The Internet is full of information and data, we can use it at work and at home, for increased productivity or for a great source of fun. Unfortunately, the internet has also many dangers inside. I’ll try to explain the basic things that can be done to keep away those dangers from your computer.

To keep you from troubles if you are connected to the internet you need : the latest service pack for the operating system and all hotfixes that were released, one antivirus that must has the latest database for virus signatures, one firewall to protect for brute force attacks or various exploits and one antispyware and antitrojan program. There are some programs that combine the antivirus, firewall and antispyware capability. Also, if you work a lot with emails, you might need a powerful email client who can provide anti-spam protection, because even if most of the spam mails don’t contain viruses, you might get them in such a large numbers that sorting them might become very difficult.

Of course, the most important thing is that no antivirus or firewall can protect you better than you can. What I’m trying to say here is that by watching what programs you run, what websites you visit and what emails you open, you can prevent most of the dangers.

Another thing that can very helpful is doing periodic backup of your important files, because if a virus infects or deletes your files, you will need those files back. And by backing up your files, you can recover quickly in case that you need to reinstall your operating system, or, even worse, if your hard drive crash.

In the end, I hope that this short guide gave some information that will prevent a few viruses and trojans from spreading. Because, that’s what most of viruses and trojans do : they spread, and if one of you gets away from such a virus, this means that many more were saved, because the virus could not get any further to others, maybe other one, but, much more likely, other thousands or even more. So, keep yourself away from viruses and help others do the same thing.