A Basic Guide To Internet Security

The internet is a wonderful place; many of us use it on a regular basis for a multitude of functions. Email helps us to keep in touch with family, and friends all over the world and most people have at least one email account. The growing use of digital cameras and camera phones means that we can send pictures at the click of a mouse. MP3 players have become increasingly popular, and we can download songs to play on them with extreme ease. All of this is great, and the internet is becoming a big part of our everyday lives.

Unfortunately, there is a downside to all of this increased use of the internet. That is the growth of the spread of viruses and other so-called 'malware'. Originally, internet hackers were satisfied keeping their attentions focussed on government and business websites, and their viruses were intended to attack corporations. Most hackers saw this as a challenge. However, there is now an increasing trend towards home computer users being targeted by these attacks. The amount of damage that can be caused by a virus varies, but there are a number of easy steps that a person can take to help increase their internet security.

The first step to keeping your computer free from viruses is to have up-to-date antivirus software running on your computer. You need to make regular checks to ensure that your software is updated, and to scan your entire computer for viruses. There are a number of cheap, and free antivirus software programs available that provide excellent protection. You can find these by searching through your search engine for antivirus software.

The next step to maintain your internet security is to be extremely cautious about the type of files that you open, or download. The majority of viruses are actually spread through email attachments. Having these on your computer, in your inbox, is not the danger; the real danger is when you open the attachment. It may not be obvious that anything has happened when you first open the attachment containing the virus, quite often they appear blank. The damage is caused by the program that is activated within the attachment. If you do not know, and trust, the person who has sent you the attachment then delete the email.

John Rivers is owner of Security Profs.

Introduction to Internet security using personal firewalls, anti-virus, anti-trojan.

Discovering The Best Antivirus Software For You

Antivirus software refers to computer programs or tools that are used for identifying, blocking, and removing malicious applications such as computer viruses and malwares from the system. They have become essential tools for any computer user in today's world of constant threat from virus attacks, spywares, system hijackers, etc.

An antivirus application performs two basic functions. The first is to scan all files, according to user preference, and identify the virus based on matching definitions in its database. This is known as virus dictionary or database approach of identifying viruses. Secondly, if run in real time, it tries to identify and suspicious activities occurring in the system, which may be triggered by other computer programs in the operating system. This is known as suspicious behavior approach. These two functions are the basis on which most antivirus software programs are built.

The Database Approach:

When the antivirus identifies a virus that matches any code or definition in its database, it will alert the user, and the user has the option of repairing, quarantining, deleting or analyzing the infected file. If the virus cannot be removed from the infected file, it is usually set to quarantine. However, users also have the option of immediately deleting the file thereby eliminating any further threats, or before the virus can execute itself. The infected file can also be sent to the software company for analysis and inclusion in the database, or if the antivirus has the feature, the user can analyze the infected file by self.

Since new viruses are created everyday, the virus database of the antivirus has to be updated continually. Almost all database updates are free and they can be scheduled or done manually.

Suspicious Behavior Approach:

There is no attempt to identify known viruses here like in the dictionary approach. Every activity and behavior in the system is monitored here by the antivirus. Therefore, this approach may protect from new viruses which has not yet been identified out of suspicion. However, this approach has mostly been abandoned by many antivirus companies because of its tendency to sound too many false positives. And today, there are so many non-malicious programs which can modify other executable files in disregard to the false positive issue. So this technique has become almost obsolete.

Popular Antivirus Software:

Norton Antivirus: One of the most well-known antivirus software, Norton automatically detects and removes viruses, rids computer of unwanted spyware, and scans email and IM attachments for threats.

McAfee VirusScan: The antivirus detects, blocks, and removes viruses and spyware, and protects irreplaceable documents such as digital photos, family movies, and financial spreadsheets, identity theft and slower PC performance.

PC-cillin Internet Security: From Trend Micro, it is an award-winning antivirus security and a personal firewall. Protects against viruses, worms, Trojans, and hackers, detects and removes spyware and blocks spam. Also protects your wireless network with Wi-Fi Intrusion Detection.

Panda Titanium: It uses TruPrevent Technologies, offering a double layer of protection against unknown viruses and intruders. It also protects system from hackers, phishing and other online fraud.

Antivirus HQ: your online resource to help protect your PC from viruses and spyware.

10 Things To Do For A Healthy & Secure PC

A Top 10 List That Can Save Your Computer

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Many who read this article may find these recommendations to be old news. However, think about the number family, friends, and associates that ask you for help fixing their PC and I believe you will understand why I chose to write this article..

