Staying Safe – 10 Small and Effective Computer Security Tips

Over the years we have seen computer security become more and more relevant.  No longer do you need to physically insert a rogue CD or floppy disk into your machine to get viruses or other problems; it can happen right over the web without your permission!  No longer does it matter what operating system you run, viruses are programmed for Windows, Mac, and even Linux! For these reasons, it is becoming more and more important that we take the necessary precautions to keep ourselves, and our computers, safe.  But there are so many ways to go about doing this, it can be mind boggling to many of us.  Here are 10 very simple, yet very useful, computer security tips.

1. Make sure that you have a legitimate “subscription-based” anti-virus program installed and activated at all times.

This is pretty basic but it’s always important, especially when you first get a new computer.  Most new computers nowadays will come with some sort of anti-virus trial, whether it be 30 days or 12 months, yet sometimes people will forget to activate them when they first boot it up.  Then you can end up stuck with a virus and have to go spend 100 bucks on the machine you just bought!  This isn’t fun; so just check and make sure that whatever pre-installed anti-virus software is activated.  Also, remember that what you have is just a trial, so about a week or so before it runs out, remember to buy a real subscription-based program.  This means that it will cost you a set amount (usually 50-60 USD) per year.  I recommend purchasing either Kaspersky Internet Security ($59.95), Avira Premium Security Suite ($51.93), or McAfee Total Protection ($49.99).

2. Download a free “safe search” plug-in for your web browser.

These are some of the most useful little things you can get.  A safe-search plug-in is a small little add-on to your web browser which tells you what sites are safe to visit.  For example, let’s say you go to Google and search the words “free antivirus software”.  Some of the first search results would be for sites like AVG and Avira, two popular companies that offer a free alternative to their subscription-based anti-virus programs.  These sites would have some sort of green marking next to them, like a green checkmark, representing a safe website with safe software to download.  But if you continued to look through your search results you might find fake anti-virus programs, which are cleverly disguised viruses.  This is called rogue software, and sites that have these fake programs would have some sort of red marking next to them, like a red checkmark.  There are also yellow markings for sites which may be dangerous, yet at the same time may be safe, and question marks, which mean that the site has yet to be tested.  You can download a free safe-search client here.

3. Stop using Internet Explorer.

If you’re using Windows, whether it be XP, Vista, 7, whatever; then your computer comes with Internet Explorer pre-installed.  It’s pretty much impossible to get rid of it but the least you can do to keep yourself safe is to choose not to use it.  You see, Internet Explorer (IE) is considered the easiest web browser to hack nowadays, meaning steal your personal information, load viruses onto your computer, etc.  If that alone doesn’t make you switch web browsers, then maybe realizing that IE is ranked the slowest out of the five major browsers will convince you to download something new.  I recommend Mozilla Firefox (and you’ll find out why later) but the choice is up to you.  Other popular browsers include Apple’s “Safari”, “Opera” (the browser that the Wii and Nintendo DS internet is based), and Google’s very own “Google Chrome”.

4. Download Mozilla Firefox and check out some of the internet safety add-ons.

I said before this that I recommended Mozilla Firefox as a safe, alternative browser to Internet Explorer.  Now you get to find out why.  Firefox is most known for its wide variety of add-ons that can be installed with only a few clicks.  These add-ons do just about anything, from downloading YouTube videos to allowing you to change the background of color of websites.  However, I’ve found that you can also get some really useful add-ons that will improve the already stable Firefox’s security.  You’re free to install any or all of these, but note that the more add-ons installed, the slower Firefox will be.  You’ll need to have like 20 or so until it sinks to be as slow as Internet Explorer though, so you can install all of these… and then some.

• Ad-Block Plus – ABP is a very useful add-on which will block all of those annoying “Ads by Google” things, as well as any other advertisements, pop-ups, and all things of that nature.  Highly recommended for anyone and as of now, it is the most downloaded add-on.
• NoScript – This is a bit of a newer one which blocks scripts from running everywhere except for pages you trust such as YouTube or Facebook.  This way there won’t be any unexpected hacking from a website you accidently stumbled upon.
• Redirect Remover – Have you ever gone on a site, clicked on a link, but then it takes you to another page you didn’t want to go to?  This is called redirecting.  With this add-on, you will never be redirected again and you will always be taken to the exact page you requested.

