10 steps to make your PC safe for 2013
New malware is still being introduced at an alarmingly exponential rate: In the last five years alone it has risen by approximately 5,000%. Such growth rates may be any shareholder's dream but here they are evidence of the immense profitability of the hacker industry. Your personal data, online connections or even access to your PC make the cash registers ring. This makes developing increasingly sophisticated and less easily detected ways of infecting your PC, more and more lucrative for clever programmers. However there is no need to panic, as we will show you in this article how to avoid unnecessary risks and how to keep on surfing the web with your PC safely in 2013! 1 - Keep Your System up-to-date
We all know that update notifications can be annoying. Still, your PC and all installed programs should always be up-to-date. Malware programmers often use newly discovered software weaknesses (so-called "vulnerabilities") to smuggle their malware onto your PC via exploits. Therefore it is of utmost importance to update your software on a regular basis (especially if it is widely used) in order to close potential security gaps as soon as possible. The following software on your PC should always be kept up-to-date:
· OS (Windows operating system)
· Your browser: MS Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, etc.
· Adobe Acrobat Reader
· Adobe Flash Player
· Java Runtime
· Apple Quicktime Video Player
· Your media player (VLC, iTunes, Windows Media Player)
2 - Use Secure Passwords
Your PC can be as secure as a safe, but that is useless if an unauthorized person gets their hands on the keys. Regardless of whether it is your Windows login, web mail or a password to a website: use only secure passwords! A secure password consists of at least eight characters and contains a number, an uppercase letter and a special character, such as "ApL47bAk!". Avoid common words like names and use different passwords for all your accounts and connections. If you use one password for all, a hacker gains access to all your data just by cracking one password successfully. To keep track of several passwords, we recommend using a password manager. 3 - Use a Router
It is common these days for internet connection packages to include a router. A router enables several devices to simultaneously use the same internet connection. From a security standpoint, this is a huge advantage as your PC does not connect to the web directly, which makes it difficult to directly address and attack it. If, for whatever reason, you still do not have a router, you should consider it a good investment. The same rules apply here: always keep the router up-to-date with regular firmware updates and use a secure admin password.
4 - Avoid File Sharing Websites
Apart from the fact that they mostly offer illegal content, file sharing websites are among the most common sources for malware infections. Cracked programs or so-called key generators ("keygens") in particular are often infected with malware. It is safer to download original software from the manufacturer's website or from well-known download sites.
5 - Use Restricted User Accounts
Many Windows users use the administrator account. As an administrator, you have unrestricted access to modifying important system settings, which allows malware executed as an administrator to spread with ease. If you have Windows XP you should use an account with restricted user rights for working and browsing the web. Windows Vista, 7 and 8 come with a built-in and redesigned User Account Control (UAC). Any process likely to cause damage or be a threat to the security of your system needs the administrator's permission to do so. Never grant administrator rights to any unknown or suspicious programs!
6 - Avoid Dubious Websites and E-mail Attachments
Today, most malware is spread via so-called "drive-by downloads". Modern websites use technologies that enable the continuous communication between your browser and the web server without asking you, the user, for confirmation. Programmers of criminal websites rely on this technology to take advantage of security gaps in various browsers. We recommend staying away from any dubious or shady websites (file sharing, warez and erotic websites in particular) and to keep your browser up-to-date as described in point 1.
E-mail attachments are another popular way of spreading malware. Use of a good spam filter is the most effective solution. Always remain skeptic if you receive e-mails from unknown senders and pay particular attention to any attachments before opening them; executable files like .exe are often disguised as documents or images. E-mails with password-protected zip archives attached are almost always malware and cannot be checked by virus scanners due to this password protection. For more information on this topic and fake e-mails please refer to our article Current E-mail traps.
7 – Be careful when using WiFi
There are many public WiFi hotspots available free of charge that allow you to check your e-mails and surf the Internet when you are on the go using your laptop or smartphone. But whenever you log into a website or check your e-mails via an unsecured WiFi connection, others can read your log-in data. This applies when logging in to online-banking sites, forums, web mail, ebay or Facebook – in a general, to any login. When using public WiFi hotspots, avoid sending confidential data unless it is absolutely necessary, and even then only over a secure connection!
You can recognize a secure connection to a site by the presence of "https://" in the address bar (HTTPS = Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure). If using e-mail software, you should enable secure authentication within the software. Comprehensive tips on how to securely use WiFi networks can also be found in Emsisoft's knowledgebase: How to use your WiFi securely and efficiently at home and on the go.
8 – Beware of download wrappers and automatically activated check boxes
After downloading useful software from the web, you may often find a new browser or tool bar has unexpectedly appeared on your PC. This is often due to inattentive users rapidly clicking on "Next" during installation. Many companies have unfortunately come to bundle their software with other programs, due to financial reasons. Confirmation should be required at installation time, but the corresponding check boxes are generally already preselected, meaning you must uncheck them in order to avoid installing the additional software. A general fact: Any program installed on your PC not only consumes space on your hard drive as well as system resources, but also represents a potential source of risk through exploits.
Download wrappers are even nastier. Some download portals resort to them to download the intended target file. You thus receive the download wrapper first instead of the desired file. The wrapper then downloads the desired software onto your PC. This allows for the display of annoying banner ads during the download and installation or may even aggressively trick you into downloading other software or tool bars that you do not want. As if this is not already bad enough, this practice opens the floodgates to hackers. So please pay close attention when downloading and installing and have a look at our article on download wrappers.
9 – Take extra care when using online banking
Users of online-banking are generally more conscious of the risks they take when performing online transactions than with any other online service. This isn't surprising, because if the wrong person gets their hands on your login details or in the worst case your TAN numbers as well, they can easily empty your account from anywhere in the world. And this may happen faster than you think if you don't use good security software.
Even secured connections are of no use against "man-in-the-browser" attacks. Careful browsing is not enough, either, as your PC can be infected via compromised ad networks on regular websites. For a good overview of potential risks, please refer to the article Dangers to your bank account – how to perform online-banking securely. Incidently, Emsisoft Anti-Malware has recently been awarded for its excellent protection in online banking. Only 4 out of 32 tested programs passed – at the forefront: Emsisoft Anti-Malware.
10 - Use Security Software With Real-Time Protection
By following our advice you are already quite safe - but there will always be a small risk remaining. This is why we recommend the use of anti-virus software and a firewall. The anti-virus software checks files on your PC whereas a firewall monitors any incoming and outgoing connections. If there are any suspicious processes, a message will pop up to warn you about the risk.
Both programs should offer real-time protection. Regular scans with a virus scanner are of course good, and also important. However, they can only detect already existing malware infections on your PC and may not always be able to remove them. Emsisoft's behavior blocker, for instance, is always active and works in a similar way to your body's immune system: suspicious intruders will be recognized even if there are no antibodies (virus signatures) yet. Emsisoft Internet Security Pack contains Emsisoft Anti-Malware, a state-of-the-art virus scanner with behavior analysis and file guard, and the powerful Emsisoft Online Armor Firewall. Our security pack offers quadruple protection for your PC to ensure your safety in 2013.
Hint: Keep an eye on our test reports. For a constantly updated collection, please refer to our blog: www.anti-malware-reviews.com.
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