Intermediate PC Virus and Security Help

As stated above a phishing website, attempts to steal your data. Anti phishing software will not always identify a bad website. Therefore, I suggest you learn what a real phishing site looks like vs. the intended good website. However, the identification is not necessarily an easy task. You will find out that there are small details that you can identify to indicate whether it is a real site or a fake phishing site. I have found two websites that test your knowledge of what a phishing website looks like and what the real website looks like. You will find that often these sites are difficult to differentiate but they will raise your identification skills and awareness.

• Sonic wall phishing quiz - a great free quiz that will determine your phishing website identification abilities.
• Microsoft recognize phishing scams - this website offers free ways to recognize scams and useful tips.

An important aspect to securing your personal privacy is keeping your computer information confidential. The majority of the software you use on your computer keeps privacy tracks or a history of what you do. This history is very similar to your Internet Explorer or FireFox browsers history in the sense that it can reveal personal information about you. Trojans and viruses can recover this information and create a significant personal security risk. Therefore, it is important that you regularly purge and delete this private history. You can use a free program CCleaner.  With free CCleaner it is easy to delete these tracks with one click of a button. CCleaner also supports military grade deletion so that your histories and privacy tracks cannot be recovered in the future; an important security feature. Consider frequently using free CCleaner to delete your privacy tracks.

• Click Here to download free CCleaner.

Use a password manager for logging on to websites. The password managing software will have one master password that you will remember. The master password will then create multiple passwords dependent on the website you visit. Therefore, the password software will remember a different password for each site based upon your original master password. This technique will prevent a bad website owner or hacker from breaking into all of your accounts because you will have a different password for each website. You can now easily prevent identity theft.

• Password Maker - an easy to use free firefox extension for essential password protection

This is another important tip. If your windows computer becomes infected with a virus or a trojan, there sometimes is only so much you can do to attempt to clean it. For example, the virus or Trojan on your windows computer might have automatically downloaded and installed new viruses that may or may not have been discovered by antivirus software. Therefore, I recommend that you create several secure backups because reinstalling windows can be a pain. The first backup would be your most basic windows XP or Vista setup. For example, this backup would include all the windows security patches or updates, Microsoft word, and all necessary software. You should also make incremental backups every month or so on top of the original. Now, Windows XP Home Edition already includes a System Restore program. However, this program isn’t a comprehensive backup solution because it won’t completely restore your system to its prior settings and may still leave viruses on your computer. Next, Windows 2000, Windows XP Professional, and Vista include Microsoft Backup. The Microsoft Backup program is found in Accessories and provides Full Backups and Incremental Backups. I have used this software to completely restore Windows 2000 server and feel it to be adequate. However, I feel the most comprehensive consumer solution is Norton Ghost. This program like Windows Backup can do a complete backup in Windows while you’re surfing the internet. However, what separates Norton Ghost from the other software offerings is Norton’s ease of use. Unfortunately, the Norton Ghost program isn’t free. But, if you want to use another free backup program, make sure to first test that your computer’s backup will install and the program is reliable. I have used freeware options in the past, only to be left without a working backup. I was often forced to reinstall windows anyways.

• Norton Ghost 12 - the best and most reliable windows backup solution on the market.