How to fix Computer Security

With the advent and subsequent popularity of the Internet, many day-to-day things that are usually conducted in real life have been moved online. Now, there is online communication via email and instant messaging (and even online phone, and webcam), and online books , news, and research papers. Perhaps the biggest impact of the Internet-one that has essentially created its own industry-is the creation of online shopping.

Shopping on the Internet can take place in many forms: there is the conventional shopping, where you buy items and they are delivered to your door. There are also delivery services that send you food and related perishable items to your door, without your ever having to step foot outside the house. However, aside from actual products, there are eBooks and all sorts of digital information, as well as online memberships,  that can be bought on the Internet. Because shopping is no longer limited to stores and your personal information can be accessed now by a third party source that is not necessarily trustworthy, it is very important when you are shopping to follow some standard consumer safety tips.

The first step is to know who’s selling to you-if the merchant is reputable with a well-known name and good reviews, then most likely you will be pretty safe when shopping with them. However, if that information is not readily available, then do check up consumer reviews on the company to see whether it is a scam or actually valid. Large online companies such as Amazon, Google, eBay, Yahoo, and related big websites that offer shopping opportunities tend to be fairly scam-free, though, you should be careful when bidding on auctions on eBay; though your personal information will not be shared, you must be certain that the merchant will actually send you the product before buying, so as to avoid losing money unnecessarily.

It’s also important to protect what privacy you have; you should be sure that you know what personal information your seller is asking. Read the privacy policy of the website carefully and make certain that you know how that information will be used or shared with others. Try to find certifications of the websites, such as seals from BBBOnLine or TRUSTe to show that the company is legitimate. Do not ever, ever give out your social security number, because that is not necessary for your purchase; neither is your personal bank account number, no matter what the seller claims.

To ensure that the product is delivered to you, check for the estimated delivery dates, and be sure to take shipping and handling fees into account (some websites will have deceptively cheap products and ridiculously expensive shipping and handling); also, see if the seller promises any warrantees, guaranteed satisfaction or return policies. Be sure of contact information before you make the purchase, and contact the seller if you are unsure about anything. Make certain that you print any receipts and records left of the transaction-this will be proof of your payment.

Whenever you surf the Internet, your web browser (Internet Explorer, Opera, Mozilla Firefox, Netscape, and most other decent browsers) will keep a record of which sites you’ve frequented (known as browser history), which addresses have been typed in, and what words you entered in the small textboxes on search engines and elsewhere. This information is then used to make the browsing experience faster for you (not to violate your privacy! This information is not shared voluntarily with any third party unless spyware gets onto your computer to seek it out) and make it easier to type in addresses, complete search phrases, and find that website whose URL you can’t remember, but which you’d like to visit again. There also exist tracking cookies (your browser will create one of these each time you visit a new website) and they are there to ensure quicker loading of any webpage. The cookie is almost like a browser memory-by keeping the tracking cookie, your browser knows what websites you visited and what the websites looked like; thus, it’s easier for it to load the website when you visit it again, because it has the cookie.

However, having a search history and a list of tracking cookies may be inconvenient for you if your computer is shared with others and you don’t want them to see which websites you’ve visited, or if you’d just rather have more browsing privacy. In this case, you would need to delete the browsing history, which is a very easy task. The most commonly used browsers are Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox, so those are the two browsers that will be discussed here.

To clear the web view history of Internet Explorer, simply click on the Tools button in the toolbar at the top of the page; then, click Internet Options. A new screen should pop up. Now, under the General tab, click on Clear History. In order to clear the cookies stored on your computer (perhaps to protect yourself from spyware or force the browser to load the website entirely again, if something on it has been changed, such as a deleted email or a login status), then under the same General tab, also check Delete Cookies. If you want to get rid of the words searched in small text boxes and search bars, such as the Google or Yahoo! search bar (this feature is known as AutoComplete), simply go to Tools again, and Internet Options. This time, go to the Content tab and click on AutoComplete. Then, under Clear AutoComplete History, you want to select Clear Forms, and press OK. This should get rid of all stored AutoComplete history.

On Mozilla Firefox, you can clear history by going to Tools, and then Clear Private Data. You can put a checkmark next to any of the many clearable features, including browsing history and cookies. There is also an option to clear download history, saved forms, and your cache. This is essentially all the private data that is stored from the Internet.

