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Beating back Web attacks: How to protect yourself from being a victim

If the small system tray icon representing your Internet connection flashes and the hard disk rat tles inexplicably, immediately check your system. Even bet ter, remembering the old adage ‘prevention is bet ter than cure’, safeguard your computer before it is taken over. Be on the safe side and prevent data thef t before it happens. If you only think about protection measures af ter your computer has been infected with a bot or something similar, then your passwords and account data have already been hacked into.Operating SyStem: Regularly use the automatic update service from Windows. Remember that your operating system should always be updated. Otherwise, neither firewalls nor virus scanners will be of any use, as some at tacks on the system can deal with these protective measures very easily.

applicatiOnS: Moreover, update all your programs regularly—including Web browsers and security sof tware. That is because most of the successful at tacks are based on file formats like PDF, DOC and AVI. A strong anti-virus program and the Web browser alternative Firefox are good to begin with no doubt, but are inadequate.anti-Spyware: Many free tools, for instance, AntiVir cannot find any spyware and adware—this feature is included only in the priced version. That is why, in addition to a good anti-virus program, also install protective sof tware such as Ad-Aware or Spybot Search & Destroy. However, having good software products, without scanning your computer with it 

regularly is useless, so setup a scan to run every week, if not everyday.anti-Spam: Unwanted e-mails are not only a nuisance, but they can also be dangerous. Thus, a complete protection 
package not only includes a secure e-mail client, but also a good spam filter. We recommend you use the Mozilla Thunderbird application in combination with Spamihilator. The lat ter one can be used in combination with other clients as well, since the tool acts as a transparent proxy between your computer and the e-mail server.netwOrk Security: Experts all over the world debate whether a desktop firewall makes sense or not. However, they all agree on one point—no Windows system services should be accessible by hackers via theInternet.Hence,werecommend 
that Windows XP users, who have connected their PC directly to the DSL lines, disconnect the Windows Services tool—with that, you deactivate all the undesired network services. Windows Vista users need not worry about this at all.

No services are accessible over the Internet in this operating system, even if they want to be online. The same principle applies to home networks that are connected to the Internet with the help of a router (for example the FritzBox). The Network Address Translation (NAT), which connects many PCs with the Internet over an IP, prevents communication between at tackers and the computer.

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