5 Critical Steps To Protecting Your C

5 Critical Steps to Protecting Your Computer on the Internet
by: John Lenaghan
Spyware, viruses and worms... oh my!

If you are connected to the internet, you need to make sure you get your computer set up properly
if you want to avoid problems down the road.

With all the viruses, spyware and other threats on the internet today, no computer should be set
up without the proper protection.

And that protection needs to be in place as soon after you hook up your new machine as possible.

The following five steps will make your computer a much harder target for threats. You still won't
be completely immune to problems, but 99% of the time the threat will pass you by, looking for the
easy mark.

1. Running a Personal Firewall

A personal firewall is software that basically makes your computer invisible to hackers, worms and
other threats that can infect your computer over the internet.

Setting up a firewall is the absolute first thing you should do if you're going to connect to the
internet. Without a firewall, your computer could get infected in as little as one minute after
connecting.

If you have a brand new computer running Windows XP Service Pack 2, there is a firewall built into
Windows. It will already have been turned on when you first set up your computer.

If you're running an older version of Windows, even an earlier version of Windows XP, there is no
firewall automatically set up for you. In this case there are two possibilities:

- Your computer came pre-loaded with a firewall such as Norton Internet Security or McAfee
Internet Security
- You have no firewall installed and should download one ASAP.

If you don't have any personal firewall software installed, you should do so right away. Zone
Alarm is a very good firewall program that has a version that you can download and install for
free.

You can download the free version of Zone Alarm from http://www.computer-help-squad.com/zonealarm

2. Turn on Windows Updates

Again, if you're running Windows XP Service Pack 2 this is already set up, but otherwise you
should turn on Windows Updates. Microsoft releases updates for security problems and other bugs in
Windows on a regular basis.

These updates will keep your computer running better, and they often fix security issues that
could compromise your information or privacy.

If you are running Windows XP Service Pack 2, you can double-check that automatic updates are
turned on by clicking Start, then click Control Panel, then double-click Security Center. The
window that opens will tell you if automatic updates are turned on, and lets you turn them on if
they're not.

To turn on automatic updates in earlier versions of Windows XP, click on the Start menu, click
Control Panel and then double-click on System. On the "Automatic Updates" tab, click the option to
"Automatically download the updates and install them on the schedule I specify."

To turn them on in Windows 2000, click on Start, click Control Panel and then double-click on
Automatic Updates. Again, click the option to "automatically download the updates and install them
on the schedule I specify."

Now when Microsoft releases updates, they will be downloaded for you automatically and Windows
will tell you when they are ready to be installed.

3. Install &Update Antivirus Software

Most new computers come with antivirus software these days. You might have Norton, McAfee,
PC-Cillin or another brand. No matter what program you have, you will need to update it when you
get connected to the internet.

It doesn't matter how new your computer is - there will be new viruses, and new updates for the
antivirus software, since it was loaded.

The exact process is different for each brand of antivirus program, but most of them will have an
icon in the bottom right corner of your desktop, beside the time. The icon might be a picture of a
shield (McAfee), a stethoscope (Norton) or something else.

In most cases, if you point to the icon for your antivirus and click the right mouse button, a
menu will pop up with an update option. It could be simply called update or could be something
like Live Update or Download Latest Updates. If you click on the update option (with the left
button this time) it will install the newest updates for you.

If you're not sure which icon is for your antivirus software, just point to each one for a few
seconds and a little title should pop up telling you what it is.

4. Install Anti-Spyware Software

Spyware - and other things known as adware and malware - is becoming as big a problem as viruses.
Spyware programs can cause a lot of problems with your computer, not to mention they can track
your personal information and you never know where it's being sent.

Some new computers might includes antispyware software, but most of them don't yet. There are
quite a few anti-spyware programs available, some free and some not. The one I recommend is from
Microsoft and is one of the free ones.

One of the reasons I like it is because it always runs in the background and will automatically
catch a lot of spyware before it gets on your computer.

Many of the other programs don't catch it until you run a scan. Not only does this allow things to
get on your computer, it also means you have to actually remember to run a scan.

You can download the free Microsoft Antispyware from
http://www.computer-help-squad.com/antispyware

5. Set up a Free Email Account

This last item is not as critical as the first four, but I would highly recommend you set up an
email account with one of the free services like Hotmail or Gmail.

Once you're on the internet, you'll find a lot of useful information that you want that requires
you to provide an email address. In some cases, these people will end up sending you a bunch of
spam.

If you use a free email account to sign up for anything that you don't know for sure you can
trust, it's not going to fill your main email with a bunch of junk.

This goes for anything really, not just online information. If you're entering a contest or
signing up for anything offline and you don't know where your information could end up being used,
I would suggest using your free email address.

If worse comes to worse, and your free email address gets inundated with spam, you can always just
set up a new one and let the old one expire.

Some of the better free email services are www.hotmail.com, www.gmail.com and www.yahoomail.com.

If you've had your computer for a while and never done any of these things, you should still take
these steps to get it set up properly. It will definitely save you a lot of time - and possibly
money - as you use your system.

About the author:
John Lenaghan offers easy-to-understand advice at the Computer Help Squad website. Find out more
about these 5 steps - sign up for our newsletter and receive your free 5-part guide at
http://www.computer-help-squad.com/5steps


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