Intro to More Secure Computing...Episodes to follow

by Chad Haadvedt, KAXE's IT Connection

If you are a Windows user, you have probably been hearing a lot of reasons to worry about viruses and malware on your computer. Especially if you are connected to the Internet. Unfortunately, much of what you read about/hear is true--there are a lot of threats that are easy to fall into and infect your computer.

I'll be writing a short series of blogs about what you can do to prevent (or at least reduce the risk) your computer from being hijacked. I am not going to bother with any detail about Anti-virus software, because if you don't have it already on your Windows computer, you are probably a hopeless case anyway. So, let's go over a listing of the things that you should do in addition to keeping your AV software up-to-date.

1. Browse the web and read email with a depreciated user account on your Windows computer (Episode 1)
2. Become a smarter (more suspicious) Internet user. (Episode 2)
3. Learn to use malware prevention and detection tools (Episode 3)
4. "There's a sucker born every minute" - don't let it be you (Episode 4)
   

I invite tips and suggestions from readers. I'd also like to hear about your horror stories about confirmed viruses.