Safe Computing

Like the rules of road safety we teach our kids, the rules for safe computing are simple and well known:

1. Be very careful where you surf. To help you stay away from bad sites install a website rating browser plug-in like WOT and make sure you only visit websites rated "Green" by the plug-in.
2. Never click on email attachments from unknown sources however tempting and attractive such attachments may seem.
3. Only download files from trusted sources. These include:

• Files hosted on reputable download sites such as download.com, snapfilescom, softpedia.com, majorgeeks.com and other similar sites.
• Files mentioned in the editorial sections of major computer websites and publications such as PC World, CNet, Lifehacker and Gizmo's Freeware.
• Open source software hosted on sourceforge.net, Mozilla.org and similar large open source sites.
• Files available for download from Microsoft, Google, HP, Dell and other reputable vendors.

4. Never install programs obtained from P2P networks including BitTorrent, eMule, LimeWire and others as many of these files are infected with malicious programs. Some of these malicious programs are so powerful they are capable of overwhelming all your security defenses.
5. Never install programs that friends give you on removable media unless you have verified that they are clean by submitting them to free web based file scanning services such as Jotti or Virus Total.
6. Never accept free toolbars, media players or other unsolicited software offered to you by a website.
7.  If you are not using Internet Explorer 8 then I recommend you upgrade to this version or better still, switch to an  alternate browser such as Mozilla Firefox, Opera or Google Chrome.  All these have a track record for better security than Internet Explorer and are arguably superior browsers as well.
8. Seriously consider using a Windows limited user account (LUA) rather than a normal account with full administrator privileges. LUA will block the majority of malware including, among others, all kernel mode rootkits. More details here.
9. You should seriously consider creating a fresh installation of Windows and then back up your PC using a drive imaging program. Then if in the future your PC ever becomes infected you can use the drive image to restore it to a pristine, infection free condition. If you are using the Business or Ultimate versions of Vista/Windows 7 you already have drive imaging capabilities built into Windows. See here for details. If you're using other versions of Vista/Windows 7 you can find a number of free drive imaging programs here.

By following these simple rules the chances of your PC becoming infected will be dramatically reduced. Combine these practices with the security software suggested above and you are well on the way to safe, secure, infection-free computing.