This list of recommendations for a healthy & secure PC is by no means a complete list of everything you can and should do. It is however a great start if you want to keep your computer running properly for an acceptable period of time. It will also help prevent some of the most common issues related to PC security.

1. Hard Drive Fragmentation

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Believe it or not, many people have never even heard of hard drive fragmentation, or the process of Defragmentation. In a nutshell, when you install software or create files and data, the Operating System stores this data on your hard disk drive. The most efficient way of storing this data would be in one continuous disk file. However, files are not always stored this way, or are initially stored this way and later become split up, or fragmented. Because of this, when the data or file is retrieved, the hard drive must be searched in multiple places just to combine data that makes up one file. This slows things down tremendously. If you are running Windows 2000 or Windows XP, you should perform a disk defrag at least once every two weeks, more if possible. All of my systems run this process automatically once every week in the evening hours.

2. Installing Games & Disk Intensive Software

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If you're a gamer, or regularly use disk intensive software, the above Defragmentation process will help. However, you can also take another step to make things move a little faster. If you have two physically separate disk drives in your system, I suggest that you use one primarily for the Operating System and related software, and devote the other physical disk for installing games and other disk intensive applications. This cuts down on the competition for disk resources between your Operating System and other applications. There are other things you could do as well, such as configuring the appropriate type of RAID where multiple disks appear to the operating system as one big logical disk drive. This takes a little more planning to get the most out of your drives so I'll cover that in a future article.

3. Virus & Spyware Protection

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The bottom line here is; make sure you have installed some sort of anti-virus and spyware protection. Furthermore, don't just assume that the default configuration of the program is best suited for your environment. For instance, I can't tell you how many people I know whose computer has contracted a serious virus because of just one minor but very important task. When the anti-virus software pops up a message and tells you that your subscription is about to expire, don't just hit the ignore button. Take a five minute break from what you are doing and renew your virus signature subscription. Not only will this keep you up to date on newer viruses, it will allow your software package to update to newer versions. The same thing goes for spyware protection. There are plenty of free spyware protection solutions out there, none are perfect, but most do the job. I suggest using Microsoft's AntiSpyware Beta package at the least.

4. Software & Hardware Firewall Protection

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If you are not using a firewall, then you are just asking for trouble. Actually, there is a significant chance that your system is already compromised if you have no firewall protection at all. Many cable/DSL router combo devices have built in firewall protection, and this is at least a good start. However, if you have Windows XP SP2, go ahead and enable the built in firewall as it will provide you another level of protection. Oh, yes, and when the system pops up a message about whether or not to allow a certain application or communication to take place, don't just hit the ok button, read it thoroughly then make a decision.

5. Installing & Uninstalling Applications

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Just about every time you install a new application or piece of software you increase the time it takes to boot your PC and in some cases decrease its performance. On thing that drives me crazy is printing software. For the life of me I cannot understand how or why printer support software could total 400MB in size, but they sometimes do. Not only that, they tend to load all kinds of unnecessary real-time running applets. HP printers are notorious for this. Be very aware of what it is you are loading and only load those components that you need. Even some off-the-shelf software packages load adware and other not so helpful applets. Also, when you uninstall software, not all the software gets uninstalled in many cases. One thing I suggest is to purchase a registry cleaner. This can dramatically decrease boot times and in many cases increase the overall performance of your PC.

6. Purchasing & Downloading Items On The Internet

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When you download or purchase any software from the Internet, make sure you pay close attention to everything you are agreeing to or checking off on the various pages that lead up to the final purchase or download. As with everything else, make sure you read the fine print. You may be agreeing to download and install something you don't need or may impact the security and performance of you PC. Also, how many more mailing lists do you really need to be on? How many Internet Explorer tool bars do you need? Most of these tool bars should be renamed to "adware / spyware bars"

7. Installing Operating System & Application Patches

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In a nutshell, if you are using Windows XP, make sure that automatic updates are turned on. This is very important. Microsoft releases security and bug fixes routinely and some of them are critical in nature. Something people tend to overlook is updating and patching their applications. For instance, Microsoft Office has critical security patches and performance enhancements available in the form of patches and service packs. It's not just Operating System bugs that can put you at risk, applications can too.

8. Updating Drivers

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Similar to the above, hardware manufacturers routinely update their drivers. This includes video cards, sounds cards, capture cards, system boards, you name it. Some manufacturers have started to release automatic updates for their hardware, but many have not. Make sure you check these sites regularly and when a driver update is available, install it.

