Top 6 Tips to Make your Computer More Secure

Scammers, hackers, and identity thieves are looking to steal your personal information – and your money. But there are steps you can take to protect yourself, like keeping your computer software up-to-date and giving out your personal information only when you have a good reason.

Use Security Software That Updates Automatically

The bad guys constantly develop new ways to attack your computer, so your security software must be up-to-date to protect against the latest threats. Most security software can update automatically; set yours to do so. You can find free security software from well-known companies. Also, set your operating system and web browser to update automatically. 

If you let your operating system, web browser, or security software get out-of-date, criminals could sneak their bad programs – malware – onto your computer and use it to secretly break into other computers, send spam, or spy on your online activities. There are steps you can take to detect and get rid of malware.

Don’t buy security software in response to unexpected pop-up messages or emails, especially messages that claim to have scanned your computer and found malware. Scammers send messages like these to try to get you to buy worthless software, or worse, to “break and enter” your computer.

Treat Your Personal Information Like Cash

Don’t hand it out to just anyone. Your Social Security number, credit card numbers, and bank and utility account numbers can be used to steal your money or open new accounts in your name. So every time you are asked for your personal information – whether in a web form, an email, a text, or a phone message – think about whether you can really trust the request. In an effort to steal your information, scammers will do everything they can to appear trustworthy. Learn more about scammers who phish for your personal information.

Check Out Companies to Find out Who You’re Really Dealing With

When you’re online, a little research can save you a lot of money. If you see an ad or an offer that looks good to you, take a moment to check out the company behind it. Type the company or product name into your favorite search engine with terms like “review,” “complaint,” or “scam.” If you find bad reviews, you’ll have to decide if the offer is worth the risk. If you can’t find contact information for the company, take your business elsewhere.

Don’t assume that an ad you see on a reputable site is trustworthy. The fact that a site features an ad for another site doesn’t mean that it endorses the advertised site, or is even familiar with it.

Give Personal Information Over Encrypted Websites Only

If you’re shopping or banking online, stick to sites that use encryption to protect your information as it travels from your computer to their server. To determine if a website is encrypted, look for https at the beginning of the web address (the “s” is for secure).

Some websites use encryption only on the sign-in page, but if any part of your session isn’t encrypted, the entire account could be vulnerable. Look for https on every page of the site you’re on, not just where you sign in.

Protect Your Passwords

Here are a few principles for creating strong passwords and keeping them safe:

• The longer the password, the tougher it is to crack.  
• Use at least 10 characters; 12 is ideal for most home users.
• Mix letters, numbers, and special characters.  Try to be unpredictable – don’t use your name, birthdate, or common words. 
• Don’t use the same password for many accounts.  If it’s stolen from you – or from one of the companies with which you do business – it can be used to take over all your accounts.
• Don’t share passwords on the phone, in texts or by email.  Legitimate companies will not send you messages asking for your password.  If you get such a message, it’s probably a scam.
• Keep your passwords in a secure place, out of plain sight.

Back Up Your Files

No system is completely secure. Copy important files onto a removable disc or an external hard drive, and store it in a safe place. If your computer is compromised, you’ll still have access to your files.

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How to make any Low-end PC Super Fast & Smooth Like a new

Have you noticed that your computer runs slower than before? Or just slowly in general? Try these strategies to make your Windows run faster.

Step #1 Right click on My Computer > Properties > Advance system settings >Advanced > Settings > Select (Adjust for best performance).

Step #2 Download Registry Reviver > Install > Scan > Repair.

Step #3 Download Ccleaner > Install > Run and Select All > Run Cleaner > Click on Registry Menu > Scan for Issues > Fix all.

Step #4 Press WinKey+R > Type msconfig > Startup > Unselect all Unnecessary Startup Items.

Step #5 Open Notepad, and Paste this Code (http://bit.ly/1nu1Y6g) and Save as (Faster.bat) and Run
it (When you Run it your Computer is Running Smoothly).

