This is not intended to be a complete guide to online security but is just a quick overview.

Any guide to security on a Windows based PC should include the following points at an absolute minimum:

Use Microsoft Update

Microsoft Update (Also known as Windows Update on some earlier versions of Windows) will check your system for missing updates and offer to install them for you. There are options to that cover how to install the updates:

More details from the Microsoft website here

Install and use an anti-virus programme

There are many anti-virus programmes available both commercially and free of charge. We recommend AVG Free for non commercial users or AVG Professional for all other users.  Whatever you decide to use – keep it updated! At the very minimum you should check for updates on a daily basis although many users prefer to check even more frequently. New Viruses do not follow a regular release pattern and anti-virus software should release updates as and when needed – for example AVG release updates on discovery of new viruses so there may be no updates for a couple of days and then 3 or more in a single day.

Install and use an anti-spyware programme

Microsoft provide Vista & Windows 7 users with Windows Defender as part of the package, this is also available for users of Windows XP Service Pack 2 and later from this link on the Microsoft Website. Other than Windows Defender, there is a choice of commercial or free of charge options, good examples are Ad-Aware (Free and commercial versions available) and Spybot – Search and Destroy which is free of charge and supported through voluntary donations. Be warned however that although both Ad-Aware and Spybot are good products that work as they should do some other anti-spyware programmes will in fact give you a virus or ‘find’ problems that do not actually exist that they can only ‘fix’ by your purchase of the ‘full’ version of the software. Read about the BBC experiences here.

Install and use a firewall

A software firewall (Windows XP Service Pack 2 and later include a basic firewall as standard) is a good idea, if you prefer 3^rd party software then zonealarm is a popular choice and has both free and paid-for versions available. If you have a broadband connection and use a modem to connect to the Internet consider changing to a router instead – this alone prevents many problems from happening as the router stops inbound traffic that it does not explicitly know about. Dial-up users need to continue to use modems but as broadband is now available at lower cost than dial-up there are fewer and fewer users who have no choice other than a modem.

Use common sense

If a total stranger walked up to you on the street and asked for your name and address you (Hopefully) would not provide them without establishing if there was a valid reason to do so. If they insisted that they were a friend and also needed to know your bank PIN, date/place of birth and your mother’s maiden name would you provide that information without checking? It seems crazy in a situation like that. Online however it’s a different matter, every day, people willingly pass over information such as this to complete strangers simply because they had an email telling them that it was important to do so.

Likewise, somebody approaching you at a shopping centre and telling you that they are the sole survivor of a long line of Nigerian princes and they need your help in smuggling millions of pounds worth of currency out of their home country is likely to get arrested – and yet according to the BBC website such scams could be costing the UK alone up to £3.5 billion a year – full story here

As stated at the very top of this page, this is no more than a very brief overview of online security, there are whole websites dedicated to the subject that provide far more detail that we have covered here.

More information on basic safety:

GetSafeOnline

BBC online safety tips

More information on common scams (Often called ‘Phishing’)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scam_letters

Simply entering ‘419 scam’ into your preferred search engine will produce a large number of results