Five ways to keep yourself virus free.
So you think that you are safe online? You have downloaded all of your windows updates and you feel good about your safety online? You have got some things to learn if that’s what you believe. The truth is, if you don’t have even a basic router you are not completely safe. Without a router or a firewall, an internet worm can still find you online. The good news is that if you have all your updates you are relatively safe, but what if a worm goes out prior to the windows update? Well, you just got infected.
Even scarier than that, you can get infected by going to a website that has javascript hijacks in place. That’s right, if you go to a website and they have the right javascript written it can infect you. This happened recently when Myspace allowed an advertiser to inject a virus installer in they ad engine, since they allow javascript ads. You won’t know that you are bitten in most cases.
So, how do you get out of this? How can you go online at all? Well, it’s simple. If you are the type to download you windows updates, then you are halfway there. If you have a router, you are even closer. If not, you need to pay attention to why you need to secure your internet experience.
- As I have said previously, always get your Windows Updates when they come out. I usually set my computer to automatically download and install the updates. Microsoft usually releases an update every first Tuesday of the month, but sometimes they release earlier and you want that critical update when it comes out. Being up to date on your updates is the first step and one of the most important ones.
- Protect yourself from email viruses by changing your settings to display emails in plain text format only. Some email clients display in HTML format, and this poses a security risk. Not only will spammers know that you are viewing their emails because of an image tracker, they can fake pages for websites you might use. Virus writers can also initiate viruses using the HTML, so just don’t use HTML in your email!
- It’s time to get yourself a router. Most routers cost around $40 bucks. My favorite is the
LINKSYS WRT54G Wireless-G Broadband Routerbecause it is a basic router with wireless capability. Why do you need a router? I explained it briefly above, but a router is your first line of defense. Routers are not bright, and that is a good thing because that is the feature that keeps you from being seen by an internet worm. So, by having a router you are essentially establishing a hardware firewall.
- Get yourself a software firewall and an anti-virus pronto! Good news is that this is really simple and free, at the moment. I always recommend two products for people I consult with on internet security. Zone Alarm from Checkpoint and AVG from Grisoft. Those two will keep you protected from almost everything else out there.
- Stop using Internet Explorer (IE) right now! Internet Explorer is the base browser on every install of Windows, and it is the easiest to hack. I can’t see any reason to use IE unless you are going to Microsoft.com. I use Firefox as my main browser, and on top of that I use an extension called NoScript. NoScript turns off javascript, flash, and other options on websites. You can customize the main sites you go to and trust so that it doesn’t annoy you, but when you go to an unknown site you are covered with that extra layer of security.
So, there you have it. My five methods to keep your computer safe. That doesn’t mean that doing all this will keep 100% of attacks at bay, but it sure does eliminate a large amount of the exploits out there. Also, please don’t fall into the marketing ploy of Apple and think that getting a Mac will save you. I will be posting about this in depth, but Macs are not 100% safe and until recently Apple had a message on their site saying that users should use an anti-virus. The truth is that no PC, and Apple is a PC as well, is safe. Virus writers can start targeting Macs at any time and if they do, all Mac owners will be in BIG trouble. So, protect yourself folks!
