Computer Protection Made Simple

Protecting your computer against threats is an on-going task. It can be a daily job at making sure you are doing everything possible for protecting your computer. Sometimes you may want to just give up. There are a lot of people that feel that protecting their computer will cost too much money and be too complicated to understand. Protecting your computer is actually one of the cheapest things you can do - when compared to buying a new computer or the time spent re-downloading all your favorite pictures or music.

Picking the right programs that will make protecting your computer as easy as possible only takes a little research. You can find some of the best advice for protecting your computer on online bulletin boards, blogs, or various other types of sites. Understanding what your protecting your computer from will better help you determine exactly what you need to get the job done. Normally one of the first things I do when searching for ways of protecting my computer (best to look before there is a problem) is to review what new or updated threats are out there.

There are way to many different kinds of ways of protecting your computer and way to many programs available to list them all here. For the purpose of my article I am going to focus specifically on programs I use that have given me protection with little to no extra cost.

Likely the first protection program I downloaded was Zone Alarm Firewall. I am not crazy about using Microsoft firewall, so I download an outside source for my firewall usage. It is free for private use and easy to set up and use. Zone Alarm makes protecting your computer easy and allows you to determine what system programs or software is allowed internet access. You can also lock down your system from all internet activity while you do scans or when you desire to work offline. On the "Overview" page of Zone Alarm it gives details about incoming activity and outgoing internet activity. Zone Alarm also offers other services (for a fee in most cases) but the basic firewall is free. You can also purchase the Firewall at most local computer stores or where you buy your computer supplies. For me Zone Alarm offers a better over all firewall protection then Microsoft's Firewall. Protection from intrusions is very important when dealing with hackers. You can review the blog discussions and get further information about Zone Alarm on its website.

Another great protection program that is great for both protecting and quick way to clean out your system of unwanted cookies and protecting the over all operation of your system is CCleaner. CCleaner is short for Crap Cleaner and is a relatively small program for the work it does at protecting your system. Using CCleaner you can uninstall unwanted programs, clear cookies, fix broken or missing registry links. CCleaner contains no adware or spyware. CCleaner also works with Firefox and Opera. Removes temp files and recent file lists from many apps including Media Player, eMule, Kazaa, Google Toolbar, Netscape, MS Office, Nero, Adobe Acrobat, WinRAR, WinAce, WinZip and many more. And also works with all or most Microsoft operating systems.

Lavasoft Ad-Aware SE Personal is an award winning adware detection and removal program. It is one of the over all best on the market at protecting your computer from viruses. When Ad-Aware scans your computer it scans every aspects of it. This includes all branches of registry and multiple user profiles. Easy to use and takes little memory to download. This program works with all Microsoft operating systems.

One of the best suggestions I had to remember was to turn off my system restore. This helps prevent worms or Trojans from duplicating themselves with the system. To turn off system restore go to start, control panel, double click on system. In the properties box find system restore and click in the box where it says "turn off system restore". To turn system restore back on repeat above steps and uncheck box.

There hundreds, maybe even thousands of worms, viruses, and Trojans out there that we have to protect our computers against. It doesn't take a lot of money to keep your computer protected but it does take some time and planning on how you want to protect it. Downloading some of or all of the above programs to help protect your computer and keep it running smoothly may not be for everyone. If you find you must reformat or so desire to do so then try if at all possible to keep a current back up disk of all your install programs and files you wish to save. This is something you should do on regular bases. If you download music or pictures on regularly then saving them on CD or disk is the best way to insure that you don't lose them during a reformat.

Most of us use check our emails daily. While checking your emails consider carefully which ones to open. There are a few basic guidelines to remember and follow to insure you do not open an email that has attached worms, Trojans or viruses. Try never to open an email from someone you don't know. Avoid all emails whose subject has a misspellings or grouped letters or numbers, unless you are certain you know the sender. If you do open an email from an unknown sender or email containing an attachment from unknown sender do not download attachment. Attachments are one of them main ways for Trojans, worms and viruses to compromise the protection of your computer

I hope theses few programs and suggestions help you in protecting your computer. Protecting your computer is the first step in protecting your identity from thief. Protecting your identity is the first step in keeping your internet surfing fun and safe.

Good Luck and happy surfing