The Internet has become an essential part of the basic infrastructure of a modern society. Using the Web and e-mail are probably the biggest reasons for the average PC user to have a computer. On this page are articles and tutorials to help you get more out of the Internet and to better protect your system from possible Internet hazards.
Protect your computerUnfortunately, there are dangers on the Internet. Like all activity involving large numbers of people, there are crooks and charlatans, thugs and sociopaths among the participants. Out of the hundreds of millions involved, some are bound to be not very nice people engaged in not so honorable pursuits. Also the software companies have tended to neglect security measures for the sake of convenience and ease of use. A locked door is not as easy to use as an open one. The bad news is that unscrupulous and just plain malicious types are taking advantage of unwary PC users. The good news is that common sense and some precautionary steps will suffice to protect most home computer users. Protect your network by using an email service provider that is trusted. |
Read an article describing the steps that everyone should take to ensure the safety of their computer. Anti-virus programs, firewalls, spyware and Trojan removers, Windows updates, and system configuration are discussed. A slide show is also available. Click here to view
Computers interact with the Internet through a variety of pathways known as "ports". Keeping these ports or doorways on your computer closed to intruders and to malware is an essential part of Internet security. This article explains what ports are, the role of firewalls in protecting them, and how to test them for security.
In order for computers to communicate with one another, standard methods of information transfer and processing have been devised. These are referred to as "protocols" and some of the more common ones such as TCP, IP, UDP, POP, SMTP, HTTP, and FTP are discussed here.
Windows has a whole array of helpful command line tools, including a number of programs for configuring and testing Internet and LAN connections. On this page at a sister site is a discussion of some of the networking tools that can be useful to an average PC user.
Windows XP has a local cache for resolved DNS addresses. This article explains how to configure it to make browsing faster.
The struggle between Internet marketers and viewers who wish to keep their Web surfing habits private has escalated again. The latest technological trick of Internet marketing is called a Flash cookie. Read about it here.
A privacy settings file in a special XML format can be imported into Internet Explorer 6 to customize and fine-tune the control of cookies. This article discusses this easily applied method and gives an example. A second article discusses the structure and creation of a privacy file
Our present reactive method of providing security for PCs has become cumbersome and often ineffective. Here is an article suggesting some alternate ways to keep malware out.
Internet Explorer 7 has some added features and a somewhat different interface from IE6. Some shortcuts and tips specific to IE7 are given.
How to guard against phishing and malware sites with browser site filters is described for Internet Explorer 8 and Firefox 3.6*.