If you’ve recently purchased a new computer, or, if you’ve recently reloaded your existing computer, then you now have a working computer that likely still needs a lot of work. New computers, new-to-you (used) computers, and reloaded computers (such as after cleaning a virus infection) are all running with software that is out of date which could make you more vulnerable than you need to be to viruses, adware, malware, grayware, etc. If you have recently reloaded your existing computer to factory defaults, then the software on your computer is circa the date that you purchased it; but even if you’re opening up a new computer, the software is still anywhere from a couple of months to a couple of years old (due to manufacturing and production timings). If you plan to explore the internet or receive email, the first thing you need to do is update your security and applications.
First, be sure you have a working and updated virus scanner. Most PCs come with a trial antivirus (AV) software preinstalled, such as Norton AV or McAfee. These trial AV programs are typically good for somewhere between 1 and 3 months; after that, they want ~$50 to continue their protection for an additional 12 months (and then again every 12 months or so after that; this is normal and justified). If you’re on a tighter budget you could opt for a free AV program such as Microsoft Security Essentials (http://www.Microsoft.com/securityessentials), Grisoft AVG Free Edtion, or Comodo just to name a few. Just be sure to uninstall your previous AV before installing a new AV (one sheriff per town please). Once your AV is installed, be sure that it is up-to-date. They all have an “update” button somewhere; click it and follow the instructions, rebooting if necessary to complete the update.
Next you’ll want to update the operating system. For most of us, that’s Microsoft Windows 7. The great news is that updates from Microsoft for Windows 7 are free; the bad news is that it can take quite a while (hours sometimes), and you’ll want to do the Microsoft updates repeatedly until it tells you that there’s nothing left to update. You can find the Microsoft updates by clicking the Start Orb (bottom left corner of the screen), selecting “All Programs” and then clicking on “Windows Update”. In the window that appears, look to the top left corner, and just below “Control Panel Home” you’ll see “Check for updates”. Click this in order to refresh you computers awareness of all current updates that are available from Microsoft. This will usually take just a minute or two. After your computer has found updates, just follow the instructions provided in the right portion of the screen to install them (rebooting as requested by your computer; if no request, then don’t worry about it).
Last, you’ll want to update your high traffic internet applications: Adobe Acrobat Reader and Adobe Flash (http://www.Adobe.com), Microsoft Silverlight (http://www.Microsoft.com/getsilverlight), and Java (http://www.Java.com). These softwares are responsible for displaying a substantial portion of the content that you download (D/L) from the internet, and, as such, are often the first line of attack for viruses and infected trojan-horse type web sites (websites that deliver bad content underneath seemingly good content; this happens all the time to very good websites that are unfortunate enough to get broken into).
You’re done! You’ve taken reasonable precautions to keep your computer clean. However, if you’d like a little added protection, you can use clean up and antimalware programs once you’ve finished your browsing session. Two that I like are CCleaner (http://www.Piriform.com/ccleaner) and Malwarebytes (http://www.MalwareBytes.org). Both have free and pay versions available. I’ve always been happy with the free versions, but the pay versions require less maintenance and they’re relatively inexpensive (~$30). As always, make sure the software is up-to-date every time you use it. Every time!
