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Back up your work. No computer is 100% reliable. If there is something on your computer that you need or want to keep, make sure it is backed up by a copy on another machine, or a removable device such as a CD / DVD or tape. If you use shared storage on a network computer, it should be backed up centrally - but if something is REALLY important to you, keep another copy yourself as well! Email inboxes and Windows desktops are not necessarily safe places to keep important files. Keep your Operating System up to date with fixes and security patches. This is more important than ever nowadays. Recent Windows worms have almost all exploited known vulnerabilities in the Operating System. People who kept their computers up to date with fixes were safer than those that did not. Most people didn't, and weren't. Don't assume that home computers are safe - any machine which sends or receives email, or is ever connected to a network even for a few seconds, can be vulnerable. www.windowsupdate.com / update.microsoft.com Keep your Operating System up to date with service packs. Whenever possible use recent versions of software (especially Windows software). XP Service Pack 3 and Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 are generally safer and more reliable than Windows NT 4 SP6a, which in turn is much safer and more reliable than any of the old DOS-based versions of Windows such a 95, 98, or ME. Internet Explorer 8 and Outlook 2010, or later versions, are generally safer than earlier ones. Service Packs can be downloaded from Microsoft’s Website www.windowsupdate.com or update.microsoft.com. The latest service packs are: “Service
Pack 6a for NT4” Keep Microsoft Office up to date with fixes and patches. This can be done by choosing to include the updates for Office within the Operating System updates. Always use a virus scanner and always remove viruses and worms if you find them. Keep up to date with virus detection files.www.sophos.co.uk / www.symantec.co.uk / www.nai.com Don't get caught by spam. A large proportion - perhaps more than half - of email viruses and worms arrive in messages that get trapped by spam checkers. Avoid opening mail marked as spam. Never pass spam on to your friends and colleagues, and don't get involved in chain letters or circular jokes. Avoid running scripts. Set up mail clients (such as Outlook, Netscape Communicator, Eudora and so on) so they do not run scripts in incoming mail. Avoid "previewing" mail that is opening a mail item whenever the cursor goes over its entry on the incoming mail list. Be wary of attachments. Only open or run email attachments if you know where they come from and what they are. Never open attachments on spam mail, or mail that seems to come form you but that you don't remember sending. Be careful of web links in email. Avoid opening web links on incoming mail unless you know what they are. Never follow web links on spam, or other mail from people you don't know. Don't make life harder for others. To help your colleagues and friends get into the habit of thinking about attachments and links before opening, make as little use of attachments as possible. Send mail as plain text! Don't use Word to write your email. Only use HTML mail, or attached files, or any graphics, when you really need to. You'll save time and disk space as well! Minimise downloading unnecessary software on to your computer (except for Operating System updates). Do NOT under any circumstances install P2P file sharing software on your computer as this may install spy-ware which is very difficult to remove and can cause pop-up’s and information about your computer being sent across the Internet.
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