2)Firewall
If your pc does not have a firewall, get this free firewall which has been working great for me. Here is the URL:

http://www.zonelabs.com

3) Anti spyware and adware.

This is frequently overlooked by many of us. Spyware and adware cookies are placed in our pc to track our online activities. Some are quite harmless but some can actually trace your keystrokes when you type a password to your email, for example. So it is important to keep your pc free of spywares and adwares. And antivirus software and firewall will not do this for you.

Here are 2 programs I run everytime I finish my work for the day or in the morning before I begin my work. Here are the URL’s:

SpyBot http://download.com.com/3000-2144-10194058.html?tag=lst-0-1

Adaware http://download.com.com/3000-2144-10214379.html?tag=lst-0-1

I visit PC Pitstop an average of once per month .. just to be sure my system is operating at its
fullest potential. Great FREE service. Check it out here:

http://www.pcpitstop.com/

Now that you’ve installed all these programs (or similar products) to protect your system, you may want to check just how secure you are from time to time. This can be easily done at Shields Up! Excellent site, and easy to use. Here’s that URL:

https://grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2

Browsers and Emails

For a more secure surfing, I use Mozilla Firefox browser. You can download free here:

It may get some getting used to it, but once you start using it, you’ll love it. I did.

You should have at least two working emails. For contact emails, I love to use gmail from Google. I have have problems getting emails with this provider. The best is it has up to 2.5 GB of storage, and you won’t have to worry about deleting emails all the time. I use my gmail for subscribing newsletters, forums, free programs as well as correspondence. I tend to get a lot of spams in this email. That is why the huge storage space comes in very handy. More over, there is a “Report Spam” feature which allows you to filter unwanted emails to this folder and it will automatically emptied for you. If you want a gmail account, please email me for an invite.

The second email address should be used ONLY for payment processors and important programmes. This email should be kept private and NEVER made public. I use Hotmail (http://www.hotmail.com) and Safe-mail (http://www.safe-mail.net) for this purpose.

Form Fillers

This is something which I cannot do without. It is never safe to type an important password directly to fill the form. If your pc is hacked by a keylogger without you knowing it, your keystrokes maybe captured and the hacker can login to your account and change important information and steal your money.

One of the most popular form fillers is Roboform. It has a free version with limited entries. You can download the free version here:

http://www.roboform.com

If you want a unlimited password safe, you can try out this software:

Keypass
http://keepass.sourceforge.net/index.php

Phew! That is a whole lot of information there. Do I hear you groan? I know many of us are not technical people, but learning the basics pays off in the long run. Trust me, it is better to learn how to protect your pc then regret later.

I welcome any comments. Feel free to share your ideas.