:

jsmith1
john
sally
sally01
bobby (sons name)
bobby04 (sons name/age)
101595 (Anniversery or Birthday)
fido (dogs name)
cowboys (favorite team name)

Any of these passwords would be cracked in under 10 seconds. Instead consider either a ramdom password (http://www.pctools.com/guides/password/) or misspell a word.

Also, mix upper and lower case, as well as numbers and characters. This might be a better password for John Smith:eyyeLoeVsally95

It is the sentence: I Love Sally with “I” changed to “eye” and misspelled, and Love misspelled. Also, the L and the V are capitalized. The year they were married is added at the end to include numbers.

Plus it is a long password. 15 characters. The longer the better. A 15 character password can last for years before you have to change it. This password earns a BEST security rating from Microsoft’s Password Checker (http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/privacy/password_checker.mspx)

Check out this site to test the strength of your own passwords.

7) SPAM

If you already get a ton of spam, the easiest thing to do is change your email address. I recommend setting up 2 addresses. One for public and one for private.When you are required to give out your email address, use the public one. For all your friends and family, give out your private.

I RARELY check my public email since it will get me a TON of spam. However I get almost NO spam on my private one. You can install any number of spam software, but none of it works perfectly. The BEST bet is to Never give out your private email address to anyone your don’t want to have it.

Simple.

8) Lastly, Be careful when surfing.

Don’t ever give out your information unless you know exactly where it is going and who it is using. Don’t install ANYTHING from the internet unless you know what it is, and have specifically gone to that website to get that software. Be suspicious!

For a further information go here:
http://www.cert.org/homeusers/HomeComputerSecurity/