Even if you aren’t interested in surfing adult websites or viewing chatrooms or needing to hide what you do from other people, it is sometimes very useful to know and understand how you can delete your Windows history, especially if you are using a shared computer and would prefer to retain your private data. While there is much software sold that will erase history for you, it’s fairly easy and reliable to do it all for free. You can erase logs kept by your internet browser and your computer such as the browsing history, tracking cookies, recently opened documents, search history, save history, and run history. This guide will cover Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox, because these two are the most often used Internet browsers.

If you use Internet Explorer, you can remove private recorded data by going to Tools in the toolbar at the top of the window, and hitting Internet Options. When there, under the General tab, you can delete cookies, temporary files, saved form data (also known as AutoComplete, this is the recorded search terms that your computer retains after you type in searches or fill in text boxes), and saved password data. Under the AutoComplete tab, click on Clear Forms and Clear Passwords to get rid of these two aspects of the logged history. It is a good idea to use the Clear Forms and Clear Passwords buttons to delete all of your private data entered when browsing, especially when on a shared computer. Browsers sometimes will automatically remember your usernames and passwords, and you certainly do not want people going into your accounts without your knowledge. On the other hand, if you use Firefox, simply go to Tools in the toolbar at the top, and then click on Clear Private Data. There is a checklist, and you can choose to delete whatever data you wish.

To delete documents regarding history and temporary data that are stored in your computer’s registry (such as your opened and saved documents history, and your search and run history), you will need to install a free spyware removing software known as Spybot Search and Destroy. Once you install it, run the program, and click on Check for Problems. The report will come up and show you all sorts of programs and files that you may remove; select the ones regarding temporary files and histories in the registry, and then select Fix All Problems at the top. Now, all the stored viewing data is gone from your registry. Deleting just about this much of your private information should nicely ensure that nobody will ever be able to track what you’ve been doing and viewing on your computer. However, if you are at work and simply trying not to let your boss see what you’ve been up to, be careful, because many companies can access your computer to view logs without actually being at your computer. Deleting your logs will not prevent your company from viewing what you have been up to.

In these days, as computers are becoming more and more prevalent, there have been increased numbers of people trying to take advantage of the huge amount of personal information and data stored on individual computers. They are given this chance because of the Internet and the enormous world of information and technological innovations that it contains. Other people, for reasons of their own, create malware and viruses to glean our personal data or destroy our computer systems, resulting in the loss of tons of hard work and much information. With such risks at hand, what should we do to protect our computers? And how might we go about that?

Well, there are certainly many built-in features in computers that help to protect the system, but you will have to add some programs, such as virus scanners, to keep away all the junk and malicious software that travels across the Internet. Since viruses are self-replicating and therefore extremely difficult to remove on your own, having a virus scanner can help you both isolate and quarantine, and eventually delete, those viruses. In this way, you can keep your computer protected from at least some of the malicious content that can be found online and destroy your computer. Moreover, on public wireless networks, you should use a firewall and check the network’s privacy statement and encryption (if there is no privacy statement, avoid the network). Do not log into anything or use passwords or type in credit card information while on wireless networks.

Another very important thing to protect yourself from is spyware, which potentially can be more dangerous than a virus. While viruses attack your computer, that’s the only thing it focuses on-the computer. However, the spyware’s purpose is not to infect your computer and delete or corrupt its files; spyware will actively seek out your personal information, some even recording login usernames and passwords that would then be delivered to a third party source, eventually resulting in terrors such as identity theft. Thus, spyware is a most important malware to remove from your computer, as soon as possible. While spyware could potentially be removed manually, I would recommend that you install a program to scan for it-after all, since the spyware is basically invisible, you never know if there would be more on your computer that you missed, and spending money on a program is better than taking the risk. However, there are some good free spyware programs out there-Adaware is constantly kept up to date and fairly thorough, though Spybot Search And Destroy tends to be my favorite, as it looks into just about everything. If you have Windows Vista, you will have Windows Defender automatically built into your computer, and can run the program and choose to search for spyware and other malicious software. In general, spyware programs will help you isolate and quarantine any infections; also, they dig into the registry to find the keys there that are connected to the program-something you will likely miss yourself if you choose to manually delete the spyware.

