Computer Security Infomation

My recommendations for securing a Windows PC or a Mac

Windows

1. If you don’t have an Antivirus or your Antivirus signature update has expired (usually will after 1st year or maybe 90 or even 30 days of PC ownership if the Antivirus came with the PC), you can go to www.avast.com and download Avast Free Antivirus (free for personal use). If you need Tech Support you can upgrade to Avast Pro. The best idea is to let it update the signatures every day.

Note: Avast Free requires 128 Meg of RAM to run. This can be very important if you only have 512 Meg of RAM in your computer. If you use AVG Free 2012 which requires 512 Meg of RAM to run, it will run very slowly on a computer with 512 Meg of RAM.

2. To protect against malware, go to www.malwarebytes.org and download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware program. It is free for personal use and $24.95 to upgrade to the Professional version, which allows automated download and scanning configuration.

3. Go to www.mywot.com and download the Web of Trust plugin. It will put a green circle on the toolbar to indicate if a web site is to be trusted and it will be red if it is an untrustworthy web site.

4. Download and install Heimdal agent to provide automatic updating of Adobe Flash, Adobe Reader, Java, Quicktime, and Internet Explorer. Go to www.heimdalagent.com to download. You will also need to download the Microsoft .NET 4.0 Extended Framework to run it.

5. Install Internet Explorer 9.0 in order to patch your IE for maximum security. If you are on dialup, you would likely want to order the CD from Microsoft at www.microsoft.com/ie/

6. Run Windows Update and update all of the Critical Security patches for your PC. You may want to download the updated version of Windows Update which can let you know when new updates are available from Microsoft for downloading.

7. Consider using Mozilla Firefox (www.mozilla.com) or Chrome (chrome.google.com) or Maxthon (www.maxthon.com) or Opera (www.opera.com) for a browser instead of Internet Explorer. All are free and none of them will run ActiveX which is the major reason that Internet Explorer gets infected due to security holes.

8. To do an online Antivirus scan go to www.bitdefender.com and click on Scan Online – Scan Now.

If you have Windows XP SP3 (Service Pack 3) or Vista SP2 or Windows 7, you can skip the last step unless you want outbound firewall protection.

If you are running Windows 2000, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE or Windows Millenium then you really need to upgrade because Microsoft no longer supplies security updates for those versions. If you are running Windows XP with no service pack or Windows XP Service Pack 1 or 2, you need to upgrade to Service Pack 3 to be able to get security updates from Microsoft. To check the Service Pack level, go to Control Panel - System and the Service Pack number will be under Windows XP. If it does not say Service Pack, then there is no Service Pack applied.

9. You need a firewall to keep out worms like Blaster. If you don’t have a Linksys, Netgear or similar router for Cable or DSL then you will need to go to www.comodo.com and download the free version of Comodo Free Firewall and install it (NOT needed if you have Windows XP with SP2 (Service Pack 2 or higher) unless you want the best protection which includes outbound firewall protection).

Mac OS X

1. Update to all of the latest Apple updates constantly.

2. Go to www.sophos.com or the Sophos free Mac antivirus download and download the free for personal use Sophos Antivirus for Mac OS X to protect against viruses and malware.

3. Go to www.mywot.com and download the Web of Trust plugin. It will put a green circle on the toolbar to indicate if a web site is to be trusted and it will be red if it is an untrustworthy web site. Install it for all web browsers on the computer.

4. Make sure your Mac is running either the latest or next to latest version of OS X so it can receive security updates. Apple does not support or update OS X if it is older than the next to last available version. Currently, Apple is supporting Snow Leopard (10.6) and Lion (10.7).

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Copyright 1997-2012 Mike Osborne Last updated: March 12, 2012