The Top 15 Ways to Protect Your Computer System

admin — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 05:41:05 +0000

Most new computer users use the computer for a specific purpose. I know of some people who use it only for e-mail. Others use it to view and print pictures that they took with their digital camera. Some people use it for doing work at home like word processing or spreadsheets. Teachers may use it to develop class plans that they do not have time to do at work.

Even though Identity Theft is in a lot of newspapers, letters from banks, TV, the Internet, most people do not protect their computer and their information. Maybe their attitude is “It can’t happen to me”. I am surprised that more than half of the home computer wireless networks in my neighborhood are not secure. Someone can have a laptop in their car and surf the internet for free. Some households can also borrow the neighbor’s Internet Service Provider (ISP) without having to pay for it themselves.

I have a little gadget that detects wireless networks. I am amazed that some small business and even schools in my area do not have a secure network. I taught an Identity Theft class in a school, and I went right onto their network without any login information. The school assumed that they were secure.

Another security concern is when someone has a laptop and they leave it unattended at the airport. When they look for it the laptop is gone. Some thieves just re-sell the laptop for quick cash. Other thieves see what type of information they can take off of the laptop. Even if the thief re-sells the laptop quickly, your personal information is still on the laptop. If the computer does not have a password on it, then anyone has immediate access to the information on the computer.

I had one customer put her laptop into her luggage and checked it in at the airline. When she arrived at the hotel and opened her case she saw that the laptop was gone. There was also a note inside that the airline inspected her luggage. Did this customer learn? No, she did it again. And to make matters worse, she was traveling with someone else. He saw that she checked her luggage with the laptop in it, and he followed suit. A big surprise here – both laptops were gone.

Home networks is another big security concern. When I see an unsecured home network I leave a flyer on their door and say that there network is not secure and for $25 I will secure it for them. I usually write the name of their network on the flyer so that they know. Four out of five people call me.

Here are some ways to help protect your computer system (they are not in any order of importance):

1. Put a password to access your computer. I would even put a power-on password which means that once you turn on the computer you need to put in a password before the computer starts up. This should not be the same password you use to login to your computer. This advice is needed for laptop users.

2. Buy a surge protector and plug all of your computer items into it. Buy one that works and has a guarantee, and not just a power strip.

3. During a thunder storm, or any storm that looks like it has an effect on power, turn the computers off. I would even unplug the surge protector from the wall. If the home is hit by lightning the house wiring can burn out computer components.

4. If you need the computer constantly on, invest in an Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS). The computer can stay on up to three hours without electricity. If you have a laptop plugged into a UPS, then you have the three hours and the laptop battery time.

5. If you are connected to the Internet, wired or wireless, you must have a router with a built-in hardware firewall. You should also have a software firewall as well. Most times software scans the internet looking for vulnerable computers. It is not unlikely if you have cable, DSL, Satellite, or FIOS that your computer is not scanned 15 or more times a day. A hardware and software firewall prevents this from happening.

6. Get anti-virus software installed on your computer. If you do not want to pay for it, get a free one.

7. Install spyware removal software on your computer and run it regularly. You can just get free ones if you do not want to invest in a commercial product, although the commercial ones are better.

8. Do not have Windows remember your passwords. On my blog I recommend a product for remembering passwords.

9. In Internet Explorer and Firefox have your security settings to at least medium.

10. When traveling keep your laptop in sight. Do not check it in with your luggage.

11. When you go into a wireless café or hotel that has internet access you should have an internet security product. McAfee and Norton are pretty good. There are also a couple of free ones.

One other thing to keep in mind with a laptop is that many of them can transfer through infrared to other laptops or PDAs / cell phones. It only takes a couple of seconds to transfer your information. Credit card numbers for example are 16 characters. There is software out there that can look for a string of 16 characters, or your social security number.

12. Do not open attachments from someone you do not know.

13. If an email does not look right, do not open it. Ebay, your bank, paypal, etc. will not ask you to click on a link to update your account information. They say, log into your account and verify your information. These fake emails are phishing for your information. When you click on them it does look like the right sight, but as soon as you sign into this phishing site they have your login name and password. You should then immediately go to your site by typing in the address and change your login password. If you can change your login name do that as well.

14. Do not give your passwords out to others.

15. If someone requests to remotely access your computer make sure their software is permission based. This means that you will get a pop up window or email and you give the person permission to look at your screen. That way if you do see something wrong like looking at your emails or documents you can stop the connection between the two computers.

I hope you found this article informative. In the resource box below click on the blog link where you will find more useful hints and recommended software and hardware.

John Gontowicz

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By: John Gontowicz

Why Should You Add a Network Printer to Your Home Computer Network?

admin — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 02:10:20 +0000

Why should you add a network printer to your home computer network?

Forget about the invention of the coulor television, home computers are by far the most popular invention of the century. Infact computers can substitute as a tv, dvd player, stero, a friend, and more. This is why most average households now own more than one computer and will eventually need to know how to add a network printer.

Adding a network printer to your home computer network has so many advantages. The main advantage to a network printer would be that it saves space. We all know how cluttered our houses are getting with each new gadget that comes out. Having a network printer added to your network means that you will only need one printer to service all of your computers in your house or office. There is no need for each computer to have its own printer! How great is that.

Just the mere words “adding a network printer” sounds a bit daunting to the average computer user. But let me tell you that installing a network printer yourself is extrememly easy.

To add a network printer we need:

You will need two or more computers on your home or office network, otherwise there is no point to printer sharing

You will need one printer installed on one of your computers on your home network. It could just be a cheap all in one printer or even a flash printer that is a stand alone network printer.

You need to know the computers name that the printer is installed on. Here is How to find your Computer Name. Sometimes Windows will find the network printer for you, however if it doesn’t you need to know these settings.

Printer Sharing has to be enabled on the computer that has the network printer physically installed on it. (Go to Control Panel>Printers Settings Icon>right click on the printer icon and choose sharing. Also create a simple name for your printer here.) Here’s how to enable printer sharing

You need to know the name of you shared printer. It usually is the brand of the printer which could be cannon bj3000, however I like to rename it just printer.

After you have installed a network printer you will never look back. Not only do you only need one printer per household, but you also only have to restock ink and maintain that one network printer. What a bonus!

By: Mitz

Computer Home Network » Gadget

The Top 15 Ways to Protect Your Computer System

Why Should You Add a Network Printer to Your Home Computer Network?