Increase Computer Safety and Security in 20 Minutes

“The Twenty Minute Guide to PC Security: 20 Tips to Secure Your Box” is an excellent article from IT news & info site IT Security that covers 20 practical tips for increasing the level of safety and security of your daily computing habits.

Many readers take these sorts of articles with a grain of salt, because authors often make a few short suggestions without effectively explaining how to implement them. What puts this article a cut above is that the author tells you exactly what to do with his suggestions. Instead of simply saying “use a firewall” and “install anti-virus software”, he follows up with instructions on enabling the Windows Firewall and suggestions on third party firewall and anti-virus software.

Topics covered in the article include protecting yourself against hackers, guarding against viruses and spyware, strengthening your web browser, and keeping out unwanted e-mail. One of my favorite suggestions has to do with a topic that we’ve covered here before: choosing a strong, secure password. A good password is necessity to keeping your files safe and your information private.

“You would never consider setting the combination of your family safe to something as simple as, “1 … 2 … 3.” But even though computer and internet passwords provide access to far more money than your home safe, many people set themselves up to get hacked when they select passwords that are far too simple or that are changed too infrequently.”

Everyone with a computer should do themselves a favor and implement the suggestions in “20 Minutes to Secure Your Box” (link via Daily Cup of Tech).