DIYrevolucion.com

When we think about how far we have come with Technology over the past ten years, it is just mind-blowing. Thirty years ago, personal computers did not even exist.

Today, we have computers that connect to a world wide internet, offering us a vast array of multimedia and just about anything we could have ever dreamed of using a computer for, has now become a reality.

Although this is such an exciting time for computer users, and the internet has never been more popular, we also have to keep in mind the question of how to keep our data safe from hackers and guard our computer security, especially where privacy is concerned.

Hackers may have started off with an “us against the machine” type of mentality and acted as a form of protest, but this is no longer the case. Most hackers now only want to wreak havok on unsuspecting computer users. Their primary purpose is to steal or destroy data.

Financial gain from the theft of personal information is rampant now, and identity theft is becoming a more common form of cybercrime. Most hackers are content to delete or destroy the information on a computer or to take a computer over and turn it into one of their own hacking devices. Generally, these types of attacks occur without the user’s knowledge.

As computer owners, we need to be wise about how to best protect our computers from hackers and various attacks such as spam, viruses, trojans and spyware. The best way to do this is by installing two software programs on our computers. One is a Firewall and the other is AntiVirus software.

The Firewall is a piece of software designed to act just like the Firewall barrier in a car, which protects the car’s passengers against fire in the engine. Firewalls can be complicated to set up, but they are essential. Once operating, they will safeguard the user from getting viruses through the internet because of this layer of protection.

The second line of defence and, really, equally important is the AntiVirus software. Today’s AntiVirus programs are made by internet security companies and this is all they do. They simply maintain vigilance over the newest viruses and trojans that are created daily by hackers, and they continually update their AntiVirus software to stop it from being run on a user’s computer, before any damage is done.

There are numerous other ways that we computer users can protect ourselves from these online nasties, such as being very careful about opening emails with attachments and watching what websites we visit. We must also realize that the hackers have become very sophisticated and even offer us virus and spyware-filled software programs masquerading as AntiVirus and Firewall software.

The way a bank teller learns to differentiate counterfeit money from real money is by studying real money, so they can pick out a fake at forty paces. In the same way, We need to make sure we are informed about what the best practices are with our computer use, so we avoid making mistakes that could cost us our data. We need to learn and talk to people who are knowledgable about these things. If you do this, you will keep a step ahead of the hackers.