Security Tips for PC or Mac
Every technology user needs to find the balance between security and convenience. At MacVantage our consultants help you improve your security without making your technology unusable. Even if a network administrator decides your security settings for you it would be wise to consider some general security tips. These security tips might not all apply to all of you but most people should follow most of them.
The first step is checking your user account on your computer. The account you use the most should not be a user account with Administrator status. Use a regular or standard user account instead. Ask us for help with this if you are not sure you know what you are doing. A few applications or programs unfortunately do require one to use an account with Administrator status.
Any user account you use should be protected by a password. This password should include at least a mix of letters and numbers but it needs to be one that you will remember. Do not give your password to others.
Disable or turn off any guest accounts or guest access. This will restrict your computer to people with real user accounts and passwords.
Do not visit questionable web sites. Do not download questionable software. Do not open questionable emails or attachments. It could be very tempting to do questionable actions but your computer and you will suffer.
Install Anti-Virus software and configure it to keep you protected. Many people argue about which brand of protection to use. Usually the objections against a certain brand are based on outdated information or a bad experience that is unlikely to happen again. For the Windows user I suggest AVG from Grisoft. The home version is free and the work edition is low cost. Even more important than the price is that AVG takes up few system resources (like the processor or memory) while it does a very thorough job of protecting your computer. For the Mac user I suggest Symantec’s Norton AntiVirus but take care to modify the preferences away from the default settings which are too “helpful” for most people.
Install Anti-Spyware software and configure it to keep you protected. This only applies for PCs running Windows. The software I suggest is Microsoft Windows Defender. It is currently free from Microsoft.
If you need a firewall then use the built-in software firewall provided by the operating system. Do not use a special program to provide a firewall because it will do as much harm as good. Many people get frustrated and turn off the firewall because it has not been configured properly. Microsoft’s Windows XP Service Pack 2 has a good built-in firewall as does Apple’s Mac OS X. Both are easy to configure. You might need to create some exceptions or holes in your firewall for some software to work properly. If you need help with this, please contact us.
Keep the operating system software current. For Mac users this means using Apple’s Software Update. Some people do not keep a good backup and they do not keep their system healthy so they constantly worry that a Software Update will cause major problems. It happens but it is rare. You might not want to be on the bleeding edge so before you install the latest Software Update you might ask around to see how it went for others before you do it. You may always ask us for our report on any current Software Update. For most Windows users, Automatic Updates using the Windows Update or the Microsoft Update is the way to keep software current.
Use a plan to keep backups of your important files because it is impossible to avoid every possible threat forever. No matter how we try we cannot play God with our technology and our data. An effective backup system is very important. Most effective ones have the following traits: the backup is automatic; the backup is frequent; the backup is complete; the backup is redundant. A MacVantage consultant can help you deisgn and deploy the correct backup plan for your needs.