Online Security - The Basics of How to Secure
your Computer on the Internet

By Rob Abdul
eBusiness Expert
Wednesday 26th April 2006

I remember almost 10 years ago, one of the first websites I visited was the infamous Nasa website. I remember feeling amazed that I could see videos, sounds, and transcripts. Unfortunately, the Internet has changed a lot since then. It was once the case that all you required was a dial-up connection to the Internet and an anti-virus programme.

Now, the Internet is riddled with much more than viruses and Trojans, but Ad-aware and Spyware also. Many people I have met, are not ‘whiz-kids’ on a computer and are unaware of the invasion of privacy and the inconvenience that Ad-aware and Spyware can cause. Nobody likes the idea of their browsing habits being monitored. However, I believe that you do not have to be a computer whiz-kid to protect yourself from such invasions.

At the very least you should have Firewall, an Antivirus Program, a program that removes Ad-aware and finally a program that removes Spyware.

Who said there’s no such thing as a free lunch? All the programs mentioned in this article are downloadable for free. Use the links below:

What is a firewall?
Your PC has 65000 ports. Think of the ports as doors. An attacker has the potential of 65000 ways to try to get into your computer. A firewall is like a bouncer that blocks information both ‘from’ and ‘to’ your computer. ZoneAlarm is easy-to-use it blocks hackers and other unknown threats. Stealth mode automatically makes your PC invisible to anyone on the Internet.
[ Get ZoneAlarm ]

Antivirus
An antivirus program searches your hard drive, floppy disks, and removable drives for any known or potential viruses that are neutralising the threat. AVG Anti-Virus FREE Edition is the well-known anti-virus protection tool. AVG Anti-Virus FREE is available free-of-charge to home users for the life of the product!
[ Get AVG Antivirus  ]

Ad-aware
Ad-Aware is a program by Lavasoft. Ad-aware has the ability to scan your RAM, registry, hard drives, and external storage devices for known data-mining, advertising, and tracking components, Ad-aware can easily clean out your system, allowing you to maintain a higher degree of privacy while you surf the Web.
[ Get Ad-aware  ]

Spybot
Spyware is a relatively new form of threat that common anti-virus applications do not yet cover. Spyware is basically a program that collects user information for advertising purposes. Spybot - Search & Destroy can detect and remove spyware of different kinds from your computer. Spyware is a relatively new kind of threat that common anti-virus applications do not yet cover.
[ Get Spybot  ]