Today, millions of poor computers are being infected by nasty little things we know as viruses, worms, trojans, spyware, and adware. Not to mention nasty people like hackers and the ones who create the viruses. This is a general guide that will hopefully teach you how to protect your computer and make it last years without breaking down... too often...
The first step is pretty obvious if you have any computer knowledge at all. Get an anti-virus, and make sure you have a firewall.
Recommended Programs:
(There are antivirus programs I have used or am currently using, and they have my complete recommendation.)
McAfee - They have great anti-virus software and is personally my favorite. The Security Suites are probably the best because they come with everything (antivirus, firewall, spyware protection and all), but unfortunately, it costs money.
BullGuard is also a program that comes with the whole protection package. They also cost money, but you can download a 2-month trial.
Windows Defender which is free (awesome! *_*), is made by Microsoft and protects your comp. from spyware and the things spyware cause, such as slow performance.
Panda I've tried for a bit a while ago, but since I don't have the money I have it no longer. They come with security suites like McAfee's, but you have to buy it.
Ad-Aware is a good program as well, and it's free. :3 My mom's computer got infected by something once and she couldn't open up barely anything, not to mention her comp. was in a "frozen state". Once we scanned it with Ad-Aware and deleted the objects it detected, her comp. was just fine again.
Reminders:
(Just remember the following things to ensure that you will not accidentally download a virus/etc.)
Be careful what you download!
This is the biggest issue. Make sure that you trust the publisher of whatever program you're downloading, as well as the site you're downloading it from. For all you know, it could be a virus. After downloading the file it might be good to scan it to make sure it's safe. When downloading .torrent files, be sure to check the size of the file to see if it's appropriate. I've seen .torrent files for things like movies or games that're less than say, 50MB in size, which is pretty strange - they're usually way bigger. Obviously it's a virus of some sort.
Make sure your virus protection is ON.
If you see a ballon at the bottom of your screen that is red with an "x" on it, that likely means one of more of your security features is off. To make sure they're on, go to Start -> Control Panel -> and Security Center.
Don't be stupid.
It's really annoying when you don't have virus protection and you want to go online, but the stupidest thing you could possibly do is download something while you don't have an antivirus. Trust your brain, not your desires. D:
Don't use multiple antivirus programs.
While this may sound good, it's not always good. Sometimes antiviruses can conflict with one another if they're on the same computer. Of course this doesn't always happen, but try only having programs that protect you from different things.
Turn on Windows Automatic Updates.
Automatic Updates is a must-have and whenever Microsoft has updates for your computer (which are for your own safety), your computer will automatically update them. To make sure this feature is on go to Start -> Control Panel -> Security Center and make sure the light for Updates is ON.
Don't use Internet Explorer too often...
No, I'm not an IE basher, but honestly, in all my experiences, Mozilla Firefox or even Opera are much better browsers than IE. First off, they have less problems, less viruses, and the only thing Mozilla needs that IE has is the colored scrollbars. But that's not a big deal, is it?
Delete your temporary Internet files once in a while.
This sort of cleans out your comp. storage a bit, and might delete something dangerous that might've walked into your system while you weren't looking. Go to Start -> Network Connections -> Internet Settings -> "Delete Cookies and Temporary Internet Files". Please note that the names might differ from computer to computer.
Watch out for certain types of files.
.exe files, when you click on them, will run a program. It could be a harmful one disguised as a good program. Also take precaution when unzipping .zip files. It's good to let your antivirus scan these things before opening them. Also, some files may be disguised as one when it's actually anothing. For instance, they might be named "namehere.gif.exe". To make sure you can always see the full file name, go to My Documents >> Tools >> Folder Options >> View. Uncheck "Hide file extensions for known file types" and check "Show hidden files and folders" (if you want).
Be careful about opening email attachments.
If you see an email from someone you don't know, and especially if they have a file attached, delete their email and don't download anything from them. It could be a hacker for all you know.
Well, that's it for now.
I hope this guide has helped you increase your computer safety. I'm in no way a trained computer expert, but webowners these days usually know a fair amount of knowledge about viruses and such, and I just want to make sure you'll be careful. ;) Good luck~! If there's anything on this guide that is incorrect or I should change, please e-mail me about it! It'll help me a lot, as well as anyone else who reads this guide!
Eonlight Valley, all its content and graphics are unless stated otherwise (c) Kronakitty (kronakitty@gmail.com) 2005-2008. Official Pokemon contents and images are (c) Nintendo 1995-2008. This is only a fan site, and I do not claim ownership of Pokemon.
