PC Magazine: Security Tips and Tricks for Everyone

How should you secure your network and PC? Depends on how you use them.

By Matthew D. Sarrel
November 18, 2008

There are a few things that are guaranteed to keep your computer and data safe. Don't connect to a network - ever. Keep the machine physically secure in a lead-lined room. Remove the hard drive and store it in a safe. Epoxy over the USB ports and pull out the DVD drive. Keep the keyboard locked in a drawer. Guard the room with dragons. The PC itself should be kept behind the starting defensive lineup of the 1976 Pittsburgh Steelers.

Most of us - those who consider PCs necessary and unconnected PCs pointless - strive to find a balance of utility, convenience, and safety.

Of course, there are simply loads of computer users out there, connected to one another via the Internet and local networks. We've broken out a few kinds of users to show you the particular type of security each special case requires, although it wouldn't hurt anyone to read through all the sections. We have tips for less-experienced users (and the PC Mag readers who offer them technical support); for people who need to share files, giving others access to their hard drives; for parents, whose children may be savvier users than they are but who know that kids tend to be less concerned about security; for online gamers, who typically have to subvert their computers' security at least a little bit; and for Mac users, whose systems are inherently more secure than those of PC users - and who can be frightfully careless as a result. Finally, because any type of user can use a laptop, some tips for people whose PCs are definitely not kept in lead-lined rooms, guarded by linebackers.

Click the URL above to read the full article