The Four Rules of Home Computer Security

Computer security is on a lot of peoples' minds. And there are lots of companies out there offering all sorts of ways to stay hack proof. Most high-end products are geared toward large enterprises. This makes sense since they are worth millions or billions of dollars. Security companies go where the money leads. But what about the typical home computer user? How can novice users traverse this brave new world? Let's take a look at my four rules for home computer security.

Let's face it, the internet can be like the wild west. You never know what you're going to find and it's hard to trust anyone. But a little caution can go a long way. The first rule to keep in mind is the rule of the low hanging fruit. What's fruit have to do with computer security? Well, actually it has a lot to do with computer security. People tend to go after the path of least resistance. If you were to pick fruit off a tree, which fruit would you go after? Would you go after the fruit at the top of the tree or would you go after the one hanging in your face? Of course, you would go after the low hanging fruit. Hackers are no different. They will tend to exploit the targets that promise the biggest bang for the least effort. If you require more effort to hack, most hackers will pass you by.

The second rule is the rule of the front door. You never, ever want to hook your computer directly up to the internet. A caveat to this rule is if you know what you're doing and set up a firewall directly on that computer. There are other considerations, but I'm going after straight-forward solutions for you. What I mean is that you never want to hook a DSL or cable modem directly into your computer. You always want to put some type of router between the modem and your computer. This can be a simple dsl/cable router from someone like Linksys. This helps to segment a private network from the public internet network. Let me use an analogy. If you hook up your computer directly to your modem, it's like opening your front door and letting anyone into your house. There is no barrier between you and the outside world. However, if you put a router between the modem and your computer, it's like closing that door on the front of your house. Now, only certain, trusted people are allowed in.

The third rule is the rule of pest control. Please don't run a computer without virus protection. You can have the best front door in the world, but if you let the back door open it's useless. Anti virus programs help control loopholes in trusted communication lines. A friend of mine got a floppy from a friend. He then quickly copied a presentation for a corporate client on it. He went to the client, inserted the floppy, and was greeted by an obnoxious virus alert. The client was furious, my friend was highly embarrassed, but the software did its job. Never run a computer without virus protection. And these days, you need spyware protection. There are some great free ones out there like Spybot Search and Destroy. I also like SpywareGuide's Xscan for interval scanning.

The fourth rule is the rule of sewing. Ok, I'm not talking about sewing in the traditional sense. I'm talking about putting patches on - on your operating system that is. If you are using Windows, you need to make sure windows update is set to automatically download updates. Security patches regularly come out and you would be less than wise to ignore them. And be warned, in this day and age, some security issues involve simply visiting malicious websites to breech your security. Don't be a victim, be prepared.

While this certainly won't fend off the most hardened hacker, it will keep most at bay. It's sort of like home security. Is a thief going to target the home with lax security or the one with great security? I'll leave that answer to you.

For more great technology tips, visit PaulTech at: http://www.gopaultech.com

A safe world with home security

Nowadays, it seems that the necessity for enhanced, superior home security is increasing. The advancement of technology and the improvement of the means (tools, devices) which facilitate intruders? access into other people?s homes resul

Content:
Nowadays, it seems that the necessity for enhanced, superior home security is increasing. The advancement of technology and the improvement of the means (tools, devices) which facilitate intruders? access into other people?s homes result in an upgrade of the security systems as well which, in turn, can prevent housebreakers from breaking in. Common sense tells us all that it is always best to be on the safe side. One manner of making sure that you and your dear ones are protected is given by studying and putting into real practice some of the diverse ways in which you can build up or improve your home security.

Here, and nowadays, there is one crucial advantage: security systems, on account of speedy and uninterrupted development of technological equipment and stratagems, are available at lower and lower costs. Competition is born along with the progress of technology, a situation out of which the consumer ? in our case, the homeowner who wishes to actually hold a confirmation of his home security ? extracts most of the benefits ? in our case the diminishing of the costs of security systems. In fact, in the field of security systems, the variety of products and the range of prices is remarkable. Practically, there are options for both deep pockets and more restricted ones, each product built to support successful home security. From security systems created to supervise your residence as long as you are away, to shatterproof locks and security systems based on sonorous alarms, the display of home security devices is substantial. And, since the offer of security systems is so generous, why not try one?

The advantages of security systems converge into one area, easy to guess from the very designation that we use: they give you the benefit of protection. The protection that security systems can provide is available for all varieties of houses. Whether you live in a detached house, share a duplex, live in a terraced house or have your home in an apartment building, security systems can take care of practically each home. And they are not made for protecting you only from burglars.

Houses, wherever or however they are built, can be threatened by other dangers as well. Home security means preventing those dangers from occurring as well. For instance, most frequently, basic security systems are being installed in order to prevent fires or in order to diminish their strength until firemen arrive at the scene. Fire extinguishers and fire alarms may prove useful for your home security and they easily manageable too. As for intruders, an apartment in an apartment building is worth securing with security systems more advanced than the unpretentious, minimal fire alarms. It?s no news that many people come and go as they wish in an apartment edifice and, although these people may seem indistinct, or even insignificant, it is precisely their apparent insignificance which is unsafe. In this case, elementary home security can be made available by such essential security systems as are those represented by high-quality illumination of the shared places in the building ? like the stairs or the corridors ? or by making sure that the door to your apartment is protected by some functioning deadlock.

