Tips to Keep your PC Secure

How secure is your PC? It seems that PC is absolutely secure, but it might not be always safe and secure. Windows XP was widely known for various security issues. Now, Windows Vista till date remains the most secure version of Windows, not even Windows 7. However, there are few security patches of Windows Vista, but they are at very low levels.

It is very important that you look after the security of your PC from various internet threats like hacking, phishing websites, and so on. Here are few tips to stay away from being infected.

Turn On the phishing filter

Phishing is the fastest growing danger on the Internet which results in to the identity theft. By using deceptive Web sites with the real brands logo and design, it tries to steal the important personal information such as user ids, passwords, SSN numbers, credit card numbers, and all. We need to secure our PCs from this Phishing threats and Phishing filter does it.

However, by default the Phishing Filter is turned off, so we have to enable it. For turning on the Phishing Filter, go to Tools > Phishing Filter > Turn On the Automatic Website Checking.

Delete your history

It is not only for them who wishes to hide their surf sites after browsing to the adult websites or chatting sites.  There are many people who browse or provide various valuable information on the shared PCs. For them to keep the information private, it is indeed necessary to delete all browsing history. Windows actually records the activities of the user in a log files and these histories and logs can be deleted if the users want to. You can delete the history each time after you browse in a shared PCs or others by going to Tools > Internet Options, then click on Delete the Browser History portion to remove the history, cookies, stored passwords, and form data prohibiting the theft of the log-in and other related details.

Change your password often

Most of us prefer to keep the same passwords for everything, so that they do not forget.  But this is not recommended. Do not ever use the same password; especially keep long passwords for the bank accounts log-ins. Also keep passwords using the combinations of numbers and letters that is hard for anyone to guess it.

Check site for phishing scams

In case your Phishing filter is off, just hit Alt and O, then followed by H and C and then quickly check a website using the Internet Explorer 7′s phishing filter.

Do not reply to spam

You are responsible for confirming that your email address is real for the scammers. So do not ever click on the links which is contained in the emails letting you to put your personal information. It will deceive you by letting you believe that it is from your credit card provider or some online stores. This is mostly a Phishing body.

Secure your wireless network

You might have a real threat if you have a wireless network at your home because it may extends over to the near by street and to your next door as well. Hence, it is very important to keep the undesired computers away. You can do so by encrypting your own wireless network connection with some password through your router. It is better to choose the WPA-level security and also change the password which you use to access your own router. WEP security is also good, in case you do not have WPA.

Parental controls to protect your children

One of the good things about Windows Vista is that it has a built-in Parental Controls. Go to Start > Control Panel > User Accounts and Family Safety > Parental Controls. Turning on the parental control help you to limit the access and make the internet browsing safer for your children. You can also utilize the standard settings to block the visiting of few websites or some programs. Otherwise, you can also make lists of websites or programs that your kids can choose from.

New account creation for your child

For safe browsing, you can create a new account for your kids. To do this, launch Control Panel, click on the User Accounts and then on Family Safety, then click on User Accounts. It is best that you create separate accounts for every member in the family. Just click on Create a New Account and then enter the user’s name. Now, provide that person with a standard user account if you do not want that user to have the authority to uninstall software and change the settings of your Windows Vista.

Add a password to a User Account

Create a password to your user account name by clicking on “Create a Password”. Now, the account will be accessed only by the person that you have assigned.

Monitoring

Any accounts which have active parental controls have its Reporting on. Whenever this user logged in, it will record all programs they have used or whatever games they have played. It will also record if they have tried to do things which have been blocked.

Set time limits for the computer use for your kids

Setting the time limits for your children to be online is a very good habit. If you click on the Time Limits, there will be an empty grid and by coloring them with mouse you can block times. In case that user attempts to log on to that PC during that blocked period, the Windows will not allow them to.

Check your firewall

By default, the Windows Firewall is turned on. You can also check the status in the Windows Security Centre. It is accessible through the Control Panel or else you can just type ‘Windows Firewall’ after opening Start menu.

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Tags: Computer, Computer security, Parental control, PC, PC scurity, scammers, Security, Spams