Tip #1 Do not use any Anti-virus Program Just use (Usb Disk Security).

Tip #2 Scan your Computer Online with Bitdefender Online Virus Scanner (Every Month).

Tip #3 Update your Windows Every 2 Month (Not regularly).

Tip #4 Use Malwarebytes as a Temporarily Virus Removing tool (Not for Real Time Protection).

Tip #5 Use System Mechanic as a Temporarily System Reparing tool.

Tip #6 Do not use any Theme For your Computer.

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Make Your Password Unhackable

Identity theft, scams, and hacking - these are just a few of the security problems and crimes that can hound you as you explore the cyberspace. These cyber crimes can threaten your security. Be warned that hacking is among the biggest woes known in the Internet. Unfortunately, you leave your website open to let everyone in; not so smart, but it is just how it goes in the big web. The problem sets in when some trigger-happy criminals and hackers get to unlock your password, sometimes just for cheap thrill of it. For you, however, it brings a threatening thought that your files, records, and financial information are never safe in the computer. Whoever cracks your password, gets access to these.

Passwords are not supposed to be passed by anyone, except by the account owner. You need to guard it particularly when it is a mine of vital digital data. If you are among those people who do not give much thought to passwords, beware. Keeping your account and website secure requires commitment. Once your account or website “goes live” you are already welcoming everyone inside, and that includes criminal-minded hackers. Once expert hackers make your account or website their target, soon enough they will be able to crack your password. There is no such thing as “uncrackable password” but you can make it harder for them. Your goal is to make that hacking process a difficult one so that they give up and find another target.

There is really no perfect strategy to make your account or website hack-proof; just make it a little harder for them. Do you know how to make a password “un-hackable” so that you keep your account safe?

Make Your Passwords Hard to Crack:

One of the easiest ways to breach security is by cracking the password. This is why it pays to adhere to rules on how to create strong passwords, as this is about the most ideal answer to hacking prevention. It is like a mind game where you need to outsmart the hackers.

Do you know that ethical hackers use wordlist that list combinations of possible words that you might use as password?

This combination is only consists of abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890 and other allowed characters like _ and a period. That's right, brute force password hacking is straight out guessing, but this guessing process is amplified by a computer.

Now what can you do to prevent this?

Make an un-hackable password, a password that is not included in every wordlist or a password that is very easy to remember.

Off Limits!

Remember that a wordlist just consists of letters a to z and numbers 0 to 9 and other allowed characters. If you are thinking of including characters like #, $, % or even ? and !, you cannot because these characters are not allowed to be in a password.

The password making.

This is very simple. Include letters and numbers. Capitalize the first letter to make it look stronger. Adding a plain SPACE, which is not often done can make a huge difference. Funny, by simply adding space before the password, you can make an un-hackable password.  

Example: If my old password is "nsane_000" simple change it to “nsane_00" (without the quotations I just put it to emphasize the space).

Yes, it’s that simple. And if you want to make your password easy to remember, simply choose a password and make it your password on all your accounts so you won't forget it.

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3 Easy Ways to Protect Your Website From Hackers

As a webmaster, is there anything scarier than the thought of seeing all of your web developed work being altered or wiped out entirely by a nefarious hacker?  You’ve worked hard on your website – so take the time to protect it by implementing basic hacking protections!

In addition to regularly backing up your files (which you should already be doing, for various reasons), taking the following three easy steps will help to keep your website safe:

Step #1 Keep platforms and scripts up-to-date:

One of the best things you can do to protect your website is to make sure any platforms or scripts you’ve installed are up-to-date.  Because many of these tools are created as open-source software programs, their code is easily available – both to good-intentioned developers and malicious hackers.  Hackers can pour over this code, looking for security loopholes that allow them to take control of your website by exploiting known platform and script weaknesses.

