Having up-to-date anti-virus software is essential these days for PC users (though for Macs the question is a little more controversial). However, it’s not enough on its own to keep your computer clean and your data safe.
In November I blogged about some simple and easy good housekeeping tips for your computer (see the last part of this post), but in addition it’s important to keep your software up-to-date and so protected against the latest security problems. Making sure of this can be quite a hassle if you rely on the individual programs to either automatically check for you (many don’t) or run individual checks yourself.
Which is where a package like Secunia PSI comes in. If you download this (small) program and run it, all the software on your computer gets checked and where you are missing security fixes it gives easy instructions on how to update the software to fix the problem.
It’s well worth installing and running regularly, such as when you do your regular computer backup…
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Or you could install Ubuntu instead.
Yes, but that has the disadvantage of having an entirely new operating system.
Don’t get me wrong, though. Ubuntu 8.04 LTS is a very good operating system.
I mantain though – the ONLY way your computer is secure is if you are net-smart.
DON’T download any file that you are unsure of.
DO make monthly sweeps of your computer (using programs like Spybot – Search and Destroy)
DON’T have out of date web software, like Internet Explorer.
DON’T reply to unsolicitated emails.
DO make regular backups of all your data.
What’s wrong with Internet Explorer?
Hello?
I don’t have any idea what anyone’s talking about here
:@D
Internet explorer is a more risky option for browsing the net than some other alternatives. see below for explanation-
As an IT pro I recommend you use Firefox (and Thunderbird for email)on your Windows PC. 15% of the world use it now.
download for free from http://www.mozilla.com
ALSO – get the noscript plugin for firefox – this will block all embedded content from executing unless you give permission.
This is a good thing as thousands of legitimate websites are infected with content that will put spyware and trojans onto your PC -
believe it or not but lots of Webmasters are not very good at securing their sites!
-Main reason for this is that Microsoft designed IE for ease of use rather than security – example: a website with a spreadsheet embedded will automatically open excel. This and dozens of other actions were enabled as standard and present spyware and trojan authors with lots of ways to get their stuff on your PC. (simplified explanation)
Dizzy – the problem for Lib Dems with Ubuntu (or Macs etc) is that the two standard party packages – our DTP and voter database software are both windows only.
So I have to run Windows under parallels getting the benefits of low cost Mac hardware and secure Windows software rolled into one