Computer Corner

Are you gambling online? You say you don’t gamble. But the type of gambling we are talking about here has nothing to do with Las Vegas or the Hard Rock Casino. We are talking about taking chances online by visiting there unprotected. Unprotected from the bad guys, that is.

By now almost everyone has heard the horror stories about identity theft or getting a virus on one’s computer by opening an infected email. Other cyber threats exist such as Trojan horses, worms, spyware and “mal-ware.” It’s enough to make one paranoid of using the Internet!

But having the proper protection just requires a little bit of knowledge, the knowledge of what programs you should run on your computer on a regular basis to keep the bad guys out -- or at least at bay. Basically, what you need is:

A firewall
An antivirus program
Anti-spyware scanner(s)

And the best part of this, if you know where to look, all of these programs are FREE! But first we need to discuss just what these programs do for your security online.

A firewall acts as a wall or barrier between your computer and the Internet. The firewall checks suspicious incoming “traffic” to your computer. It also can stop malicious programs that are already on your computer from connecting to the Internet. You can learn more about firewalls here:

vicomsoft.com/knowledge/reference/firewalls1.html

An antivirus program monitors your computer for virus “activity.” You run this program periodically to scan your computer for any viruses, which will notify you if you have a virus. You can then either quarantine or delete the virus. A virus can be malicious and do things like delete files from your computer, or even steal your data. You can learn more about computer viruses here: wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_virus

Spyware is software that is installed on your computer (usually from the Internet) without your knowledge or permission. Spyware can collect personal information and even do things like changing your web brower's home page. You can learn more about spyware here:

wikipedia.org/wiki/Spyware

Next time we’ll discuss where you can get these free programs to protect you from these threats, how to install them and how to use them.

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