Links to FREE and commercial Firewall and Antivirus solutions.
Free Computer security test.
How to activate the built in Firewall in Windows XP.
As printed in the advisor | 
Additional information
Lately we hear about once a week about a new computer security threat. Mainly for windows systems. Not that Windows is more insecure than other systems, it is more the fact that Windows is targeted the most by various attacks. The authors of viruses and other malicious software want the biggest impact for the least effort. That makes it important to keep your Windows system up to date. In Windows XP the Service Pack 2 ads a lot of new features including the “Microsoft Security Center”. To check for updates for your Windows system click on this link.
Computer Security is on everybodys minds these days. Is it really? I've heard it countless times: ”I don't have anything important on my computer.” or “There are so many computers on the Internet, why should somebody pick mine.” Well, the answer is simple. If you don't protect yourself your computer WILL become infected. A recent study showed that random unprotected computers were infected by 80! malicious programs within three hours on the Internet. Sound scary? It is. But you can protect yourself and your computer, here is how. Lets identify the threats first. Your computer has 65536 ports. From 0 to 65535, UDP and TCP. Think of them as data highways to connect to the Internet. These highways go both directions, in and out of your computer. These ports are by default open and can be accessed by anybody from the Internet without you knowing. This is the biggest threat of all. Malicious programs can find thousands of unprotected computers within seconds. YOURS TOO. I won't go into details on how to hack a computer. I am going to show you how to protect it. The simple solution is a Firewall. You might have heard about it before but are not sure what it is. Think of it as roadblocks on your data highway. Only traffic with official business gets through. The second biggest threat is email. Viruses and other malicious software often comes into your computer in form of email attachments. Your first line of defense is and I can not emphasize it enough: NEVER open any email attachments you didn't expected. Second you need up to date AntiVirus software on YOUR computer. Don't get fooled by some companies selling antivirus for your email account. This is a waste of money and does NOT protect you. You wont get around the fact that you need antivirus software on your computer. Otherwise it is like locking the backdoor but leaving the frontdoor open. Remember a false sense of security is worse than not knowing at all! The third threat is so called spyware. This is a category by itself and we will cover it next week.
Links to FREE and commercial Firewall and Antivirus solutions.
Free Computer security test.
How to activate the built in Firewall in Windows XP
Free and commercial Firewall and Antivirus software.
If you have Windows XP you already have a built in Firewall. Click here to find out how to activate it.
Zone Alarm is a good free firewall for Windows. Search their website for the free version
.
AVG Antivirus from Grisoft.com is a free antivirus solution. It is not as good as the commercial products, but certainly better than nothing.
McAfee Internet Security Suite is an excellent easy to use product. It includes a commercial software firewall and antivirus with one year of free updates. It also include parental control spam filter spyware killer and other useful things.
Norten Internet Security also includes a very good firewall with automatic features, antivirus, parental control spam filter and lots more.
We recommend one of the two selected commecial products. (Norton or McAfee)
Links to FREE and commercial Firewall and Antivirus solutions.
Free Computer security test.
How to activate the built in Firewall in Windows XP.
Free Computer security test.
This is a good independent website for testing your computer firewall. >>Test now<<
Links to FREE and commercial Firewall and Antivirus solutions.
Free Computer security test.
How to activate the built in Firewall in Windows XP.
How to activate the built in Firewall in Windows XP.
If you use Windows XP you should update to Service Pack 2. Click here for info how to update. This eliminates the need to turn the XP firewall on. It also beefs up overall security of your system. If you are not sure if you already have SP2 on your machine follow the steps below to verify.
On your desktop click “START” and open the Control Panel.
Then doubleclick on “System”.
The window that opens shows your Windows version. (See below)
If you can't or don't want to update to SP2 follow the steps below to enable the XP firewall.
First open the “Control Panel” as described above.
Then doubleclick on “Network Connections”.
Identify your Internet connection (Modem or LAN) and with your mouse right click it and select “Properties”.
That gets you to the window below.
Make sure “File and Printer Sharing is NOT selected.
Then click on the advanced tab and check the “Protect my computer and network...” box.
Click Ok and you are done.
