You’ve just bought a new, powerful and expensive computer. Good for you! You’re now ready for some advanced video editing and online casino game playing, right? Not just yet. First you must make sure your computer is protected. It is a dangerous world out there on the Internet and there are smart people who would like to damage your computer and steal your data. You don’t want to let them, so you’d better secure your computer.
There are several ways to do this. The first and most important is to use a firewall. A computer firewall is a guard at the gate – it monitors anyone outside your computer trying to gain access to your computer and prevents all access except that to which you give the approval. Depending on the firewall you use and the obscurity of your programs, this may mean you will need to learn how to tell the firewall what is alright – otherwise you may find that a program or device you bought and are trying to use is being blocked. Operating systems come with a firewall built-in, but many users prefer a dedicated firewall product, of which there are many.
A firewall is not enough. Many harmful programs do not try to access your computer directly but rather sneak in under the radar, riding along with a program you choose to download. Thus you open the gate and the enemy soldier sneaks in behind your soldiers, so to speak. The enemy soldiers in the digital world take the form of viruses, ad-ware and mal-ware. Viruses are purely malevolent programs that tell your computer to behave in ways you don’t want it to. Ad-ware makes advertising you don’t want to take over your screen. Mal-ware hides inside a program and monitors various kinds of data, which it sends to its creator. Fortunately there are security programs, some free, that address all of these concerns.