System Security
System Security was so much simplier back in the days of Windows 3.11, DOS, and the 14.4kbps modem (if you were lucky). All you had to do was have a simple anti-virus software package (McAfee had lifetime updates that really worked well), and boom, you had yourself a secure computer. But oh have times changed since then, with the integration of various tools into Windows, the advent of broadband internet access, and the unfortunate lack of computer knowledge among the general users, security has become a multi-billion dollar industry. But is it a lost cause to try to secure your system? Not at all. With a couple simple steps, you too can be a lot less vulnerable to various attacks than the average user, and by reading this article, you’ve already taken the first step in making sure your system is safe. Education.
Education:
There’s nothing you can do for your system that is more important than to educate yourself about computer security. Simply installing a package and trusting that it will protect you isn’t enough anymore, and this causes a lot of people to have a false sense of security. So before you buy or install ANYTHING, you should educate yourself about the product, and make sure it’s going to do what you hope it will. Simply having an anti-virus software package installed does not make you immune to all attacks, and unfortunately, many people think that to be true.
Another big thing with security is you want to make sure that you get at least 2-3 third-party opinions on your product. Why? Because there is an unfortunately popular trend currently of claiming to be a security tool, when in fact, they are doing insecure things to your computer. This is most popular in spyware removal tools, which there are very few actual good products, and the rest actually are spyware themselves, hiding on your system as a program to remove these nasty little buggers. So you always want to do some research on the products that you’ll be using, as typically if you read enough third party reviews of the product, you’ll find out of this is a legit product, or if you are opening yourself up to more attacks.
Throughout these courses, I’m going to attempt to help you secure your system thru knowledge, useful tools, and some careful tricks. I’ve decided to number these courses like you would number a series of college courses. Each small increment in numbers is a “continuation” course, where as a +100 jump in the number represents a major leap forward in not only the material being presented, but also the assumed knowledge of the student (you). I’m going to attempt to make the curve as gradual as possible, however I make no promises to doing so, but if you have any questions, by all means, please feel free to ask away.
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