November 11, 2003

Internet security is such a problem, what's a computer user to do? Well, that's a good question.  There are so many things to do just to keep hackers from being able to ruin your day.  Actually, a couple of things will pretty much take care of the majority of things for you.

Of course, you absolutely must have an antivirus program. Click here to see my discussion on antivirus programs.  On that page there is a link to a second discussion on the subject. Please remember, having an antivirus program is only good if you keep the definitions up to date.  Do Not let your definitions expire.  The money they charge for another year of coverage is much less than losing your stuff and paying someone to remove a virus for you.  Some more interesting spam and virus facts can be found by clicking here.

The second thing to think about is a firewall program.  I tend to recommend Zone Alarm because it's free, but there are a lot of firewalls out there and they will all do the trick. There is a firewall built into Windows XP, but be aware, it is not very good. You are better off installing a regular firewall program.  In some respects firewall programs are a pain, since you have to train them what programs have permission to talk to the Internet, but the protection is well worth the small amount of aggravation getting it set up.  I also believe, for anyone who is using high speed access, a router is a great way to have a hardware firewall to deter people from having access to your computer.  I personally use both a router and Zone Alarm.  Click here for an article on firewalls.

Why are there so many problems with this issue?  Well, Microsoft set Windows up to be able to communicate with different things via the Internet and there have been a lot of security issues with hackers exploiting errors in the operating systems vulnerability.  It is also very important to keep Windows updated via Microsoft's web site.  Check it once a week, or better yet, make sure automatic updates is turned on.  To manually update, in Internet Explorer, click on Tools, then Windows Update. Then follow through and install any Critical Updates shown in the list.

Windows XP can, and should be setup to check for updates automatically. This still doesn't help if you don't click on the balloon, by the clock, when it tells you updates are ready to be installed.  There is no such thing as being 100% safe, but if you follow my recommendations, you should not have to worry about problems from viruses, worms, and hackers.

If you have any questions or comments, click