Your computer could be attacked the moment you connect it to Broadband

Make sure you have a Firewall

• Remember – the Internet is a Public Place
• All PC’s have open “ports” by default
• Malicious programs lurk online looking for these
• Make sure that you have a firewall installed and activated
• Windows XP machines and more recent have a built-in firewall which is adequate
• If in doubt, go to Control Panel on your PC and check the security settings
• To strengthen your firewall, download the FREE ZoneAlarm software here
  

Virus protection with Broadband

• Even with a firewall, viruses can still be a threat
• New viruses appear all the time and this problem is never going to go away
• Not only can they damage your computer, they can steal personal information and cause “Identity Theft” (“phishing”)
• Viruses usually sneak into your computer when you open an infected email or surf a malicious website
• Make sure you *never* open an email or run an executable program unless you trust the source
• Make sure you have anti-virus protection, and that you update it frequently (daily is best) and regularly scan your PC for viruses
• You don’t need to buy anti-virus software, there’s an excellent FREE program at the AVG website

Other dangers to your computer include:

• Spyware
• Malware
• We recommend Spybot Search and Destroy, and Ad-Aware to protect against these, and they are both FREE

CAUTION! You will find many offers on the Internet to scan your coputer for free. Frequently these “free” resources are malicious sites which actually install harmful software on your PC. Only use them if you can trust them (perhaps from a personal referal).

More information will be available at a new website coming soon from our IT and Telecoms Manager.

You can contact us directly for more advice on any of these issues.