If you are buying a new computer then there are many things that you will want to do with it once it is set up. These things that you would want to do are all different depending on your skill level with computers. If you are a person who is new to computers and has never owned one before, then you are probably going to try and get used to the machine as it is now before you do anything. If you are a person that has experience with owning a computer, then you are going to install some programs that you use on a regular basis and uninstall some programs that came with the operating system. But no matter, if you are a new person when it comes to computers or someone who has experience, there are certain things that you need to check for on your new Windows 7 operating system to make sure that it is going to be safe when you use it. In this article we will discuss these settings that you need to check.

The first thing that you need to look at

When you first turn on the computer, the thing you need to look at first is the default programs that are installed on it. Some of these programs are demos and they either offer limited functionality or they will expire in a week or a month. This is especially true for the security products that may come with the computer. Some people when they see that the program is already installed on the computer do not realize that it only works for a limited time and so they are not really protected long term. Make sure that you have an antivirus that is going to work for a long time installed on the system. If that means uninstalling the demo that is on there already and installing a truly free version such as AVG, then that is what you should do.

Make sure that your computer is protected from remote threats

Once you are certain that the software that came installed on your computer works or you have replaced it with a version that does work, your next step is to make sure that your computer is protected from remote threats. You do this by making sure that the firewall that came already installed into the system is running. Some people prefer to download new firewall software from other places but Windows 7 already has one installed in it. When you turn on the system, you need to make sure that the installed firewall is on if you haven’t replaced it already. You can go into the Network Control Panel and it will tell you if it is on or not. Most of the time, it will be on already but there are some cases where it is not.

These are the main two steps that you need to take when you purchase a brand new computer with Windows 7 on it. Windows 7 is a very secure operating system but you need to make sure that you help keep it secure by enabling all of the tools that it needs to stay that way.

When it comes to the distribution of malware, Facebook is slowly becoming one of the top places on the internet where it happens. The rise of malware on Facebook is only partially the fault of the service itself. When a web site all of the sudden becomes popular, it starts to attract different kinds of attention. Some of that attention happens to be from both good guys and bad guys. Bad guys usually gravitate to where most of the people are. They need a good amount of people to be able to entice with their offers or they will not make enough for it to be worth anything. Most people know to stay away from links that do not look right. But there are many more that will click on the wrong links and make the bad guy efforts worth the time and energy. Now that you know how dangerous Facebook can be at times, we will go through some of the steps that you can take to avoid being caught in a trap yourself.

The type of malware on Facebook

Most of the attacks that happen on Facebook have to do with either click jacking or phising attacks. Click Jacking is when the attacker sends you to another web site and the ads are hidden on the site. You might think that you are clicking a submit button or a link to take you to another part of the web page but in actuality you are clicking an invisible ad. A phising attack is when you are sent to another web site and it seems like the site that is legitimate. It might look like another page on Facebook or your bank web site. Actually, if you look at the URL, the site is not affiliated with either one of them. It is a fake web site that someone has set up to fool you. An easy way to tell is to take a look at the URL in the address bar. That will tell you if you are on the right page or not.

Prevent the malware from hurting you

If you want to make sure that you are not affected by the malware that is on Facebook then there are several things that you can do. The first thing to do is to make sure that the person who you think sent a link was actually the one that sent it. There have been times when a person’s account has been hacked and someone has taken it over. If the person account seems to be saying things that it would not normally say then you should be careful about the links that you click from there. If you are careful in which links that you click, that will lead you to be able to avoid 90% of the malware that is on the site. Also, be careful of the apps that you install from Facebook as well. The apps are also known to have infections in them and can be dangerous. Check the reputation of an app before you install it. Make sure that it is OK. 

If you are careful on Facebook then the service will hold no problems for you. If not, then the service can be very dangerous.

There are a lot of different threats that are on the internet right now but the one that anyone who has a popular web site fears is the dreaded botnet. Sure, your server may be able to be taken down by a virus or any other piece of malware but they are easy to recover from. A botnet is a whole different story. A botnet has the ability to shut down your web site without ever having to touch one piece of your hardware. It can send its zombie bots to do that. If this is the first time you have heard of a botnet then you might not know how it is able to do this and why it is such a big threat. In the following article we will explain the dynamics of the threat to you and your web site and how it is able to spread.

A botnet is a network of computers that are able to take commands from one central location. The amount of computers can be as little as a hundred or go up to as much as 100,000. They are able to get control of these computers by placing malware on the unsuspecting victims system. Once the malware is activated, it sits quietly waiting for the person who created it to give it commands. The person who is in control of these networks of computers is able to get them to do whatever they like. This means that if they want to send a large amount of spam email, they can without being detected. And the important part if you are a web site owner is that they are able to get these computers to focus on committing a DDOS attack. A DDOS attack is a Distributed Denial Of Service attack. They are able to do this by getting all of the computers that they control to focus on one server. They then start to make request to this server for certain resources. The amount of request become so much that they start to overwhelm the server. Now other people who are trying to get to the server are not able to get on. They have no idea that there is an attack happening to your server and they think that your site is broken. This makes the user not trust your now.

As you can see, a DDOS attack is a good reason for a web master to fear a botnet. You never know why someone is going to attack you with a DDOS attack. It might be a competing web site or it might be someone that is upset with you. Whatever the reason why someone is trying to attack you, they picked an effective way to do it. A DDOS attack is very hard to stop but there are ways to combat it. Make sure you check with your web site host to see if they know how to stop one.