Free & Easy Ways
to Secure Your Computer - Part 2
By Cate Eales
Appeared August 4, 2005 on castanet.net
Worms, trojans, viruses --- all very scary stuff if you
believe what you see on television or read in the papers. Last time we
talked about three ways to secure your computer and keep it secure:
Installing and running virus protection, installing and running a personal
firewall, and installing and running anti-spyware programs. (If you missed
that column, you will find it archived on
www.rlis.com.)
There are two more important components for safe browsing. First, it's
important to run Windows Update and make sure you have the latest fixes
for things that Microsoft® broke in the first place. Flaws in the Windows
operating system and in Internet Explorer are exposed with alarming
frequency. I don't recommend letting Windows do this automatically,
because every so often there is a problem with the Windows Update site, or
with a download. I suggest connecting to Windows Update once a week, and
manually downloading and installing any critical updates you find there.
You will find a link to the Windows Update site in your Internet Explorer
browser, and often on the Start menu of your computer. If all else fails,
point your browser to
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/.
Finally, you can kill the Pop-Ups in Internet Explorer with a pop-up
stopper. The best free one is the Google toolbar, available at
http://toolbar.google.com/. It takes care of most of the pop-ups, and
it's an excellent search tool, too! If you want to browse completely free
of pop-ups, consider an alternative browser like FireFox (http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/central.html).
All of the products I've discussed will run on Windows XP (Home and Pro)
and on Windows 98 SE. If you are running another flavour of Windows, you
should check the documentation on the website for each product to make
sure it will work for you. Whatever version of Windows you are running, it
is very important to keep these tools up-to-date. Each one will allow you
to set it to update itself or allow you to run updates at your
convenience. Installing and using these free software programs will
eliminate most of your security risks. Good online habits will do the
rest, and we'll talk about that in a future column.
Are these columns helpful? Interesting? Are they any other topics you
would like to discuss? We're eager for feedback, whether positive or
negative. Please email Cate at cate@rlis.com.
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Cate Eales has been helping people make online computing safe,
accessible and fun for over 20 years. She lives in Kelowna with her
husband, Eric, and her dog, Sandy. Email Cate at cate@rlis.com with your
comments, suggestions, or questions. To browse the column archives, visit
the Real Life Internet Solutions website at
www.rlis.com.
© Cate Eales 2005 - All Rights Reserved
