Computer Security Tips To Help Protect You From Malware Infection

Here Are Some Security Tips To Help Keep You Safe

Anti-Virus Do’s And Don’t’s

Make sure you have an active and up to date anti-virus program installed I work on infected machines all the

time that have an old Norton or McAfee 2005 or 2006 that has expired long ago keep in mind most up to date

anti-virus programs have a hard enough time keeping you protected so an expired one is going to do far less.

Another thing I see alot of is say for example you have internet service through AOL or ATT they offer their

own proprietary virus scanners with their service and usually if you have opted not to use their software at the

time you set it up and choose to install your own let's say AVG for example I have done this for people myself

get everything set up and then several months later I get a call because they are having problems and I go out

and what do you know AVG is no longer installed and the ISP's proprietary virus scanner has taken over after

an update to their browser and now the machine is infected.

Be sure to watch for this there is usually an alert to let you choose which one to use while the update is installing

but it tends to be confusing for most people and usually the ISP's scanner ends up being the default program that's protecting you and that's better than nothing at all but not by much they can't match the protection offered by other

anti-virus softwares.

There are alot choices when it comes to anti-virus solutions such as stand alone anti-virus or the all in one security

suite approach which not only offers anti-virus protection but has a firewall and usually some form of "HIPS"(host intrusion prevention system) and various other bells and whistles. Also you have a choice between a free software

or a paid software and the choices are many but my two top recomendations are for the free choice Comodo Internet

Security and for a paid choice Kaspersky Internet Security these two softwares in my opinion offer the most in their

class for protection just remember everyone has their favorites and no one program is 100% perfect so opinions

will vary.

Service Packs And Updates

Make sure your Windows operating sysytem is up to date and has the latest service pack installed along with the most current security patches an out of date unpatched operating system is just as bad as an out of date anti-virus program

you don't want either of these being out of date.

A Layered Security Approach

Set up some redundency security is a layered approach what ever security software you use as your main protection

don't rely strictly on that try to use programs like the free SuperAntiSpyware and MalwareBytes AntiMalware on a regular basis to make sure your main application isn't missing anything.

Also a hardware firewall which is usually incorporated in most decent wireless routers is a very usefull tool to help protech your computer even if using a stand alone software firewall or security suite I highly recommend this even if you don't need a router you can buy just hardware firewalls but they are usually more exspensive than a basic router so using

a hardware and software firewall both gives the potential hacker two firewalls to have to traverse in order to get acces

to your machine.

Open DNS

Another thing I would recommend is using OpenDNS servers and register for an account with them then setup your

computer or router with their DNS address and in registering for an account it gives you the ability to setup filtering for things like porn sites or social networking sites phising attacks and in alot of cases speed up your browsing.

Browsers

Use a browser other than Internet Explorer like Firefox Opera or Google Chrome, Internet Explorer has allways been the least secure browser IE8 has improved but still falls behind other browsers not only in security but web page rendering as well.

Also watch out for browser tool bars they are often a source of spyware and can cause browser freezes and chrashes.

User Accounts

Don't use your administrator user account for web browsing and e -mail set up a limited account for that. Most malware needs admin prevlidges in order to execute if you are using a limited account chances are much lower that you'll end up with a serious problem this is a major flaw with Windows the default user account has admin privlidges most people don't know to set up a limited account or don't want to switch between accounts but it will help.

Caution With E-Mail Clients

Another thing to do if you use for example Outlook or Outlook Express or even Windows Live Mail or any mail app

with the preview pane feature turn this option off with preview pane turned on it automaticly opens e-mails as you select

them and downloads any content they might have this is a good way to get infected if an infected e-mail were sent to you.

Remember curiosity killed the cat we all recieve e-mails with PowerPoint slides or Windows Movie Files,YouTube videos or links to external sites that may be infected just remember those sorts of things are the most common type of infected e-mail attachments so stop and think is it worth possibly infecting you PC just for a cheap laugh I delete 90% of the e-mail I recieve without ever even opening it I reserve e-mail for important stuff not entertainment better to be safe than sorry!

Porn,P2P And Social Networking

Visiting Porn sites Warez sites and Peer to Peer file sharing networks for everything from music to movies to everday software with applications like the popular Limewire are one of the highest risk things you can do it's not a matter of will you get infected but when and it's usually sooner rather than later. If you are determined to visit these kinds of places be prepared to pay the price.

Also Social Networking sites like MySpace, Face Book and Twitter are also places of high risk where a lot of infections occur.

The Best Defense Is A Good Offense

Remember you can have all the security software in the world but if you don't know how to use it then you'll find

yourself in trouble I have found there is a trade off between security and usabilty for most users the programs that are

the best tend to be complex and alot of times the user is the one that makes the difference when you get an alert from

the AV or firewall for example and you click allow when you should have clicked block or deny or remove what ever

the case maybe making the wrong choice could spell diaster so slow down don't panic read the alert if you are not sure what to do ask someone or google it or visit the user forums for that software there is allways info available if you know where to look.

Don’t Click That Mouse

If your surfing the net and land on a website and windows pop up all of the sudden and it looks like a scan is running and it says your infected just close your main browser window this is a mistake so many people make when windows are poping up all over they tend to try to click those windows closed big mistake don't click on them anywhere it dosen't matter if you click yes no open close it's all the same that will start an istall of malicious script just close the main browser window if it freezes push the power button in and hold it and count to five and the computer will power down.

What The Bad Guys Know

The villians who propagate malware know human nature and they will allways taget all the popular places people like to hang out like Myspace Facebook Twitter Filesharing Networks Porn Sites anywhere they know there will be lots of people.

They know how people react to their fake security alerts they know your going to click everywhere your not supposed to when things pop up all over your screen saying your infected or that you not know any better and will give them your credit card number to register their rogue software they have infected your machine with because you just want it to go away just don't panic that's what they count on just stop and get help.

Additional Info

If you have taken the time to read all this please visit the "Infection Definitions" page for an even better understanding of what the various infections are that can find their way into your computer I hope this helps to inform you of things you can do to improve your security level.

I have included a video of what to watch out for this is the most common way the unsuspecting user gets inefected by the fake alert.