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The Top Eleven Computer Threats That No Computer User Should Ignore

The internet is unquestionably a terrific resource for families, providing a wealth of instructional content.

However, there are risks – welcome to the murky world of viruses, spam, trojans, pornography, spyware, and other nastiness.

 

The following are the Top Eleven Threats That No Computer User Should Ignore:

 

1. Viruses are computer programs that duplicate themselves. They frequently cause your computer system to malfunction or destroy your data.

Email attachments are often infected with viruses, so be cautious when opening anything from an unknown source. They can impact anyone; for example, one out of every three small and medium-sized firms was hit by the destructive Mydoom worm.

 

2. Spyware – Information about you and your computer is sent to a third party. Spyware may communicate the addresses of websites you’ve visited or, worse, personal information. This is a significant concern in light of today’s concerns about identity theft. BlazeFind, for example, may hijack web searches, the home page, and other Internet Explorer settings. Spyware is typically spread as part of shareware or freeware obtained from the internet.

 

3. IP Spoofing – A method of gaining unauthorized access to computers in which the intruder sends messages to a computer with an address that appears to be from a trustworthy host.

The Top Eleven Computer Threats

 

4. Trojans – A seemingly legitimate computer application designed to disrupt and harm computer activities by transferring information, maybe including passwords, to a third party without your knowledge. Recent emails, for example, labelled “Online Banking Alert: Your Account will be Deactivated. ,” attempted to download the “Trj/Small.B.” Trojan when the attached URL was clicked. This trojan tries to take over the computer.

 

5. Spam – Unsolicited mail that frequently promotes bogus financial or sexual products. Please do not leave your email address on websites or online bulletin boards since spammers will harvest it.

 

6.Adware is software that displays advertising on your screen. These can take numerous forms, including popups, popunders, and adverts that show after you close your browser. Some are sent via the Windows Messenger service, which allows a spammer to send an ad directly to your computer by sending messages to different IP addresses in a sequence.

They are always irritating and frequently of a pornographic nature.

The Top Eleven Computer Threats

7. Hijackers – Hijackers hijack your web browser and may reset your home page, search bar, and search pages.

They can reroute you to undesired websites or prevent you from visiting specific websites.

 

8. Hackers- Because so much personal information is available online to anyone with a password, you must ensure that your password is secure. Your password is at risk if you use your mother’s maiden name, your cat’s name, or your birthday.

Here are two suggestions for creating a secure password.

Method One –

pick two random unrelated three-letter words and two

digits. Mix them up, and what do you have? A secure password

such as “dog19tree” or “chovan73”. Method Two – pick a short

sequence of words such as Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day, and you have a password of

“sictasd. You could even change the letters to

digits.

 

9. Phishing – Emails appear to be from trusted sources such as Paypal, eBay, or your bank. They often ask you to verify your account data and seem highly realistic, but they are mainly hoaxes designed to gather usernames and passwords. Instead of clicking on the provided link, always open a new browser window and type the address.

 

10. Hoaxes include chain letters, scams, and false alarms. They consume time and bandwidth at best, but at worst, they expose susceptible people to fraud. Pass it on!

 

11. Stranger risk – For those of us who have children, do you know what they do when they are online? Are they doing their homework, downloading illegal music, or pornography? Or are they conversing with strangers in online chat rooms? It would be beneficial to explore restricting access to unfavourable websites and documenting their activities with a monitoring program.

 

Oh, and don’t forget that computers should always be kept in a family area and never in a child’s bedroom.

The Top Eleven Computer Threats

Action Plan in Three Steps

 

Three critical measures should be followed to keep your PC safe from threats.

 

To begin, use caution when opening attachments or following email instructions from seemingly trustworthy websites.

 

Second, make sure you’re running the most recent Windows service pack, as Microsoft constantly addresses loopholes.

 

Finally, there are various low-cost tools accessible, such as firewalls, antivirus, spam blockers, and spyware killers. They vary in quality, and you tend to get what you pay for, so always do your homework first and perhaps take a free trial before taking out your credit card.

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