Computer Ownership 101

I work full time at a small Christian radio station, but I do some computer repair on the side. I am often shocked at what I find on people's computers. I once cleaned out a PC that had over 900 viruses! We spend hundreds, even thousands of dollars on our PCs and then we fill it with our music, documents, emails, movies, pictures, and other priceless content, and ignore some of the most basic of security measures. I understand that not everyone is interested in being a power user, but everyone who owns a computer should understand a few things.

Number One: Your Computer Needs Protection!

Your car has some built in security measures. You have door locks and it takes a unique key to start it. That said, if you live in a area where cars are stolen like my wife's cookies, then you put more security measures like an alarm on it. Your computer needs protection. If you run windows, then you should at least use an anti-virus. Lets face it, Windows is attacked more than any other system out there. Secondly, you need some sort of second layer of protection. A newer threat has started to attack windows, its purpose is not to destroy your computer but to learn anything it can to exploit you through advertisements, stealing of your personal information (credit card numbers, user names, social security number, your online habits, passwords, and any other information it can use to exploit you.) many times this is not picked up by your anti-virus. There are a number of anti-spyware programs out there that work to keep you protected.

"I don't have anything that is important on my computer so, I'm not concerned about all that stuff." This is the most dangerous mindset that anyone can have. Viruses don't just attack your system, but they also use your unprotected PC to infect others. If you don't care about your PC then please do everyone else a favor and protect it for our sake! Viruses can spread themselves by sending themselves to everyone on your email list as well as use all of your internet bandwidth (your internet speed) to do anything they want. Letting your PC become infected with viruses and leaving it, hoping that it will fix itself, is like giving your computer to a nefarious person to do what ever he wants with it.

Security does not have to make you take out a second mortgage on your home. My favorite set up is to use AVG Free Anti-Virus for viruses, PC Tools Threat Fire for zero day attacks (attacks that are not yet known), and Windows Defender for spyware and a few other problems. These three are free and do a very good job of protecting your system. As long as your computer is not made before 1998, you shouldn't notice any performance hit.

Number Two: Backup Your Stuff!

This is something that I can't stress enough. Most people don't do this, and many of those who do don't do it right. You don't have to do a full system backup to protect yourself. Sometimes you only have to put your documents on an USB thumb drive. Other times, it is important to clone your whole hard drive. The most important thing to remember is that if you are going to protect your important information then you need to get the information off the computer and put in a different place all together. If your hard drive dies then all of the backups you made on your hard drive will die also. With the price of USB drive going down and the capacity is getting larger there is no reason why the common person can't backup their info. Blank CDs and DVDs also make for a good backup medium, but beware these are not for long term. After a few years a CD or DVD will suffer from rot and all that info will be lost. This has happened to me with some of the CDs I burned when I was at college. If you have huge amounts of data, you will want to buy a external hard drive. If you are looking for some good backup mediums that won't break the bank then look on Newegg.com. Newegg has the best prices on hardware and also has the best customer service.

Number Three: Don't Be Stupid!

This is the most important tip that anyone could ever follow. I know people who have all of the super expensive anti-whatever software and total security suites and still get pwned by viruses and spyware. The best thing you can do is to use your brain before you do something. If you get an email from someone you have never heard of that says "check this out" or "here is what you requested" or (God forbid) "Cheap Viagra!" DO NOT OPEN IT, DO NOT REPLY TO IT, DO NOT BE FOOLED! These are like worms on a hook. Any message you get that has an attachment from someone you have never heard of DO NOT OPEN IT!
Update your security software. If your software does n0t auto-update then make sure you update it manually at least three times a week. If your software expires, renew it or get a free option but do not let it go unattended. I have cleaned out infested computers with the full Norton's suite that wasn't kept updated and had expired.
Don't trust other people's portable storage devices (Burned CDs, DVDs, USB Drives, etc...), viruses can be spread through them also. Stay way from "shady" sites. Porn sites are notorious for this. While they have your attention they will install all sorts of things that will destroy your computer. Have some self control stay away from sites offering things like free money, free porn, free screen savers, free wallpapers, etc... I use Firefox to browse the internet (which will help keep you safer). Firefox has these wonderful things called add ons. One of the best ones I've ever used is call WOT. It has a rating system for sites based on four things: trustworthiness, vendor reliability, privacy, and child safety. This is a quick and easy way to find out if a site is dangerous or not.
Be careful of pop-ups. Many times they are made to look like a normal window or have items that look like you can click to get out of them. Many times the "click here to close" button lies. If you are using Firefox or Internet Explorer 7 and you get an unwanted pop-up, be very careful. The best option is not to click the X on top because it can sometimes do something very bad to your computer. It is best to hit Ctrl+Alt+Delete and kill the pop-up manually in the task manager. This may seem like an over kill but it is better than spending an entire day trying to fix your PC.

If you own a computer you have some responsibilities that come with it. If you are responsible you will have many years of trouble free computing, if you are careless and ignore the advice of all your geeky friends you will have hours of headaches. So stop procrastinating and take care of your PC there is no excuse.