Protecting Your Data Part 2

This month’s article is part two of Protecting Your Data.

Rule 4. Restrict Access
I am baffled by how easily people allow their computer to be freely used by people they either live with or know.  Allowing access to your computer opens you to virus spyware infections and you have no control over what the person using your machine does. The internet is riddled with web sites that are virus and spyware infected and it takes only seconds, if you visit one of these sites, for your machine to be infected.

No matter what anyone tells you it is virtually impossible to be 100% protected from these attacks. The sensible approach is to avoid these sites completely.

Restricting access also includes preventing anyone from plugging in a usb key or external drive to your computer. Virus and spyware writers wrote viruses many years ago to use these devices as a means of infecting your machine. If you use a usb key to transfer data between machines ensure that you purchase and install a solid anti-virus program on your home machine. The anti-virus program should automatically scan usb devices each time you plug one in. Many of the name brand anti-virus programs fail to meet my criteria as being able to adequately protect your computer. Visit http://www.reidyonline.com/compareav.htm on my website and judge for yourself.

Rule 5. Rules For Multiple Users Sharing A Computer
Where you must share your computer among the family I advise that all users are restricted to standard users with only one account have full administrator privileges.
The administrator account should only be used when you need to add or update software on the machine. Thus don’t give your own account administrator status.
The administrator account should be password protected and regardless of the pleading and begging never give this password out to the other people sharing the machine.

A restricted account reduces the changes of a virus getting a firm hold on the computer but as with all preventative policies it is by no means foolproof. All accounts on the computer should have a password.

Rule 6. Activate The Guest Account Option
All windows machines come with a guest account option and if you decide to allow a guest to use your machine they should only be allowed to login via the guest option.
The guest account ensures you minimize the damage the guest  can do when they use your machine but again it is not foolproof.