I hope you are as safe as you can be on your computer.  There are some steps that you can and need to take.  It is not safe to simply cross your fingers, legs and eyes and trust to luck that you won’t get hacked.  It is a sad thing that something like the internet is not how it should really be.  That is to be safe, fun and educational. Not forgetting that it’s a great way to keep in touch with your friends and family.  Oh, and the savings that can be made online.  And so on………..

So what can you do about your security?

The first thing that you need to do is set up your computer so that it prompts you for a password before you get into your account.  Yes, I know that some people, it can be a bit of a bind.  But, what is worse, typing in a password and making your system more secure, or, someone easily grabbing your details, trashing your computer and you lose lots of important personal info?

Please read my previous post on creating strong passwords.

The next thing that you need to consider is an Anti-virus programme.  There are quite a few out there.  Two of the top “paid for”, in my personal opinion, are not worth buying.  I have found, on a number of occassions, that they are processor hungry and slow the computer down.  In actual fact, I remember, there was a couple of people where their anti-virus made their system sooooo safe, they couldn’t get online.  They had to remove the software!!  Crazy!!

There are a couple of really great FREE Anti-virus programmes out there.  One that I use and recommend to friends is AVG.  If you click on this link here, you will be directed to a site where you can type in “avg free” and it will provide a link for you.  It has many features that will protect you for free, but, if you want, you can pay for extras should you feel that they will be of benefit to you.  It doesn’t “hog” your system, and, it allows you surf the internet more safely.  It even checks and warns out about potentially hazardous websites!

Please, if you don’t get an anti-virus programme installed straightaway!!