Well I use upgrades lightly because, really, they aren’t upgrades. All these things I’m about to list are readily available to you in a couple clicks of the mouse.

5. Use Strong Passwords

Always try to use long passwords with multiple numbers and letters in them. You should also use shift combinations as well to help keep those bad guys out. A pretty good password would be something like;

fj8s.!►s98sn

As you can see I used an ALT command. I basically stabbed and held ALT while pressing number combinations on your number pad. Some sites will not allow this but if you want to get the BEST possible password, that is your ticket.

4. Don’t download, open, or view everything you may find.

There are many, many ways for people to gain access to your computer be it keylogger, trojan, worm, virus, adware, spyware, or what I generalize them to, “parasites”. Just downloading something, looking at an image, going to a site, opening an image on your computer, or downloading from a site can get you a parasite. Almost anything you do on the internet can get you something so that is why you have to be ultra careful where you go and what you download. Also, as a side note, don’t open e-mails that normally don’t look like what your friend would send you. Same with IMs, don’t open links they may send you without asking what it is first.

3. Keep up with Microsoft Updates

Keeping up with their updates such as framework will really help you fight those bugs that people throw at you. If you neglect to download them and you attempt to download a lot at once on a slow connection, you may be causing yourself more harm than good leaving an open connection like that. So keep up with your updates and that will close potential holes for would be thieves.

2. Buy Anti-Virus software and keep it updated

You ought to invest in one of these well known anti-virus such as Gritsoft’s versions, or kaspersky. They are both good choices and I’m sure there are more out there. But one thing is for sure, keep those programs updated and scan once a day or more. But don’t use more than one scanner because the first one scanning could mess up the second one scanning. Could spell trouble, so just stick to one at a time.

1. Install a Personal Firewall

These are always good for you DSL folks out there. Some free versions are ZoneAlarm and SyGate which offer great security and easy to use.

There are many more things you can do to increase security for your system, and if you wish to share it go ahead and comment on this post and tell us all about it and maybe we could apply to our computers.