I haven’t had a real virus or malware issue on my computer in quite awhile now. I think the key to this effort hasn’t been the brand of anti-virus or anti-spyware I use. Neither has it been based on the fact that I’m a PC or Mac user. Keeping yourself safe online is more of a mental task than software.
You can follow these five steps to keep yourself safe on any system with any software installed.
- Know Your Links: Too many times I think people just click on anything that’s blue and underlined in their browser. Take a minute and read where that link suggests it’s going. You can do this by hovering over the link and reading the information in the status bar. Notice the link shown in the status bar below. Not always a sure thing, but I rarely click on a link that doesn’t have a recognizable word, or just looks odd.
Snagit of Firefox Status Bar - Don’t Install It: Before you go installing something cool you’ve just found, take a moment and think about whether or not you really need the application. Have you heard of it before you found it online? Was it recommended by someone you know and trust. My opinion is if it’s not familiar, it’s not installed.
- Email Attachments: Rarely do I ever open or view email attachments I didn’t expect or ask for. This includes that cool video, music or PowerPoint presentation you got from your Uncle Roy. I delete almost immediately.
- False “Helpful” Warnings: Sometimes you’ll get what appears to be a helpful message letting you know your system may be infected. The problem is that the helpful message is wanting you to click on it to install malware on your system. Be familiar with your own software, whatever you’re using and don’t click on anything that’s not familiar to you. Including the “Close” buttons or other items. When in doubt, you can use ALT+F4 to close active windows or the Windows Task Manager.
- Forget Forwarding: Perhaps not an immediate threat to the security of your system, forwarding emails over and over is just a problem that builds upon itself. If you wouldn’t pick up the phone to tell someone about what you just saw on email, don’t forward it to someone. Too good to be true? Delete it! For one you’re spreading useless information. More importantly you’re helping to harvest active email addresses for spammers. If you must forward something, use the BCC: field and remove everyone’s email addresses from the body.
