Lakewood Public Library - Protecting your Computer!
Reasons to secure your home computer
- Protect your private data and computer environment
- Intruders want your money
- Hackers want to use your computer
Introduction to new terminology
- Virus - A program or piece of code that is loaded onto your computer without your knowledge and runs against your wishes.
- Spyware - Any software that covertly gathers user information through the user's Internet connection without his or her knowledge, usually for advertising purposes.
- Spam - Unsolicited email electronic junk mail or junk newsgroup postings. Not the delicious canned meat product.
- Email Spoofing - A user receives email that appears to have originated from one source when it actually was sent from another source. Email spoofing is often an attempt to trick the user into making a damaging statement or releasing sensitive information (such as passwords).
- Phishing - The act of sending an email to a user falsely claiming to be an established legitimate enterprise in an attempt to scam the user into surrendering private information that will be used for identity theft. phishing example
- Wardriving - The act of driving around in a vehicle with a laptop computer, an antenna, and a wireless LAN adapter to exploit existing wireless networks.
- Hoax - An email sent with the intention to deceive or trick. See a list of hoaxes <http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html> from Symantec.
- A great resource for learning computer jargon is Webopedia <http://www.webopedia.com>.
Lakewood Public Library Computers
Deep Freeze <http://www.faronics.com/html/product.asp>
Upon restarting a computer with Deep Freeze installed and operational:
- Changes to system environment are eliminated
- Downloaded files saved to the hard disk are deleted
- Temporary Internet files, cookies and browser history are erased
Securing Your Home Computer - (Suggested tasks from CERT)
Free Online Resources
Programs
General Information