9. What Do Your Children Download

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This is a really big one. I can' tell you how may times I have been told by people that they have no idea how something got installed on their computer. Usually their second sentence contains "one of my children must have downloaded it". The first thing that comes to mind is "why do parents let kids download what ever they like in the first place". Not only can this severely impact the security and performance of your computer, who knows what your kids are getting their hands on. Do you know what one of the most frequently installed application installs I see on a teenagers machine is? Kazaa, BearShare, eDonkey, all P2P file sharing programs. I don't care what anyone says regarding how convenient and safe these applications are now, they are wrong. Monitor what your children are doing / downloading on the Internet. Install a parental control software package if need be.

10. Rebuilding Your Operating System

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If you are not familiar with system imaging software, I suggest you read up on them. One of the most popular packages is "ghost" and it's been around for quite some time. I rebuild my systems pretty much on an annual basis. When I first configured them, I used an imaging package to create a complete image of the basic OS and application install. This allows you to not only re-install the base operating system and applications by hitting just one button, but can save you big time in the event of a system disaster.

Conclusion

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Many of my peers and other technical people will read this and say it's all common sense and very basic. Well, if this is what you do for a living then yes, it is. But many people don't know these things or did know about them and have forgotten. So many PC are in such bad shape and it's beyond me how the average person even deals with it. It has to be frustrating not knowing where to turn or what to do, especially if you don't have a tech friend or family member to call on. I hate to sound pessimistic, but things are not getting better for the average home or small business person. Technology should not be this difficult to maintain. The average person just wants something that will work, and stay working.

You may reprint or publish this article free of charge as long as the bylines are included.

Original URL (The Web version of the article)

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About The Author

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Darren Miller is an Information Security Consultant with over seventeen years experience. He has written many technology & security articles, some of which have been published in nationally circulated magazines & periodicals. If you would like to contact Darren you can e-mail him at Darren.Miller@ If you would like to know more about computer security please visit us at

4 Smart [and Free] Programs For Your Computer

One of the fun parts of owning a computer is, of course, access to the internet. The worldwide web is chock full of useful information, readily available at your fingertips! It is also home to potentially lethal viruses, many of which can wreak havoc on your system within moments. The following four programs can help you avoid trouble; best of all they are absolutely free.

Firefox – a web browser for the ages. Okay, a web browser that beats Internet Explorer by preventing pop ups and harmful scripts from being downloaded to your computer. Lots of nifty features too, including tabbed browsing, live bookmarks, and tons of add-on features.

Spybot Search and Destroy – gets rid of adware, spyware, and malware. Blocks the installation of spyware before it occurs; works in conjunction with anti-virus software, not as a replacement for one.

AVG Antvirus – offers basic antivirus protection including scanning email attachments for viruses and scanning of all hard drives, removable drives, and external drives on your computer. A paid version does some additional tasks and includes technical support.

Zone Alarm – if you don't have a firewall installed on your computer, you are opening yourself up to potential catastrophic security breaches. With Stealth Mode enabled you can search the internet in private, away from the intruding eyes of those who might want to steal your important information.

As with many freeware programs, "pro" or professional versions of the software are sometimes available to give computer users a maximum amount of protection, for a price. Still, all four of these programs have something to offer and are worth exploring. Your computer safety and privacy is essential, insure it today by downloading the programs that are right for you.

Do You Want Someone To Know Your Secrets? Protect Yourself with a Firewall

With more and more small and home based businesses getting high speed, full time Internet connections, like Cable modem and DSL, there is an increased need for firewall software and/or hardware.

A firewall can be many things, but the main thing you need to know is that without one you are at risk of someone breaking into your computer. With people staying connected to the Internet full time with Cable modems or a DSL line, you are at a MUCH greater risk of someone accessing your computer from a remote location.

Basically a firewall limits the access to your computer from the Internet. This has nothing to do with your website. That's your webhost's responsibility to protect your site (which is another reason to make sure you have a reputable firm hosting your website). We're talking about someone accessing the computer that's sitting on your desktop right now.

I was amazed at the number of alerts I got when I first installed my firewall. Each alert meant that someone or some automated robot was trying to access my computer. Admittedly, if you are a small business just beginning e-commerce operations, you are not a prestigious target for a hacker to attack. But you might be a fun target for some 8th grader who wants to see if they can get into your computer.

Begin by immediately downloading and installing some free firewall software: You could visit for many choices and more technical articles about firewalls.

I got my free firewall at . It provides a good beginners level of protection. has a popular firewall for about $40.00. So does that has one called Black Ice Defender.

As your business grows, you probably will want to graduate to more sophisticated software and hardware solutions. Just know that you MUST do something and you must do it NOW!

Tom Antion is a success story in Internet marketing. He can show you how he makes a fortune promoting products and services online. For more information and a list of great resources, go to Internet Marketing Solutions.