How to keep bad things from happening to your computer
The purpose of this part of my site is to give you the tools to protect your Microsoft Windows PC against viruses, worms, hackers, spyware, adware, popups, etc.
First step: Windows Update
Please visit the Windows Update site before proceeding. This site will prevent infection and reinfection by certain viruses, as well as making things a bit more difficult for hackers/bad webpages/etc.
This page links to a free virus scanner, a small, 30 virus removal tool, and the top 10 statistics for viruses, virus alerts, and virus hoaxes.
There are plenty of websites out there that will download programs and similar things to your computer--if given a chance--to watch your every move. I now offer you the possibility of taking that chance away from them--with my very own Anti-spyware/adware/popup ad page! My anti-malware page will help you remove and prevent spyware.
A firewall prevents a lot of bad things from coming to and from your computer.
Step five: a good password
A good password will keep people from stealing your information and from taking control of your computer. NEVER have a blank password, ESPECIALLY for the "administrator" account. Also, never have the password be a word forward or backwards; never have it be "password" or "God" or "sexy" or "bill" (your name) or "03021984" (your birthdate). changing some of the letters to numbers o=0, L=1, e=3, etc., is good. "2thedeath" is a good password because it is easy to remember, is long, and has a number, but don't use it because I mentioned it here. Also, don't use the same password for everything-if nothing else, put the site name at the end of your password, so that your password for Google becomes "2thedeathgoogle".
Please visit the Security Now page and listen to the password-related podcasts for more information.
I have heard a lot recently about identity theft; it was attempted, unsucessfully, against me (NEVER type in your credit card information when an e-mail asks for it, even if it seems legit!). Please visit my Identity Theft page for some quick tips and pointers.