As an example, if you’re running a website built on WordPress, both your base WordPress installation and any third-party plugins you’ve installed may be vulnerable to these types of attacks.  Making sure you always have the newest versions of your platform and scripts installed minimizes the risk that you’ll be hacked in this way – though this isn’t a “fail safe” way to protect your website.

To enhance the security of your website once your platform and scripts are up-to-date, look into security plugins that actively prevent against hacking attempts.

Again, if you’re running a WordPress website, you’ll want to look into free plugins like Better WP Security and Bulletproof Security (or similar tools that are available for websites built on other content management systems).  These products address the weaknesses that are inherent in each platform, foiling additional types of hacking attempts that could threaten your website.

Alternatively – whether you’re running a CMS-managed site or HTML pages – take a look at SiteLock.  SiteLock goes above and beyond simply closing site security loopholes by providing daily monitoring for everything from malware detection to vulnerability identification to active virus scanning and more.  If your business relies on its website, SiteLock is definitely an investment worth considering.

Step #2 Install security plugins, when possible:

To enhance the security of your website once your platform and scripts are up-to-date, look into security plugins that actively prevent against hacking attempts.

Again, if you’re running a WordPress website, you’ll want to look into free plugins like Better WP Security and Bulletproof Security (or similar tools that are available for websites built on other content management systems).  

These products address the weaknesses that are inherent in each platform, foiling additional types of hacking attempts that could threaten your website.


Alternatively – whether you’re running a CMS-managed site or HTML pages – take a look at SiteLock.  SiteLock goes above and beyond simply closing site security loopholes by providing daily monitoring for everything from malware detection to vulnerability identification to active virus scanning and more.  

If your business relies on its website, SiteLock is definitely an investment worth considering.

Step #3 Lock down directory and file permissions

Now, for this final technique, we’re going to get a little technical – but stick with me for a moment…
All websites can be boiled down to a series of files and folders that are stored on your web hosting account.  Besides containing all of the scripts and data needed to make your website work, each of these files and folders is assigned a set of permissions that controls who can read, write and execute any given file or folder, relative to the user they are or the group to whom they belong.
On the Linux operating system, permissions are viewable as a three digit code where each digit is an integer between 0-7.  The first digit represents permissions for the owner of the file, the second digit represents permissions for anyone assigned to the group that owns the file, and the third digit represents permissions for everyone else.  The assignations work as follows:

4 equals Read
2 equals Write
1 equals Execute
0 equals no permissions for that user

As an example, take the permission code “644.”  In this case, a “6” (or “4+2″) in the first position gives the file’s owner the ability to read and write the file.  The “4” in the second and third positions means that both group users and internet users at large can read the file only – protecting the file from unexpected manipulations.

So, a file with “777″ (or 4+2+1 / 4+2+1 / 4+2+1 )permissions would then readable, write-able, and executable by the user, the group and everyone else in the world.

As you might expect, a file that is assigned a permission code that gives anyone on the web the ability to write and execute it is much less secure than one that’s been locked down in order to reserve all rights for the owner alone.  Of course, there are valid reasons to open up access to other groups of users, but these instances must be carefully thought out in order to avoid creating a security risk to your website.

For this reason, a good rule of thumb is to set your permissions as follows:

Folders and directories = 755
Individual files = 644

To set your file permissions, log in to your cPanel’s File Manager or connect to your server via FTP.  Once inside, you’ll see a list of your existing file permissions (as in the following example generated using the Filezilla FTP program):

The final column in this example displays the folder and file permissions currently assigned to the website’s content.  To change these permissions in Filezilla, simply right click the folder or file in question and select the “File permissions” option.  Doing so will launch a screen that allows you to assign different permissions using a series of checkboxes:

Although your web host’s or FTP program’s backend might look slightly different, the basic process for changing permissions remains the same.  If you have any questions about modifying your folder and file permissions, please see this helpful link.  Don’t put off taking this important step – securing your site using all of these different strategies is a big part of keeping your site healthy and safe in the long run!

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