It is sad, but the second you enter cyberspace, you risk being affected by "malware". Wikipedia gives a good explanation of what malware is, but basically it's viruses and other nasties.
Email do's and don'ts
Any unsolicited emails purporting to
be from a bank are a
scam.
There are no Nigerian princes with $15M that they need to move urgently through your account
You will never win a prize draw you haven’t entered
Never give personal information in response to an unsolicited email
You don't need that much viagra
There are no Nigerian princes with $15M that they need to move urgently through your account
You will never win a prize draw you haven’t entered
Never give personal information in response to an unsolicited email
You don't need that much viagra
Trust no-one, not even me! Delete all unsolicited mail (spam). Don’t even bother to read it. You can usually tell by the subject matter that it’s junk. If your email service provides junk mail filters, find out about them and use them. Check you junk mail folder occasionally before deleting the contents in case some ok mails have been wrongly trapped. You can train junk mail filters to weed out the mails you don’t want and let through the ones you do.
Attachments – never open an email attachment, even if it is from a friend, unless you are absolutely sure of the contents – i.e. they are sending you something you are expecting. Malware is often hidden in attachments. On the surface they may be amusing animations or little games, but underneath they are doing bad things. They are a bit like STDs. You might be having fun at the point you receive them, but it can be misery afterwards. Attachments are the access method of choice for viruses. Virus creators know that people aren’t as careful as computers.
Web do's and don'ts
We all buy stuff on line. Who do you trust with your card number? It’s a judgement call. Someone out there is selling something you want and you have to decide whether or not they are above board. The bigger the company, the more confidence generally you can have (not counting Enron or Farepak). Con artists don’t usually go to the trouble of designing complex, high-quality websites. Caveat emptor.
Automatic updates
Microsoft
stopped supporting Windows98 in July
of 2006. If you are still running a computer with Windows98, you should
seriously
consider getting a new one
Windows XP (and now "Vista", too) can update itself automatically from the Microsoft website. It should always be allowed to do this. Automatic updates (preferably via broadband) are the most important thing you can do to protect yourself on line. If you use a MacIntosh or Linux, you're not off the hook but you are at less risk.
Anti-virus software
Viruses can do things like steal your
passwords by watching what you type on the keyboard. They can
delve into your files and steal your personal details. They can act
like
“zombies”, co-opting your computer to attack other
sites on the internet. They can delete all your digital photographs or
replace them with photoshopped images of John Prescott naked
– now you wouldn’t want that,
would you?
First and foremost, make sure you have anti-virus software installed AND KEEP IT UP TO DATE!! New computer viruses appear daily. Some anti-virus software manufacturers issue updates hourly. Anti-virus software that’s not up to date might as well not be there. Most Internet Service Provider (ISPs) offer anti virus software as part of the package you buy. Take advantage of this, but remember – you may have to pay a subscription every year to keep receiving updates. Don’t scrimp on this. It could save you so much heartache later. Most anti virus software updates itself automatically over the internet (as long as you’re paid up). This will take longer via a modem than it will over broadband, but it’s still worth it.
Luckily this is where a few good men come into the story. There is a FREE anti-virus program (for home use only) that you can download. It's called AVG Free. It updates itself automatically when you are on line so you stay safe.
Always use protection!
Other essential software
Anti-adware software
(all free)
Ad Aware
Spybot
Windows Defender
AVG Anti-Spyware
Remember - you must keep them up to date. They don't look after themselves so you have to run them every two weeks or so
Ad Aware
Spybot
Windows Defender
AVG Anti-Spyware
Remember - you must keep them up to date. They don't look after themselves so you have to run them every two weeks or so
In addition to the really bad stuff like viruses, you can also pick up other unpleasant things on line – things that watch what you buy so you can be targeted for yet more spam, and software that pops up adverts for viagra when all you want to do is buy more reenactment stuff. This "adware" or "spyware" is annoying but not necessarily lethal. There is software which you can download for free and use at home. These packages hoover up this low grade rubbish and neutralise it. They are a necessary part of being safe. It's best to use more than one.
Firewall
If you have Windows XP, your internet connection should automatically be firewalled. A firewall is a program that watches your internet connection and repels unsolicited attacks from outside when you are online. Never disable your firewall. If you use anything other than Windows XP, you might have to use a third party firewall to stay safe. ZoneAlarm is a proven example.
Wireless
If you have wireless broadband, you need to make sure that all the wireless devices in your house use some kind of encryption when they talk to each other. Most wireless devices work well "out of the box", but they may not use encryption by default. If your wireless network is not encrypted, someone may listen in from outside and either steal personal information, or use your broadband link to download stuff for themselves, which could be anything - get what I mean?