To protect your computer against potential security threats, you need to take several measures. For better PC security firewall, virus, spyware and other malware protection are highly important. In addition, you should also update your Windows operating system as well. In this article you will find detailed information about all of them. To enjoy secure computing you can talk to a computer tech support service provider for virus troubleshooting.

Let’s start our discussion with firewall. This is a software or hardware which checks information that comes from the Internet or a network. It is the firewall which decides whether to turns the information away or allows it to pass through to the computer and it entirely depends on the settings of the firewall. So, firewall comes to a great help to prevent hackers from gaining access to your PC. If you are using Windows operating system, there is built-in firewall and it is turned on automatically.

Hackers also use viruses, worms, and Trojan horses to infect vulnerable computers. Viruses are small programs which worms can replicate them from one computer to another and result various problems. On the other hand, Trojan horses come in the disguise of email attachment. All these malicious objects can not only erase information from your hard disk but they also have potential to completely disable your computer. To protect your computer against them you should install a powerful anti-virus program which will scan email and other files on your computer and save your PC from viruses, worms, and Trojan horses.

Another malicious object is spyware. This small software can display advertisements and collect information about you without your consent. There are many powerful spyware which can install unwanted toolbars, links in your web browser or can display pop-up ads frequently. There are also some spyware which collect information about the websites you visit or the passwords you type. An antispyware program is a must to protect your computer from spyware. There is a built-in antispyware program namely Windows Defender in Windows operating system which is turned on by default. When spyware attempts to install itself on your PC, Windows Defender gives an alert.

For safe computing, Microsoft operating system offers important updates in regular interval. This is to protect your computer against new viruses and other security threats. You should install all these updates and patches so that your computer can block all the malicious objects.

The virus or trojan will open a backdoor on target computer for the hackers so he or she will have access to the target computer. In some cases, the hackers will sell the access to another person and that person will use the access to any purpose that the he likes. If a spammer gets access to your computer, he’ll use it to send spam emails.

The DDoS attack is perform by the scammers by sending useless data to a specific web server and when the server cannot handle the data flow, it’ll crash. This is what’s happening right now to many anti-scam websites.

This is just one thing what hackers can do when our computer is not well protected. If I’m going to list what they can do to not-so-protected computers, it will be a long list. Therefore, we need to protect our computer. But, some protection come at a high price and some are free. In this article, I will tell you where you can get good optimum computer protection without paying a dime.

1. Antivirus

Your computer needs an antivirus. A good antivirus will have real-time protection, good detection rate and it’s easy to use. If you don’t have any antivirus on your PC, get one now. Antivirus can find and remove viruses and trojan from your PC. There are three antiviruses that I personally recommend. Avast! Antivirus, AVG and Avira Antivir Personal Edition.

2. Firewall

Firewall is important so you can block ingoing or outgoing traffic. If you have malicious programs on your computer, it will not be able to send out information out from your computer and firewall will be able to block it. When you’ve bought a new PC, I suggest you to activate the Windows Firewall before going online. Even though the Windows Firewall cannot protect you from some malicious threats completely, but it’s good enough to protect you before you install a new firewall. After that, you need to find a good firewall and install it in your system. I personally recommend two free firewalls. Comodo Firewall Pro and ZoneAlarm.

3. Spybot Search and Destroy

Spybot Search and Destroy is good software to find spyware, malware and adware threats inside your PC. It also has some real-time protection and best of all, it’s free. It has good detection rate and can detect keyloggers inside your computer.

4. Ad-Aware 2007

Ad-Aware 2007 Free has been used by 250 million people because it provides good protection. If you have some money to spend, consider upgrading to Ad-Aware 2007 Plus because it has real-time protection. However, the free edition is good enough if you’re tight on budget. But you need a little more work because you have to perform the scan manually and it has no real-time protection.

You might ponder to yourself if this is actually true or not. To tell you honestly, these situations are rampant nowadays. This actually happens almost every minute of the day. That is why it is really advised that all regular computer users should install antivirus software in order for them to be out of harm’s way. This can also lend a hand to have a safe environment while surfing online for some research and assignments. You can also feel secure when opening an email from a friend or relative. All this and more can be enjoyed when you have an antivirus installed in your computer.

By choosing the best antivirus software, it will act like a security guard for your computer. Like a bunch of canine dogs at the airport, the software will make sure that each package of information gaining access to your computer is safe. If the canine dog smells something not appropriate, it will inform you about it. Your downloaded antivirus software will segregate the suspected program, placing it in quarantine while it scans some other files. So you could always trust that this kind of software will hinder any entry of obvious and identified threats.

Without implementing a proper computer security solution, your computer may become infected with viruses, spyware, and/or adware. These are all forms of malware than can play a part in rendering a computer unusable, destroy valuable information your storing, provide complete control of a computer to another person, allow someone to steal the information on your computer, record your keystrokes and give a 3rd party access to your online bank account, allow someone to use your computer to attack a computer belonging to somebody else, etc.

And if you opted for a wireless network, you could be sharing out your Internet connection to your neighbors or that person who has been sitting outside your house in the car for the last few hours. What is more, you are increasing the risk of exposing your own computer to hackers as a result.

So What Are The Basics of Computer Security?

1. Make sure that the link between you and the Internet is safe.
You need to have a hardware firewall installed between you and the Internet. Most recent devices that connect you to the Internet have one built in, but in any case you need to make sure that what you have is a stateful firewall.
It should give your computer full access to the Internet, but block all traffic trying to access your network when originated from the Internet side.

2. Secure your Internet router.
Change the administrator password and if possible the administrative account name as well. Everyone who has bought that device will know what the default account and password is, so you must change these and make them difficult to guess. This is especially important if you have a wireless network.

3. Install anti-virus software on your computer.
Make sure it scans the computer for viruses at least once a week. Keep the software up to date and make sure that the virus definitions are updated every day. Also make sure that this is monitoring the computer all the time to help prevent it being infected in the first place.

4. Install a personal firewall on your computer.
Not only should this help limit the damage malware can do to your computer, but it should also reduce the chances of this spreading to other computers. Get in the habit of checking the dialogues that you are prompted with and only allow Internet access to applications that really need it

5. Install anti-spyware software on your computer.
Make sure it fully scans your computer for spyware at least every week. Keep the software up to date and make sure that the definitions are updated every day. Also make sure that this monitors your computer all the time.

6. Keep up to date with the security patches for your Operating System.
Microsoft release security updates for Windows every month. However, make sure your computer is configured to automatically check for downloads every day and at a time when your computer is most likely to be turned on.

7. Secure your wireless network.
Do not broadcast your SSID (Service Set IDentifier). Although it can be learned by someone who is determined, there is no point making things easy. So make sure this is disabled.
Restrict access to your wireless network based on the MAC (Media Access Control) address of your computer. Yes, these can be faked, once known, but why make things simple?
Implement WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) or WPA2, if you can, to further secure your wireless network. And use a pre-shared key which is not easy to guess.

With 7 above basic steps, you can be confedent to have a more secure computing environment. Always remember, by implementing proper computer security on our own computer, we are making the Internet a safer place to surf for everyone.