Reno Web Design Blog

Attack of the PC!

• 17/05/11
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I’m a web developer/designer/email marketer not a PC repair guy. However, as my clients get to know and trust me questions about viruses and basic security are asked.  

This month I plan to give you, the normal business owner who does not have a full IT department, some basic advice on how to keep you PC working and free of all those nasty viruses, worms and other PC diseases that seem infect so many computers.

Here is my top 7 list that should keep you virus free!

1.  Stop Using Window’s XP

Yes, I know that we have gone though a very tough economic period lately and XP still does the job. However, the basic fact is that it is a very old operating system with many security problems that can be handled if you have an experienced IT department behind you, but if you are the IT department for your business it’s time to do yourself a favor and upgrade to Windows 7.

I know a lot of people who stuck with XP because they didn’t like the idea of upgrading to Microsoft’s Vista and I don’t blame them! it had some really nasty habits. However, now that Windows 7is available there is no good reason not to upgrade.

One of the nice things about Windows 7is that it is compatible with older machines, provided they are not over 4 years old.

2. Stop using Microsoft IE6

Even Microsoft would love you to stop using this old browser as it is a major security risk. Even if you have an IT department behind you I would highly question the reasoning of using this terrible browser! With so many excellent free choicesout there why would you use this browser?

3. Stop using any version of IE on You Computers

Come to think about it, why would you use Internet Explorer anyway? Yes Microsoft has improved it with IE 9 but even with IE 9 most of the viruses and other infections that will damaged your PC come through using the many security fails of Explorer. Because of it wide use, it is the target of choice for most hackers. Do yourself a favor and use Google Chromeon your PC. It’s free, its very fast and it very secure.

4. Put Microsoft Security Updates onto Automatic Mode

This is another reason why you should upgrade to Windows 7. With this version of Windows, Microsoft has removed a lot of the bugs that effected XP when it came to having the updating system set to happen automatically. Sometimes this would mean when the machine re-booted you just got a blue screen of death; with Windows 7you just don’t get this problems. It is so important to run these patches in the back-ground if you want to keep your PC keep healthy and secure.

5. Don’t normally run your PC in administration mode.

This one is a little bit techy. However, anybody who has any experience with PCs should be able to help you with setting your machine up so you are not running it on a day-to-day basis in administration mode. If you upgrade your machine to Windows 7 it basically holds your hand, and encourages you to setup two accounts on your machine, one for day-to-day running and other as administrator.

If you do this then if you do download a virus accidently, it’s very unlikely that it will be able to do any real damage to your computer. Once you have two accounts set up, never put in your administrative pass code if prompted by an unknown website. Doing so will allow the virus to damage your files and possibly your hardware. 

6. Don’t rely on Microsoft free antivirus software

With Windows 7Microsoft decided to provide a free antivirus product called Security Essentials. It works quite well and is better then nothing. Microsoft had to do something like this because so many PC machines were being infected with virus and were being used for attacks on USA Government websites.

However, you get what you pay for and this product is free. I would highly recommend that you pay for an antivirus product. Which one would I recommend? I personally like ESET NOD32. It just works in the background and it does not slow down your computer. So many of the more popular antivirus products out there slow your computer down and have horrible business practices when it comes to updating their products. Also just try and remove their products from your machine without really damaging your computer. You don’t get any of this type of nonsense with ESET NOD32.

7. Backup

You do have a backup of your data don’t you? It’s not if your machine will get infected or stop working, but when this will happen. Can you afford to loose all your business records and data?

You need to backup your computer using an external hard-drive and some kind of backup software. I’m a Mac user so I can’t really advise on the best backup software for PCs; however Geeks of Nevada may be able to advise you on which is right for you.

You also should also consider backing up your very important files to a cloud service. What will happen if your office burns down and you loose you computer and its onsite external backup hard-drive?

I personally would highly recommend a cloud system like BackBlaze. Their cloud backup services are very avoidable and highly reliable and secure.

Conclusion

If you follow the advice in this article you’re going to have a much more productive relationship with your PC and we all want that don’t we?

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