Nonetheless, home security may request more than just the basic security systems given as examples. Normally, such basic home security is equal, in fact, with protecting, let?s say it like that, the ?limits? of your home. The ?limits? are the doors, and you may want safety beyond those doors as well. In this case, what you need is something more complex, which will guarantee, nonetheless, some more sophisticated degree of home security. This means that you may need ? additionally, because doors mustn?t be neglected in any way ? safety contacts for your windows and even sensors in case glass is broken. And even if more high-tech devices are being proposed to you, don?t worry that you may get confused about how to set them to operate: reliable security companies will provide you with security systems instruction manuals and even with qualified assistance.

In other words, if something?s worth doing, then it?s worth doing well ? a saying that becomes particularly accurate when home security is at risk. There?s no use gambling with your home security as long as there are affordable and reliable instruments of rendering it an almost 100% sure thing. Taking everything into account, there?s no place like home, and what wouldn?t you do for your own home?s safety?

A wide range of security systems is available for you to improve your home security and the feeling of being safe in a dangerous and unpredictable world.

The Top Advanced Home Security Innovations

Our society is increasingly becoming more and more dependent in technological advances that help improve our everyday life, and the field of home security systems is a good example. Security measures like video surveillance cameras were considered the territory of only businesses and the rich in past years, but today that technology is easily afforded by most homeowners as well.

If a simple, inexpensive alarm system is all that your current budget allows, that is fine and it will certainly enhance your security level over not having one at all. But if you can afford the best security measures that technology can offer there is an ever increasing number of high tech choices that you can make to increase your home security level.

For instance, today it is getting more common to see all-in-one systems that not only monitor your security from a burglary standpoint, but also integrates home fire alarms and medical alarms into the same system. Of course, home security can mean more than just protecting against home intrusion and these sophisticated systems can care for protecting you and your family in the case of almost any emergency that can arise. They are smart enough to detect the difference between a fire, a home intrusion and a medical emergency, and can alert the proper authorities for you in each case. They can even operate in case the power is out for any reason due to having backup batteries and using cell phones to communicate.

Beyond these advanced alarm systems are more high tech means of identification for gaining access to your home or to your computer information. These include fingerprint, voice recognition and eye retinal scanners that have a very high accuracy rate. It is extremely hard to fool these systems and so for those that have highly sensitive or extremely valuable data or possessions that they wish to protect, these technologies are now becoming available to the home security market.

To take it even further, there are detectors that are temperature sensitive and so can sense a subtle change in temperature when someone unauthorized enter a room. Granted this is technology that seems to come straight out of a spy movie, but it is available now for those who feel that their valuables warrant it.

Of course, all of these technological advances are still extremely expensive and would be well beyond the needs of the average homeowner at this point. But the prices on these products are consistently falling and will no doubt become more commonplace as time goes on.

In the meantime they are available even now for those who can afford them and for those who have special and sophisticated home security needs.

Find out more about a home security system and home security services by visiting our Home Security Review website.

Home Wireless Network Security Issues

Home Wireless Network Security Issues by Greg Lietz of http://about-wireless-internet.com

Running a business from home has its advantages, including no commute, a more accommodating work schedule, fresh coffee and home-cooked meals at any time you want.

But running a business from home using a home wireless local area network (WLAN) with your computer may lead to thievery of confidential information and hacker or virus penetration unless proper actions are taken. As WLANs send information back and forth over radio waves, someone with the right type of receiver in your immediate area could be picking up the transmission, thus acquiring access to your computer.

Here is a list of things that you should consider as a result of implementing a home wireless network setup used your business:

Viruses could be loaded onto your laptop which could be transferred to the company's network when you go back to work.

Up to 75 per cent of home wireless network WLAN users do not have standard security features installed, and 20 per cent are left completely open as default configurations and are not secured, but are made for the users to have their network up and running ASAP.

It is recommended that home wireless network router/access point system setups be always done though a wired client.

Always change the default administrative password on your home wireless network router/access points to a secured password.

Enable at least 128-bit WEP encryption on both card and access point. Change your WEP keys periodically. If equipment does not support at least 128-bit WEP encryption, consider replacing it. Although there are security issues with WEP, it represents minimum level of security, and it should be enabled.

Change the default SSID on your router/access point to a hard to guess name. Setup your computer device to connect to this SSID by default.

Setup router/access points so as to not broadcast the SSID. The same SSID needs to be setup on the client side manually. This feature may not be available on all equipment.

Setup your home wireless network router to block anonymous internet requests or pings.

On each computer having a wireless network card, network connection properties should be configured to allow connection to Access Point Networks Only. Computer to computer (peer to peer) connections should not be allowed.

Enable MAC filtering. Deny connection to wireless network for unspecified MAC addresses. MAC or physical addresses are accessible through your computer device wireless network connection setup and they are physically written on network cards. When adding new wireless cards / computer to the network, their MAC addresses should be registered with the router /access point.

Your home wireless network router should have firewall features enabled and demilitarized zone (DMZ) feature disabled. Periodically test your hardware and personal firewalls using Shields Up test available at http://www.grc.com. All computers should have a properly configured personal firewall in addition to a hardware firewall.

Update router/access point firmware when new versions become available.

Locate router/access points away from strangers so they cannot reset the router/access point to default settings. Also, locate router/access points in the middle of the building rather than near windows to limit signal coverage outside the building.

You should know that nothing is 100%. While none of the actions suggested above will provide full 100% protection, countermeasures do exist that will help. The good collection of suggested preventative actions contained herein can help you deter an intruder trying to access your home wireless network. This deterrant then makes other insecure networks easier targets for the intruder to persue.

Greg Lietz is an internet business man, freelance writer and computer enthusiast. His websites provide information on wireless internet networking and personal computer hardware that may be of interest to you.