5 Things You Should Do Right Now

by Jack Yates, Computer Safety

Change your Internet passwords.

The rules for safe passwords are: There must be 8 or more digits, at least one capital letter and 1 number. You say you did this? Wonderful. You should continue to change your password every 6 months particularly on critical accesses like banks, credit cards and brokerage accounts.

Update your computer defenses.

Update your firewall, anti-virus, anti-spyware, and a new one, anti-malware. "Sounds like too many things to do. I don't have anything on my hard drive that anyone wants." Don't be so sure. If Hackers can't get your money they will use your hard drive to make money. How? Hackers will take charge of your hard drive and use it to send out Spam Email and Phishing scams throughout the world every time you go on the Internet. At rates of almost 1/2 cents a piece, that's good money for people from Korea, Russia, South Africa, China and elsewhere. The important thing here is not only is it slowing down your computer but everyone else on the WI-FI network. Yes we all suffer when thousands maybe millions of Emails are sent all day long from our computers.

Install or have installed anti-malware software. 

Anti-malware software like www.malwarebytes.com searches your registry and other files for Trojan Horses. These are sneaky programs that can hide away from all the other anti programs you have installed and do all kinds of damage. Some of these will follow you on the Internet, pick up passwords and Id's, steal your identity and load up your WI-FI with spam and scams being sent to others just to name a few. 

Turn off Sharing files and sharing folders and printers.

Many of the computers with Vista and Windows 7 are sold with Sharing Files and Sharing Folders turned on. This should only be used when you have more than one computer in your house and your own private network, not when you are out and about in the RV world. Do you want to share your computer information with others? Find out now how you can turn these information leaks off.

Scan your drives.

Make it a habit of scanning your drives at regular intervals (including your flash drive) with the programs mentioned above. They all serve a purpose to keep you safe and allow you to have an enjoyable time on the Internet.