Hooking your computer up to the Internet is the best favour you can ever do for it. I remember the days when my home computer was exclusively used for writing documentation for college projects or other number crunching activities. It was a lonely machine however, disconnected from the outside world. The closest thing it experienced to the Internet was loading up Encarta. Ah innocent days. When you connect to the Internet your machine suddenly comes alive in so many different ways I would not even attempt to list them. However with power comes responsibility and you must protect your little machine from new dangers in the big bad world. So first and foremost you must install a firewall to act as a shield for any number of viruses that are just waiting to get onto your lovely machine. I use and highly recommend Kerio Personal Firewall. Other firewalls include ZoneAlarm and Norton Personal Firewall. f you are running Windows XP please run Windows Update and download all the updates on their website. XP has some big security holes in its original form so an update is essential. Note that these downloads are large in size so if you are using dialup you may need to get the updates on CD from someone. You also need an antivirus program to stop those pesky viruses in their tracks and destroy them. Almost every antivirus program constantly monitors your machine and warns you immediately of any virus threats. Infected files can be cleaned or quarantined so they do no further damage. I highly recommend AVG Free Edition for your antivirus program. It's free and it updates itself at regular intervals so your machine is constantly protected against all the new nasty viruses. Doing the above will make your online life a more risk-free, enjoyable experience. Never leave your computer unprotected especially if you use broadband and are on an always-on network. Also on a side note backup your most important files and documents at regular intervals as well. Phew!
Oh I'm a happy bunny 'cause I seem to be doing all the right things for my 'puter. Thanks Frank great advice.
Nice to hear that Eileen. The last thing we need is for your computer to be hacked, preventing you from posting here. A point I forgot to mention is that you should also install spyware removing software to get rid of all those spyware applications that may have got onto your machine. Here is the link to the best one http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/ . It's an excellent, free program.[/b]
