The world of Internet security and how it works

Today dear readers we will be delving into a world that you most likely know quite a bit about. Any one of you out there reading this today has most likely had problems with your computer at one time or another. Maybe you had a bad virus that crashed your computer? Or maybe too much spam clogged the computer’s memory and you had to re-format. If this sounds familiar to you then take a seat and read on because Internet security is the basic topic of discussion today. We will discuss some of the well known threats that are out there as well as how you as someone who might not be so computer savy can protect your computer on your own with a firewall!

We will also touch on the topic of your email and making sure that it is safe and that no-one has gotten their paws on your information. Finally we will be discussing passwords and just how important they are to you and your computerfor avoiding identity theft, face it people, you might not need to protect your wireless computer from someone who lives with you, but you will need to protect it from hackers. Now, onwards we go. We will start off with what we know are the most common things that can threaten the welfare of your hard drive. Remember that this is not a part time thing, this is something that you should exercise, every time and all the time! Mind you, there are some computers like PC or MAC that already have their firewalls inside to protect aginst hackers and are all hooked up and ready to go.

Another thing that will help to keep your computer safe is your browser (believe it or not). There are certain settings that you can implement that will keep out all of the spy ware, ad ware and those nasty pop ups that keep trying to find a way into your hard drive to cause chaos. Think of your computer as a country that has to be protected at all costs from invaders. In this case, your front line of defense (the guys on foot with guns), would be what is known as a fire wall.

All computers that are hooked up to the Internet, whether it be via high speed, wireless or even dial-up have fire walls built in just for this purpose. They are your front line of defense. When the fire wall is turned on, it will only let certain actions (actions that YOU allow) to happen. The second line of your defense would be your spy ware and Anti-virus software. I won’t mention any brands here and now but there are different places that you can go online to download some pretty good programs, or you can even ask your computer maintenance guy to get it for you.

The way that a virus works is that it comes in like a bug riding into an open window on files that you download or even pages that you are viewing. From there, once the virus gets comfy, it tends to go nuts on your hard drive. It will destroy important system files, damage other applications that you have in your computer and even copy passwords that you have stored. It’s a total mess! Next we have to examine the security of your email itself. Be sure that you take every threat seriously. Never click on any links or attachments from someone that you don’t know because half the time it is what is known as a phishing email. This is one of the viruses that come in when clicked and copy passwords and other important information.

And now we are on to the whole privacy issue, many of you are surely aware that just about every Internet site that you will ever visit will require you to register and enter a password. Take this little bit of advice, NEVER USE THE SAME PASSWORD!! Keep changing it, because these hackers are good and they don’t take long to catch on to other people’s dodging tricks. Finally, remember that if you notice that you are constantly finding viruses or threats of any kind in your computer’s hard drive, the best thing for you to do would be to upgrade to a better anti virus program, and always, always check for updates.