by Leanne Par

Created on: February 15, 2008

There are several aspects to home computer security. I will be giving three of the major steps that can be used to protect your home computer.

Firewall
Prevention is better than cure, and the best way to stay protected is through the use of a firewall. Firewalls prevent access to your computer through the Local Area Connection (LAN) or internet connection. Whilst the best firewalls will be expensive, free firewalls are also available to download at many sites on the internet and can be found by searching Google or www.download.com.

Firewalls often need a lot of configuration, and this can be done by selecting LAN options in the firewall settings. This is required if you have a home network or network computer in order to allow access to the network computers and printers. Often this is how the more expensive firewalls (Norton and McAfee to name a few) often do better than the freeware firewalls, which often block legitimate access operations.

Windows comes with a built-in firewall (Windows XP SP2 and Windows Vista), and this can also prove very effective in limiting the unlegitimate access to your computer.

ANTI-Virus

Antivirus software is also an important step in the defence of your computer. Often, despite the use of a firewall, virusus or other malware can infiltrate the computer system (often if you manually download files). Antivirus goes a long way to limiting the impact viruses can have on your computer.

Again, whilst commercial antivirus software works best, free software is also available. One of the mosdt comprehensive free systems on the market is the Avast antivirus system, and can be obtained by searching Avast antivirus in www.download.com or Google.

It is important to regularly run full system scans using your antivirus software as often the system will not pick up viruses automatically.

SPYWARE protection

Spyware is the most common problem and can infiltrate even the most secure systems. This is because often the computer downloads spyware without your knowledge in the form of site data, often known as 'Cookies'.

To limit the effect of spyware, some free programs can be run regularly to delete (or quarantine) these malware files. Some good free ones are Ad-Aware (free) and Spyware Doctor, which can be again obtained by searching Google or www.download.com

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