Six Fool-Proof Ways to Be Safe Online

In today’s wired world, you cannot be too safe.  Every day, viruses, worms, spyware and other types of malware pose a threat to each of us – or to our computer systems, that is.  They can enter our computers, steal whatever information we’ve stored, get our credit card details, and basically monitor our every activity online.  What’s more, they use our resources to replicate itself and victimize other people: friends, family, and colleagues.

This is the reason why it is best to be safe when you are online.  Here are the top six ways to practice definite security online.

1. Get a good anti-virus and anti-malware software.  You may think that anti-virus programs only protect you online, but they are actually quite effective in preventing an infection.  Most viruses, worms and trojans come to your computer when you are online, via e-mail attachments or by visiting an infected Web site.  A good anti-virus program not only disinfects and cleans your system, but it also prevents an infection from happening or spreading in the first place.

2. Get the latest browsers.  Whether you are using Mozilla’s Firefox browser, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser or Google’s Chrome browser, it is a good practice to, always keep your browser updated.  The latest versions of these browsers now have built-in anti-phishing capabilities that inform you whenever you enter a dangerous Web site.  Phishing and spoofing are two of the biggest problems in security and have led to the loss of money as well as the theft of user names, passwords and other information.  And it usually involves a bogus Web site that looks like a legitimate Web site of some company, say PayPal.  Potential victims are lured into these bogus Web sites where they are asked to enter their log-in names and password and ask for certain information like banking details and credit card details.  Phishers then use this information to defraud other people, make purchases using your credit card data, or simply steal the money you have in your online bank account.

More than stopping phishers and spoofers, getting the latest browsers also means that it has fewer vulnerabilities, and that previously identified security holes have been plugged, making your browser more secure and more able to fight attacks from hackers and viruses.

3. Be up-to-date with security updates and patches.  Most operating systems have security holes in their codes that could be used to attack your system.  These vulnerabilities, when exploited, could figuratively open a door for attackers into your system and make it easier for them to install viruses or backdoors into your computer.  Fortunately, manufacturers of operating systems like Linux and Microsoft often send out updates to make sure that these security threats are properly addressed.  Moreover, it is free and easy to download and install these security patches.

4. Use a firewall.  A firewall filters traffic coming from and going out of your computer.  Firewalls prevent people from accessing and having complete control of your computer, which they could use for their own personal means like sending spam or making it part of a bot network.

5. Use a strong password.  The rule of thumb is that your password should be random, and not easy to guess.  It should be more than eight characters or longer and contains uppercase and lower case letters, numbers and accepted symbols.

The same goes for security questions that serviced like to ask in case you lose your password.  Choose an obscure question, or one whose answer is not easy to guess.  Choosing “Where is your hometown” as a security question would make it easy for people you grew up with to guess, or even strangers looking at your Facebook profile.

6. Educate yourself.  Because phishers, viruses, hackers get more and more resourceful and creative every single day, it is not enough to just follow these security measures and safety protocols.  You would have to educate yourself to know what an attack would look like so that you could avoid it.

Learn more about security both online and offline, and know what is possible and impossible.  Make sure that you are aware when to doubt, for example, an e-mail attachment you have just received.

Loading…. A virus has been detected

Have you ever picture yourself in this situation before? Let’s say one evening; you rented a computer in an internet café to finish working on your power point presentation which is due the next morning. You inserted into the USB port your flash drive containing the documents and various files needed for your report that was stored in one folder. You opened a browser and visited a website to look for further resources on the report you’re making. It took a couple of minutes for the homepage to load itself completely making you lose your temper with the noises created by the boys at your back yelling at each other while playing DOTA and that loud monotonous singing of the person sitting next to you with her headset on as she watched a music video clip on her console. After having done with your work, you headed straight back home. The next day on your presentation, you inserted your USB on your professor’s laptop equipped with the latest anti-virus software. After the anti-virus has eliminated the threats, you opened your USB files only to see that the folder containing your report is gone.

Most would say that the two most important features a computer must possess are speed in processing and security on its data. The first thing that most users check when using a computer is its speed. Who wouldn’t want a speedy processing unit knowing that most of us want to accomplish many things at a short span of time? The speed of loading of the different websites you are visiting depends upon your internet connection. If your computer is connected to a network, it would also depend on your computer’s domain or server. Browsing of many websites at the same time can also cause your internet surfing to go slow because browsers will still search for cookies and internet temp files otherwise it will be downloaded from the site. If you are complaining on why some computer applications you opened are running slowly, the reason behind it could be one of the following: too many user programs are running in the background; lack of virtual memory or your hard drive could already be too full of data to run efficiently. Too many users playing network games or online games which is filled with many graphical and image effects can cause computer lagging, wherein their game character is moving slowly or their freezing at times. Downloading videos or files from websites can also cause your computer to loose some speed. These dilemmas can easily be solved by computer upgrading, that is if you are ready with its costs. But the most common reason why some computers are processing slowly is because your computer security is invaded by malwares or more commonly known as viruses, worms and spywares.

Computer security is not only the effort to create a secure computing environment by providing passwords to your account to prevent unauthorized access as well as hacking of files but it is also the prevention of users or user programs to limit the actions they perform to the level they are allowed. Malware or malicious software such as computer viruses, worms and spywares are inflicting their damage to one’s computer in many ways. These can cause corruption of files, deletion or hiding of computer files, malfunction in some applications, installation of unsolicited programs and can also gather information about the owner of the computer as what spywares do. These malwares can be transmitted easily by inserting infected storage devices such as USB flash drives into your computer, visiting websites which installs malware into your computer without your consent, sharing files services for movies, music or programs such as Limewire, Bearshare, and connecting your computer into a computer network in which one node or computer is infected. If these threats are ignored, it can cause some problems like: causing your computer to perform slower in loading its applications; some programs may act erratically; unwanted execution of computer programs; running out of computer memory or some file sizes suddenly increases and the worst, some articles in the internet say that some computer viruses can cause damage in the computer hardware such as a chip located in the motherboard.

In order to protect one’s computer from any of these threats, these precautions may help:

• Invest in anti-virus programs or software and scan your computer on a regular basis.
• Keep your anti-virus updated so possible threats can be detected and healed.
• Since malwares are also evolving, it is best to back-up important files by saving them in a storage device or at least, save a copy in your email. So the next time you check your files and see them gone, at least you know you have a spare ready.

Through these simple precautions, one is guaranteed of a safe and protected system.