The Internet is full of many different-and potentially harmful-things and information these days. There is crude and vulgar language, videos and images with sexual content, and online chat rooms and social networking sites that may jeopardize a child’s safety. If you are a parent who is concerned about your child’s protection when he or she is using the internet, you should consider using parental internet controls to limit what your child can view or see what websites your child is looking at. This article will provide you with an idea of what software out there is certified, and which of those works best.

CyberPatrol 7.6 is perhaps the best parental control software out there, and costs about $40 every year. This software blocks questionable websites and records what your child does online just like other parental control software, but CyberPatrol is the most versatile of all related products and allows you to customize it completely. CyberPatrol gives you the option to limit access to chat rooms and instant messaging, file sharing, and web browsing-but it also allows you to block certain programs installed in your computer, such as games. However, when you buy Cyber Patrol, it can unfortunately only be installed on one of your computers.

If your child often uses more than one computer for his or her work or Internet browsing, then consider getting Safe Eyes 5.0. This software is rated as the best for multiple computers, because it can be installed on three or fewer operating systems. Safe Eyes costs about $50 each year and you can change its settings from a remote computer immediately; this can be very helpful if you’re at work and your child needs immediate access to a block website. Any changes will take place right away, unlike in CyberPatrol. Additionally, Safe Eyes is also designed for the Mac, and is considered the best parental control software for the Mac.

A third great parental control program is Net Nanny 5.6, which costs approximately $50 per year and is perhaps the easiest parental filter that you will ever use. Net Nanny was once known as ContentProtect, though it has been updated drastically and changed for the new version, which is rated much better than the old. The new version of Net Nanny has a very intuitive interface that allows easy access for you, the parent, but is very difficult and nearly impossible for kids to get around. Net Nanny will allow you to block peer to peer networks and also allows you to manage it from a remote computer. Filtering is very effective, as in CyberPatrol and Safe Eyes, but separate licenses must be bought for separate computers in your home, so it is more expensive than Safe Eyes if you have multiple used computers.

These three are perhaps the top three parental filtering products on the web right now, and they each have their own benefits. If you have Windows Vista, it will come with parental controls, so you need not worry about buying the software separately.

There will always come a time when you will need to use somebody else’s computer, or a shared network computer, to do your work. Whether this computer is at a friend’s house, a library, a computer lab, or an Internet Café, it is essential to keep your private information (both personal and financial) safe in order to prevent such things as identity theft. Here are a couple tips on what you might do to be cautious.

Do not allow your web browser to save your log on information. If you are checking email or logging into any other site for any reason, when you are done, you should always click “log out” in the case that when you close the browser, the website does not automatically log you out. If you are still logged in, the next person who uses your computer can easily log onto your account and access your information. Do not allow your browser to save your username and password (usually a screen will pop up to ask if you want to).

If you are logged into anything, you should not leave your public computer for any reason. Before you step away from the computer, be sure to log out of all your programs and close all the windows that you possibly can-especially any with sensitive or private information that you would not want others to see. Also, browsers such as Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox keep track of your browsing history and search terms, so you may want to delete these, also. To do so in Internet Explorer, go under the Tools button at the top and click on Internet Options. Once the screen pops up, you can delete temporary internet files and cookies under the General tab, your browsing history under the History tab, and the AutoComplete option (where search forms keep track of which terms you search) under the Content tab. If you are using Firefox, then simply go to the Tools and then click on Clear Private Data, and you can check off which data you would like to get rid of.

When using a public computer, you should always be on the lookout for anyone suspicious behind you who might be looking over your shoulder at the computer. Especially be watchful if you are entering in any passwords or usernames, or checking emails with potentially sensitive data or entering credit card information. This is information that you do not want others to get, because it may jeopardize your safety and identity.

If you really want to be safe on a public computer, do not type in any passwords, usernames, credit card numbers, or any other personal information at all. There is existing software that is able to record the keystrokes on a computer and then emails all that information to a certain email address, and you do not want to take the risk if it’s possible that the software is installed on your computer. At a certified Internet Café, this is unlikely, but you should always be careful.