Sun, Dec 25 2005 15:52 Don

Four Steps to a More Secure PC

Q&A: Amy Roberts of Microsoft’s Security Technology Unit discusses the “Protect Your PC in 2006” resolution and other Microsoft consumer-security efforts.

Four Steps to a More Secure PC

PC Microsoft is promoting the following four-step routine for everyone who owns a PC and goes online to “Protect Your PC in 2006”:

  • Use an Internet firewall. Firewalls help protect PC owners against attackers who might try to delete information from their computer, make their computer crash or even steal personal information. For a firewall to be effective it needs to be set up properly, such as the one included in Windows XP Service Pack 2.
  • Run regular updates. To help protect against new threats, PC owners need to stay on top of security updates. One of the easiest ways to do this is to use Windows’ Automatic Update, which installs security updates so the PC owner doesn’t have to worry about them.
  • Install and keep up to date an anti-virus program. Anti-virus programs help protect PCs from harmful programs that attach themselves to other programs or files to spread from computer to computer. But anti-virus programs need to be kept to up to date to help protect against new threats as they emerge.
  • Use anti-spyware software. Spyware, as the name implies, can be used to spy on other PCs by collecting the owner’s personal information or changing the configuration of a computer without the owner’s consent. Spyware can significantly slow down the performance of a computer, make unwanted changes to important settings and be difficult to remove.

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