When securing your system and internet accounts from intrusion it is important to use common sense. Most of these rules might seem like they don’t need to be covered but it is important that they are followed.

Passwords

Your password is the equivalent to placing a lock on your house or car. Password’s should be different for every account you have. The problem most people have with maintaining so many passwords is that there is always the danger of forgetting a password. With this in mind it is better to maintain a hard-copy of your passwords in a safe location that only you can access. Many web sites will tell you not to write down the password to avoid it falling into the wrong hands, however, it is preferable to write it down than to use only a few passwords for all your accounts.It should be stressed again that it is important that this hard-copy of your passwords be kept in a safe location, possibly in a locked file cabinet or safe if it is available.

When deciding on your password you should avoid anything that someone might think of. You should avoid words that people might connect with you, don’t include the names of your pet or your birthday into your password. A lot of these things are easily attainable to almost anyone and make for insecure passwords. A good practice to get into is to use a password that is relatively random in nature and includes both letters and numbers. It is also important to vary capitalization while avoiding just capitalizing the first letter.

Firewalls

As was covered in the security section, a firewall is used to prevent unwanted intruders access to your computer. When a program on your system tries to access an outside network it first needs permission from your firewall. The firewall gives these programs access to outside networks by allowing the program access over a port. The more of these ports you have opened the easier it is for outside applications and users to find a way through your computer.Most firewalls allow you to set whether a port is only used for outgoing or ingoing.If the program is only used for outgoing purposes try to avoid setting an incoming port, as these are the main access for intruders.

Viruses and Spyware

Most malicious software piggybacks on downloads or temporary files known as cookies. A good guideline to avoid these corrupted files is to avoid the more questionable websites. Most company websites or any legitimate organizations won’t have any viruses or spyware on their site. However, when you get into the shadier websites you will start to encounter a lot more pop-ups and sites that attempt to install malicious software on your computer.A lot of these sites engage in data mining, which is the practice of monitoring users across the internet to determine their browsing habits.  They can sell this information to advertising companies that use it to design more effective advertisements.