The explosive growth of the Internet has meant that thousands of people are
today experiencing the joys of being online for the first time. With growth
there always comes pain. Be it your growing pains as a child or the growth and
development of this part of our culture called the Internet.
Firstly we need to quickly explain what the Internet is and where it came
from. The Internet is the offspring of a military project called Arpanet.
Arpanet was designed to provide reliable communication during global nuclear
war. A vast network of interconnected computers was set up all over the world to
allow the various branches of US and NATO forces to communicate with each
other.
Nuclear war never came (thankfully) and the world was left with a massive
network of computers all connected together with nothing to do. Colleges and
universities started to use these computers for sharing research
internationally. From there it grew and spread outside colleges to local homes
and businesses. The World Wide Web was born and its father was a guy called Tim
Berners Lee.
When youre connected to the Internet youre sharing a vast network with
hundreds of millions of other users. This shared network provides resources that
15 years ago were never thought possible. Unfortunately when something is shared
its open to abuse. On the Internet this abuse comes from hackers and virus
creators. Their sole intent is to cause chaos and/or harm to your computer
system and millions of other computer systems all over the world.
How do you combat this? You need an Internet security system. This might
sound complicated but your Internet security system will be quite straigtforward
being comprised of just 2 - 3 Internet security products. Well look at each of
these products in more detail now:
AntiVirus Software
The first and most critical element of your Internet security system is
antivirus software. If you dont have up-to-date antivirus software on your PC
youre asking for trouble. 300 new viruses appear each month and if youre not
constantly protecting your system against this threat your computer will become
infected with at least one virus - its only a matter of time.
Antivirus software scans your PC for signatures of a virus. A virus signature
is the unique part of that virus. It can be a a file name, how the virus behaves
or the size of the virus file itself. Good antivirus software will find viruses
that havent yet infected your PC and eliminate the ones that have.
Antivirus software can only protect your computer from viruses trying to
infect it via email, CD-Rom, floppy disk, Word documents or other types of
computer files. Antivirus software alone will not keep your computer 100% safe.
You also need to use firewall software.
Firewall Software
The use of firewall software by home computer users is a relatively new
occurence. All Internet connections are a two way process. Data must be sent and
received by your computer. This data is sent through something called ports.
These are not physical things rather aspects of the way your computer
communicates online.
Firewall software watches these ports to make sure that only safe
communication is happening between your computer and other computers online. If
it sees something dangerous happening it blocks that port on your computer to
make sure your computer stays safe from the person who is trying to hack into
your system.
An easier way to understand a firewall would be to picture your computer as
an apartment complex. At the front door of this complex there is a security
guard. Every person who enters the complex must pass this security guard. If the
security guard recognizes the person entering as a resident he allows them to
pass without saying anything. If, however, the person entering the complex is
unknown to him then he will stop that person and ask for identification. If they
have no business being at the apartment complex he escorts them from the
building.
If you are not currently using firewall software your computer will get
hacked into - thats a guarantee.
PopUp Blocker
You can get a good popup blocker at no cost. An easy way to do this is to
install either the Google or Yahoo toolbar. Both of these come with popup
blockers built in. Popups are not necessarily dangerous but are a nuisance and
using either of these toolbars will make your life that bit easier.
A simple rule for practicing online security is: "If in doubt then dont". If
you dont recognize the file, the email address, the website or if your gut
feeling says "no" then dont click that button.
This article was provided courtesy of the Spyware And Malware Guide. This
site offers information on how to remove spyware from your computer - often for
free. |