5.  Get a sandbox program.

Sandbox programs are quickly becoming the easiest way to say safe online.  Basically what a sandbox program does is allow you to run certain applications “Sandboxed”.  When a program is running in a sandbox, you can download viruses, keyloggers, spyware, adware, whatever, and it can’t affect your computer because it’s running in the box.  Then whenever you want you just click to dump the box and everything in it will be erased forever.  Now the most popular sandbox program nowadays is the free version of Sandboxie, which can be found here. But note that the free version has some downfalls.  After 30 days of use it will make you wait a few seconds each time you open it and give you a message that if you buy the full version, you won’t have to worry about the wait screens.  Also, every time you want to run an application you will have to individual choose to run it Sandboxed.  Either way I recommend trying out the free version of Sandboxie before you do anything.  If you like it, you’ll want to consider buying the full version for 29 euros (just under $40).  If you don’t like Sandboxie, there are other sandbox programs out there as well like Bufferzone Pro and DeepFreeze but neither has a permanently free version.

6. Download MalwareBytes as a secondary anti-virus program.

In addition to having your subscription-based anti-virus software, it is always good to have an extra, a smaller, usually free, backup protection.  There are lots out there but the one I recommend above all is called MalwareBytes.  MalwareBytes has to be one of the most amazing programs I’ve ever seen.  It detects all kinds of little adware, spyware, trojans, etc. that even software like Norton and Avast won’t pick up on!  And the best part about it is; there is a free version (not a trial!) that will never cost you a penny. And even more amazingingly, it is less than 6 MBs in size!  I don’t know how they made such an awesome program so small but they did. 

Note one thing however!  If you choose not to buy the full version ($24.95), the free version will not update itself!  So more often than not people have outdated versions of MalwareBytes on their computer, and with new viruses springing up every day you need to be up-to-date.  Updating only takes a few seconds by launching MB and clicking “Check for Updates”, just don’t forget to do it!

7. Don’t use Limewire, Frostwire, Cabos, or other P2P clients that run on the Gnutella network.

Limewire should be renamed to the scourge of the music industry.  Anyway, in addition to it being illegal to download music from it, many songs are often packed with viruses.  And don’t think that using Frostwire or whatever will prevent you from getting viruses either, they all run on the Gnutella network, which means you’re searching the same database of files. 

Now I know that most people will just ignore this one as they will want their free music no matter what.  So I am providing another way to get your music free without viruses. Yeah, it’s still illegal but I at least you won’t get viruses, and I know if I were to just say “Don’t use Limewire” no one would listen. So anyway just go to YouTube and type the song you want to download.  Find a video with good audio quality and copy the URL.  Go to a site like this and in a few seconds you have your song.  Although for the record, buying songs is still better.

8. Only download from trusted sites.

Downloading software online is the easiest way to accidently stubmle upon malware.  However, you’ll be fine so long as you only download from sites that are safe.  One of the best ways to make sure what you’re downloading is safe is to use this site. Pretty much whatever you’re looking for can be found there and everything is guaranteed to be safe.  But just because we are extra safe and smart computer users, we also follow step nine which is…

9. Scan everything you download before you open it.

This is quite simply the best way to protect yourself these days.  Whenever you download a file, save it to the desktop.  And before you open it, run it, or do anything else with it, scan it.  To do a custom scan, right click it and there should be an option for a custom scan with your anti-virus.  After that is done, do a second custom scam with MalwareBytes just to be sure.

Additionally, you can use VirusTotal.com to scan things you download.  VirusTotal is a site where you upload a file, and it will scan it with more than 40 different anti-virus programs.  If something passes through that, you can be 99.9999999% sure that it is safe.  However, note that you will need to upload the file you just downloaded, which will take some time.  I recommend you follow a simple rule of thumb.  If the file you just downloaded is less than 10 MBs, do an upload to VirusTotal.  If it is over than 10 MBs, scan it with your main AV and MalwareBytes.

10. Look for the “https” on a web page.

By now you’ve probably seen https URLs popping up all over the place.  Most people first notice them when they are on a page where they are making a purchase.  For example, they will be on Wal-Mart.com, and when they go to checkout their browser will read https://whatevertheurlis as opposed to the good ‘ol http.  But in actuality that little “s” can be a very useful pointer.  By itself, http stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol.  However, https stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure.  To explain what that extra ’s’ does in depth would defeat the purpose of this article, which is to be simple tips, however, just know that when on a https page you can feel a bit more safe.  However, just because a page has that, do not think it’s 100% safe, you should be wary on any site.