I have emphasized MORE in the title of this blog because you will NEVER be 100% secure unless you never ever connect your computer to anything ever. And even then, someone can break in and steal your computer. So, if you are using a computer, 100% security is a false assumption.
Before I go any further, I normally use my blog for posting spiritual thoughts or devotional type information. I wanted to take some time with this post to help people become a little more security conscience in this day and age where identity theft, viruses and spyware are so prevalent.
One more disclaimer. I am not anti-PC, nor am I anti-Mac. I am not a Microsoft lover, but I use plenty of Microsoft products. Therefore, what you read in this blog is not trying to bring you over to one side or the other. It is simply intended to help you be more secure as you use your computers on the Internet. Most of the advice in this post will be for PC users (as that is what I am), but there is some information that Mac users could benefit from as well.
In the following paragraphs, I will be discussing a few certain things you can do to be more secure on the Internet. Some of these things, you may already do. Some, you may never do … even after you read what I have to say. But they are hear for you to give you more options.
SUGGESTION #1: Make sure you are updating your computer. This is a suggestion that should be more of a directive. If you are not doing this, you are just opening yourself up to major problems. Do it! This applies to PC users and Mac users. Yes, Mac’s do have vulnerabilities that need to be patched from time to time. For PC users, you will need to use Internet Explorer to get your updates. Usually, you can find a link in your Start menu that says Windows Updates. You can set this up to download and install updates automatically if you would like. If you click the link, and go to the site, you will be given two options. Express or Custom update and install. I choose Custom. The Express only installs the latest critical security updates. This is good, but it is also good to get any updates for your hardware or software. These are found in the Custom section. And you will have to select to have them installed.
Note 1: Microsoft updates come out the 2nd Tuesday of every month. Occasionally, there will be an out of cycle update, but not every month.
Note 2: If you install an update or if you have your computer set up to download and install automatically – and your computer starts having problems – try using your computer’s system restore to restore your computer back to the state it was in 3 or 4 days earlier. This will not erase your data. It will simply remove any updates or programs that you’ve installed that could have caused your problems. Then, go back and reinstall each one individually until you find the culprit. Of course, it could have been a faulty install the first time, and it will work fine the second.
SUGGESTION #2: Ensure your anti-virus software is installed, up to date and running. Many of you have Norton or McAfee’s software on your computer. These usually give you anti-virus, spyware protection, firewalls, email scanners, and on and on and on. Those things are nice and good, but they also make for some VERY LARGE programs on your computer. If your computer is sluggish, these could be part of the problem. I am currently using a free anti-virus program called AVG. It seems to be working great. Of course, it is only an anti-virus program. If you would like to give it a try, you can find the free version at here –> http://free.avg.com/download-avg-anti-virus-free-edition.
SUGGESTION #3: Use a browser that is not Internet Explorer. This is the part where you need to know I do not hate Microsoft. And I know my MS friends are not smiling at me for the moment, but I think they will have to SORT of agree with my reasoning. Microsoft is a BIG and great company. They are a huge reason why we are where we are today in the world of computers. They provide great products. The only problem is that since they are so much bigger than everyone else, all the bad guys out there are designing their attack programs to take advantage of flaws in MS products on PCs. If any one ever tells you they use a Mac because it can’t get viruses or because it doesn’t have the problems PCs have … just ignore them. They obviously do not have a clue. Everything we use is designed by people. And ALL people make mistakes. Therefore, EVERYTHING has a flaw.
Before going off and following this suggestion understand that you CANNOT remove Internet Explorer from your system (or you SHOULD not). The only way to get Microsoft updates is by using Internet Explorer. While IE 8 (the newest version) is a lot more secure than its previous versions, it is still being heavily attacked by the bad guys. The browser I use is Firefox. If you would like to download and install Firefox, you can do so at www.firefox.com.
SUGGESTION #4: Protect your wi-fi. You are wide open if you are not protecting your wi-fi. You can do this by going into your wi-fi settings. If you don’t know how to do this, read the documentation that came with your router or look it up online. Once you are able to get to the settings, change the username to login, change the password, and then, look for the wireless settings. Once here, look for something called WPA. You will want to set this to a really long and confusing password that no one can remember. Not even you. Write it down and keep it somewhere in your house. If you want a REALLY, REALLY secure password made up for you … go to this site and copy and paste the 63 random alpha numeric characters and use that. https://www.grc.com/passwords.htm
SUGGESTION #5: Run a sweep for Spyware at least once a month – maybe more. A great FREE tool for doing this can be located at www.lavasoft.com. Get the Ad-Aware Free program and run a complete scan. This will take a while. But it will find and remove most spyware.
SUGGESTION #6: STOP INSTALLING those silly tool bars if you are using Internet Explorer. The tool bars I speak of are the Yahoo search or Google search or weather info or other search bars. Anything at the top that is not a menu bar or a links bar. These tool bars come with their on spyware. So, even after you do a sweep, they simply put the spyware back out there the next time you open the browser.
SUGGESTION #7: NEVER click on a link to go to a site from an email. If your bank needs you to see something, or some store wants you to check out something, open a browser and type in the address.
SUGGESTION #8: Use common sense. Don’t be stupid.
As I close, I hope you find this helpful. If you are a computer tech kind of person and want to correct me or offer more helpful info, please feel free to comment. I am not the smartest guy in the world, so, I may have said something wrong or left off some important info. But please understand, if I don’t find your comment helpful, it won’t be added. Remember, you don’t have to agree with me to be helpful. 
Go with God,
Donald B
Here’s a comment from Serge Yurovsky that he made on my Facebook account. A few things I meant to include, but forgot about updating Firefox and the Adobe products – ESPECIALLY the Adobe products.
“Very well written common sense post. AVG is a great free tool – Avast works well too.
If I may, I would also add – keep your firefox, acrobat reader, etc updated as well. Use something like CCleaner to run regular cleanup of computer both for performance and some security issues. Always make sure the Windows Firewall is enabled (unless you are running a third party solution). Consider Windows Defender as real-time spy ware protector. And last but not least – NEVER believe a pop claiming you have an infected computer and click it to install some anti virus/spyware tool it recommends.”
yeah when something pops up saying your effected it what is really saying is no your not effected yet but push me you be very soon
lol i agree there is no such thing 100 percent protected i know people own mac and claim nothing can go wrong but that’s very much possible as any other PC matter fact it be worse later in future not going to know what to do when the Virus freaks come the crashing to there doors because windows been dealing with it for many years why Macintosh well we know answer that one lol
Teddy Software Info’s comment brings up a good point that we should all be aware of. Millions of users were infected with the Antivirus 2009 which masqueraded as a Norton Antivirus software. You would visit a page, a pop up would tell you a malicious file had been found on your system, and then ask you to install Antivirus 2009 to properly take care of this malicious file. In reality, by clicking OK, you just installed a malicious file. And this masquerade now has a 2010 version.
Don’t EVER click on any POP UP ever. The best way to shut down a pop up is to use ALT + F4 on your keyboard. This will shut down whichever window is active on your screen. So, make sure the pop up is active, and hit ALT + F4.