This short article is aimed at the basic home computer user. How
to stop malware infecting your computer. What is malware, anyway? Well,
it is short for malicious software. Malware comes in all different
varieties, such worms, rogue (fake) anti-virus programmes, trojan
horses, spyware, dishonest adware, spyware, crimeware and rootkits,
which hide themselves in your operating system files. All or any of
these infections can cause problems with your computer.
You probably have malware on your PC now. You only need a connection to the internet. What this software does when it infects your PC is varied, some lock down your computer, pretending to be an anti-virus programme. Asking for payment via a credit card transaction to disinfect your machine. However, the real goal of the individuals behind these scams is to get access to your credit card details. Some infections just slow down your computer and cause strange behaviour.
The single most important factor in securing your computer is to have your operating system up to date. Simply, installing the security and critical updates as soon as they are available can prevent the majority of attacks. Second, use a secure web browser. Microsoft's Internet Explorer has improved greatly since IE5, but other third-party browsers offer more. Such as Google's Chrome and Mozilla's Firefox. Your web browser is so important because it downloads the code on the webpage you see on your screen. If that website has any malicious code it instantly scans your computer for any vulnerabilities or missing updates and injects itself into your operating system.
Now you are infected. It is that easy.
Also, if you have had your PC turned off for any extended period of time, manually install your OS updates before accessing the internet. Thousands of malicious code is released each day. Check your browser configuration for security and privacy access levels. These should be set to at least the default levels. In IE, go to "Tools", then "Internet Options", then "Security" and "Privacy". Make sure you are using at least IE8, if you prefer Microsoft's built-in browser. IE9, the latest version, can be downloaded from Microsoft's website.
A good anti-virus programme, whether purchased or free, will be the next level of protection. There are a lot of products out there. Whether, you are a Mac or Windows user or a P2P downloader will determine your choice if any of these products. Apple machines are a lot less prone to virus attacks. However, not to trojans which seem to be increasing these days. Trojans are malware that pretend to be something else, like an attachment in an email that you unwillingly open and execute. Or a download link on a website that has been modified or patched. Once again, having the latest malware definitions downloaded from the update server of your anti-virus programme will give you the most protection.
For Windows users, Microsoft has released their Security Essentials anti-virus programme. This free downloadable programme has received good reviews from the security community. It is compatible with both 32-bit and x64 operating systems. Another recommended malware removal programme is Malwarebytes, which has a high detection rate.
Last, using sandbox technology will give you probably the best protection you can get now. Programmes like Sandboxie work by running your programmes in an isolated space (sandbox) on your hard drive, which prevents them from making permanent changes to other programmes and data in your computer. So, all programmes downloading through your browser are contained and need to be manually moved or loaded on to your system.
So, you can see, keeping your PC free from malware is easy.
You probably have malware on your PC now. You only need a connection to the internet. What this software does when it infects your PC is varied, some lock down your computer, pretending to be an anti-virus programme. Asking for payment via a credit card transaction to disinfect your machine. However, the real goal of the individuals behind these scams is to get access to your credit card details. Some infections just slow down your computer and cause strange behaviour.
The single most important factor in securing your computer is to have your operating system up to date. Simply, installing the security and critical updates as soon as they are available can prevent the majority of attacks. Second, use a secure web browser. Microsoft's Internet Explorer has improved greatly since IE5, but other third-party browsers offer more. Such as Google's Chrome and Mozilla's Firefox. Your web browser is so important because it downloads the code on the webpage you see on your screen. If that website has any malicious code it instantly scans your computer for any vulnerabilities or missing updates and injects itself into your operating system.
Now you are infected. It is that easy.
Also, if you have had your PC turned off for any extended period of time, manually install your OS updates before accessing the internet. Thousands of malicious code is released each day. Check your browser configuration for security and privacy access levels. These should be set to at least the default levels. In IE, go to "Tools", then "Internet Options", then "Security" and "Privacy". Make sure you are using at least IE8, if you prefer Microsoft's built-in browser. IE9, the latest version, can be downloaded from Microsoft's website.
A good anti-virus programme, whether purchased or free, will be the next level of protection. There are a lot of products out there. Whether, you are a Mac or Windows user or a P2P downloader will determine your choice if any of these products. Apple machines are a lot less prone to virus attacks. However, not to trojans which seem to be increasing these days. Trojans are malware that pretend to be something else, like an attachment in an email that you unwillingly open and execute. Or a download link on a website that has been modified or patched. Once again, having the latest malware definitions downloaded from the update server of your anti-virus programme will give you the most protection.
For Windows users, Microsoft has released their Security Essentials anti-virus programme. This free downloadable programme has received good reviews from the security community. It is compatible with both 32-bit and x64 operating systems. Another recommended malware removal programme is Malwarebytes, which has a high detection rate.
Last, using sandbox technology will give you probably the best protection you can get now. Programmes like Sandboxie work by running your programmes in an isolated space (sandbox) on your hard drive, which prevents them from making permanent changes to other programmes and data in your computer. So, all programmes downloading through your browser are contained and need to be manually moved or loaded on to your system.
So, you can see, keeping your PC free from malware is easy.
Hope you found this article helpful.
My name is Chris Ashton Palmer.
I operate an onsite PC repair company in Sydney, Australia.
http://www.strathfieldpcrepair.com
Thanks for reading.
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chris_Ashton_Palmer
My name is Chris Ashton Palmer.
I operate an onsite PC repair company in Sydney, Australia.
http://www.strathfieldpcrepair.com
Thanks for reading.
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