| Five
steps to make your computer more secure
By
Kim Komando
Gannett News Service
These days, a firewall, anti-virus software and anti-spyware
programs are essential, but they might not be enough to
protect you.
Here are five
things you can do for a little added security:
• Leave
your computer on.
This is a change
from an earlier recommendation that you turn it off to save
energy.
Security software
and your computer's operating system are regularly updated
to counter new viruses, worms, spyware and hackers probing
for weaknesses. If your computer is off at night, you'll
have to update during the day, when you're working. Or worse,
the new threat hits your system before you have a chance
to download and install the updates.
So leave your
computer on. Turn off the printer, monitor and other extras,
and find other ways to save energy.
• Use a
limited user account.
You can prevent
others from taking control of your computer by giving up
some privileges.
Too many people
use Windows Administrator accounts when they run their computers.
Users with administrator accounts can install software and
change system settings. Limited accounts don't have these
privileges. So, if you use the Internet with a limited account,
and you click on the wrong thing, malicious programs cannot
install themselves on your computer.
To create a limited
account, click Start, Settings, Control Panel, then User
Accounts. Click "Create a new account." Enter
a name and click Next. Select Limited and then click Create
Account.
• Watch
out for crush sites.
Spammers are
always looking for more e-mail addresses. Now they're enlisting
the help of unsuspecting teens and adults.
Spammers send
out messages with subject lines like "Someone has a
crush on you." A link directs you to a site that resembles
a dating service. To find out who has the crush, you must
guess by entering the correct e-mail address.
These days, most
adults are fairly cautious about disclosing e-mail addresses.
Teens may be more naive, particularly when an e-mail message
preys on their insecurities.
• Watch
the status bar.
The status bar
is a frequently overlooked tool at the bottom of your browser.
You can use it to check links on a Web page. Hold your mouse
over a link, and the address of the link appears in the
status bar. It may not help if the address is spoofed, but
it is still handy.
To do this, you
may need to activate the status bar.
For Internet
Explorer, close all windows. Open Windows Explorer and click
View, Status Bar. Then click Tools, Folder Options. On the
View tab, click Apply to All Folders. Click OK.
In Firefox, click
View, Status Bar.
• Protect
your Windows Clipboard.
Malicious Web
sites may attempt to copy information from your Windows
Clipboard. That is the utility that temporarily stores information
from cut and copy operations.
You can prevent
sites from downloading information from the Clipboard. In
Internet Explorer, click Tools, Internet Options. Click
Custom Level on the Security tab. Scroll to the Scripting
section. Select prompt for "Active scripting,"
"Allow paste operations via script" and "Scripting
of Java applets." Click OK, then OK
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