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In
this New Year, the PC is no longer a toy and the Internet is not a gimmick or a
fad. Many of your most important
business relationships are going to be stored and managed from your personal
computer and the Internet will tie you to your customers and your paychecks.
It’s more crucial than ever that you take precautions to safeguard your
computer and valuable data from a catastrophe. It is as
true today as it was for your great granny that an ounce of prevention is worth
a pond of cure and a stitch in time will save nine.
In terms of protecting your livelihood, there are some simple things that
you should do. Update
your Virus Protection Software
– You’ve probably bought a virus protection program, or you got one loaded
on your computer by the manufacturer.
But have you maintained the software and obtained routine updates to the
software? Because
there are constantly new viruses being developed by hackers, you have to get
“booster shots” from your software vendor.
Norton
Antivirus, McAfee and Computer Associates all have web sites and Internet update
mechanisms to keep your software current. Depending
on how you purchased your virus protection software, you may have to pay extra
for the routine updates. Go ahead
and pay for the upgrades, they are worth it.
Unless you update your virus protection software frequently it will not
protect your system from a possibly catastrophic event. Upgrade
your copy of Outlook, Outlook Express and Internet Explorer
- Every time some hacker devises a new way to assault a computer system, the
software vendor (i.e. Microsoft) tries to “fix” the security weakness that
was exploited. In
the case of Realtors, the most common point of vulnerability lies in their
e-mail software and Internet browser.
Every couple of months there are “tweaked” versions Outlook, Outlook
Express and Internet Explorer available from Microsoft.
To check to see is there are downloads you need, go to: http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ Follow the
directions for your specific Microsoft products.
Now there are just a few precautionary notes on this process.
Only take the product upgrades that you need, there are many superfluous
add-on programs that will only clutter your hard disk.
This activity may require a very long download, depending upon the speed
of your Internet connection, so plan accordingly.
You may need one or more of the original Windows of Office CD ROMs to
complete the upgrade process, so have those handy. Check
your Windows Configuration
– If your computer is on a shared office network then skip this section.
If you are on a “stand alone” PC and you don’t share printers or
disk space with other computers, then you should turn-off sharing of the
computer. Some
of the features that make it easy for networked computers to share resources
also create a security hole.
Under the
“Network” option in the Windows Control Panel you’ll find the options for
“File and Print Sharing…” Select
this option and make sure that you are not sharing files or printers. You can also remove and uninstall network components for
protocols that you are not using like NetBEUI.
Now don’t do this if you’re connected to an office network, consult
with your staff computer technician. Have
a Backup Plan
– If you have important files on your computer system, you should have a plan
to make backup copies of these files.
A CD-ROM drive that can be written to, called a CD-R, has become a low
cost and easy way to store about 600 megabytes of data.
The blank CD-R disks are inexpensive as well.
You can buy a 50 pack for about $100.
You can also create backups by storing copies of critical files on
another computer. Backups
become less of an issue if you use Internet based software because the data is
stored and backed-up by the host computer.
If you use Interealty’s Passport product for example, your contact
information is stored on the Interealty host computer every time you “sync”
your system. A Palm Pilot also
creates a backup copy of all your contacts if you enable that feature. Consider
some sort of “Firewall”
– If you are using a DSL connection or a cable-modem then your Internet
connection is “always on” and slightly more vulnerable to a security
problem. There
are software packages like “Black Ice Defender” that can alert you to
suspicious activity.
For more information on that product you can go to www.networkice.com.
You may
also want to consider a NAT router. This
device can solve several issues: it acts as a basic firewall, provides network
ports for connecting several computers, and allows you to manage Internet
addresses for a small cluster of networked computers.
If that last part didn’t make much sense to you, then you should review
the issue with your computer support person. You can do
everything right and still have a huge problem.
However, if you take a few basic precautions and have copies of your most
crucial files backed-up, then your worst-case scenario is not that bad.
If a virus ravages your system, then a technician reformats your disk,
reinstalls Windows from scratch and you load you important files from a recent
backup. If your system is stolen or
irreparably damaged, then you buy a new computer and restore your important
files from a recent backup. Don’t
panic just be prepared. |
