Ed Stoffel

We live in a dangerous world and the internet is clearly part of that world. For home security, many of us have a good guarddog as part of our protection. Your computer should be similiarly protected. It is important to keep the operating system and programs updated, patched with the latest code to guard against known vulnerabilities. Your computer should be behind a good firewall router, have a software firewall and current malware protection - which should include anti-virus - today’s software protects against a range of vulnerabilities.

At home, you know your dog, and you’ve taken the time to get to know it. You wouldn’t be fooled by the presence of an imposter dog, or calls and letters pretending to be from your guarddog. The same idea applies to your computer’s protection. Take time to know your computer’s guarddog - know it’s voice - the messages it displays to keep you aware of your system’s status and alerts of problems. Don’t be fooled by strange messages that are not from your guarddog. Don’t be fooled by website ads with “personal messages just for you” - they’re not really personal messages for you. Stay away from sites on the edge - stolen movies, music and software, and porn. You don’t need that garbage, and is it any surprise that you get contaminated from going there. Duh! Don’t open attachments from people you don’t know, always scan the ones you intend to open, and always keep your malware protection up-to-date! Keep your guarddog happy, and he’ll watch out for you.