Computer Security
Threats, Insights, Protection

Unsure just what computer security you might need to help protect your system against the surrounding threats in today's digital world?

Even if you think your computer is adequately protected, there may be some areas you haven't considered.

For example, you may have a specific type of antivirus software installed on your machine, however...

• Is it active or inactive?
• How old are the virus definition files? When was the last time it updated?
• Is incoming email scanned for viruses?
• Are files & documents automatically virus-checked when opened?
• Does the antivirus software scan for viruses in real-time (on-access)?
• Is antivirus detection software installed on each computer at your location?

If the antivirus, anti-threat, or firewall software installed on your computer is not working or functioning correctly, then your machine might be compromised or not properly protected against threats or potential damage to your files & data.

Other Security Issues Which Can Impact
Your Computer Security Protection

Known versus Unknown Threats – Is Heuristics Enabled?
Some antivirus programs do not have heuristics built-in (sophisticated algorithms which allow detection of yet unknown viruses). Those antivirus programs which rely solely on their built-in virus definition files are unable to protect against the hundreds of new & emerging threats which appear each month. In addition, if your antivirus software has connectivity problems, operability issues, or is not downloading updated antivirus definition files to keep itself current, then it may be impaired and potentially unable to protect your computer system against harmful threats.

Web-surfing the Internet
Another issue is your internet surfing habits – if you are visiting websites frequently, you want to make sure that your antivirus program and other security protection software (such as firewall, antispyware, etc.) is protecting your computer against potential threats from those websites you're visiting. For example, an unethical website owner or operator can put malicious code on their website so that when you browse there, it can potentially cause problems with your computer particularly if it's running an unpatched version of the Windows operating system that doesn't have security updates applied.

Email Monitoring – File Attachments
As is common knowledge, there are numerous viruses & worms which can attack the Microsoft Address Book such as in MS Outlook, with the potential to massively send a malicious payload to each contact residing in the address directory. With the preponderance of this virus type in existence, and the ubiquity of the Microsoft platform, it has become essential to have email & program security protection in place.

Application Security Updates & Permissions
Weaknesses in code can be exploited as vulnerabilities. There have been documented instances of individuals being able to take over a computer remotely due to these security holes.

Antispyware Protection
Is your computer running any kind or type of anti-spyware software? If it's not, then your computer is potentially susceptible to being infected by tracking software and advertising programs that get installed to your computer, sometimes unbeknownst to you, with the capability to track your web surfing habits and your personal preferences, and ultimately send this private information to their headquarters.

Some customers become infected with persistent adware which may escape detection by antivirus software. It pops-up advertisements on the user's screen; when you try to close those dialog boxes, they come back. Ultimately it becomes extremely intrusive to have messages popping up on your screen trying to entice you into clicking on those advertisements.

In addition to your desktop resources being hijacked, this can drastically slow down your computer system and cause extreme performance problems.

Phishing Attempts
Phishing attempts are another vulnerability which exists on the internet. That is a situation where an invalid or illegitimate website is disguising itself to appear as a legitimate-looking website. So for example, an unscrupulous website operator at xyz.com is trying to disguise his site to have the same look, feel, and cosmetic appearance of an ebay.com, for example, in an attempt to encourage the user to enter login credentials (User ID & password) into that illegitimate website, with the design for your identity & financial & account information to be stolen.

Firewall
A good firewall can protect the "doors" to your computer. If you have no firewall in place, the doors are clearly opened to different individuals "walking in and out" and stealing the information and data you have on your machine. Even if you think you have a firewall in place, is it the right kind protecting you against the known and unknown threats that are lurking out there? Are some ports or applications inadvertently in an "open" state or lacking security?

Some think that having a hardware firewall will protect you against all threats. Not necessarily. This will oftentimes protect you from outside threats coming in, but not inside threats going out. So if an illegitimate or unscrupulous individual whose website puts malware (or malicious software unbeknownst to you) on your hard drive; then the next thing you know information that goes outbound from your computer (when there's nothing in place to stop such outbound activities), even though the firewall for inbound attempts is in place and protecting you, your outbound activities are unsecured. Other firewalls have known vulnerabilities which, when unpatched or not updated, could be exploited and caused to shut down.

Connected to a Network
Something else to bear in mind: Is yours a solo, standalone computer, or is it connected to a network? Whenever you are connected to a network, you must be concerned about the other connected machines that are sharing the network resources with you. Even though you don't believe that your computer is connecting to them, their computers might be able to connect to your's. The computers connecting to your machine - what files or folders are available to which they can gain access and potentially see (or steal) your private information and data?

Additionally, although a computer user may have a good handle on one's own activities for safe & secure computing, what about others' activities – people who are connected to that same network as you may be doing some unscrupulous or harmful activities in the background. If another network user contracts a virus and it happens to spread through the network that you're on, guess what? Potential exists for infection & resultant harm to your computer.

System Resources & Efficient Performance
Locking the doors to your computer, however still having free & unencumbered ability to be productive, and perform the computing tasks you're accustomed to, is essential. Inadvertently implementing incompatible software or redundant types of security can negatively impact computer system performance. Accordingly, it is important to have streamlined levels of security which are compatible & stable additions to your system.

Automated Security vs. Manual Updating/Cumbersome Overhead
Another important factor is whether the security you implement is automatic or whether it requires manual participation to download & apply updates on an ongoing basis. You shouldn't have to get involved in performing constant updates. Programs should update themselves automatically on their own without requiring user input (valuable time) or intervention.

Often, this boils down to having correct software choices and the proper settings configured.

Making Corrections
If any of this seems complicated or confusing, we can help by analyzing what you already have, and suggest affordable changes or additions to get your computer functioning smoothly. Please fill out the form below:

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