When we use our computer on the internet, we are allowing it to potentially be infested by one of the many dangers that float around on the World Wide Web. So to try and prevent that, we set up programs on our system that are supposed to seek out and stop dangers such as this. But even the latest updated antivirus will not be able to stop every danger that may be out there. This is why it is a good thing for you to know which part of your Window 7 system is a place where an infection or potential infection is most likely to hide. This way if anything strange happens to your computer and you are at a lost as to what is going on, you can check these areas to see if they are clean or not.

The first folder that you want to take a look at in your Windows 7 system is the “Downloads” folder of the computer. If you have downloaded anything to the system, then you know that by default it ends up here. So there is a good chance that anything that may be harming your system originated from this folder. Luckily for you, if the file is still in this folder and you have not accessed it beforehand, then there is a good chance that the infection can be easily removed. Programs usually have to have some sort of interaction to be installed. The method that this occurs is usually by double clicking on an .exe file. On rare occasions, a program can activate without any interaction at all. If the program in this folder is doing that, then deleting the .exe in the folder should get rid of all of your problems.

Another folder that infections like to hide in is the “Programs Files” folder. Whenever you install a new program, the .exe and other files by default are put in this folder. Many virus and other malware writers will rarely put their infections in this folder but some do and that makes it a good place to look. Or if they do put the files and .exe in this folder, then they will place it under a different name. So if you see anything in this folder that seems off and your computer is acting funny, then go online and Google some of the folders that you do not recognize. They may be your problem.

The last folder that you should check is the actual Windows folder. This is where the heart of your operating system is at. You should only access this folder if you know what you are doing. If you have never been in this folder before, then do not go in it now. Only go in if you are familiar with the files that are in this folder. If you are familiar and you see a strange name that you haven’t seen before, then it is again time to check Google.

Even if you know where to look at, you are still going to need a program that will able to analyze the files in the folders to see whether they are good or not. To do this, you can use an online virus scanner to help you out. Viruses can be tricky things; it helps to know where they may be hiding at.

With the rise of wireless network everywhere, there is becoming a need to be able to transfer your files in a safe and secured manner. A lot of people falsely assume that you are as safe on a remote network, as you are on your home version. This simply is not true. There are a lot of attacks that can affect you when you are on a strange network, especially a network that you have not been on before. One of the attacks that are popular on a public network is called a man in the middle attack. Or you can have someone sniff out your data packets that are transferring mid air. Whatever the attack may be, you need to be able to make sure that it doesn’t affect you while you are on a public network. One of the ways that you can do this, is by using a VPN. A VPN will protect your data when you are on a remote network. And when you use Windows 7, this process becomes a lot easier.

Before we get started in describing how to set up a VPN in Windows 7, I realize that some people do not know what a VPN is or what it does. So lets take the time now and describe it for you. The letters VPN stand for Virtual Private Network. What it does, is to create a smaller network that sits on top of a larger network, like the internet, that will only allow certain people permission to access it. If you set up the VPN, then you and whoever you allow access to, are the only ones that are allowed on it. That of course, is where the private part of the name comes from. Most of the time, you can set the VPN to be encrypted. This is why it is so effective for when you are on strange public networks. Your data can flow freely and even if they are able to see it, they will not be able to encode it.  This will prevent them from understanding what they are seeing.

So if you are using an unfamiliar remote network and you have important files that you need to protect, then your best bet is to set up your own VPN. You can either do this by using third party software or do this by using the software that is already available in Windows 7. You will need a VPN server to be able to connect to, when you are setting the VPN up. The connection must have two sides, the server and the client. Most of the times the actual server will be from a third party vendor. There are plenty of free and open source versions to choose from. To set up the client portion in Windows 7, you go into the Network and Sharing portion of the control panel. You then click on “Set up a new connection or network”. After that click on “Use my internet connection”. You then type the IP address or domain in the box and you will have a connection to that network. Anytime that you want in, just type your name and password.

Set up a secured VPN connection is very easy in Windows 7. If you are on a strange network, it pays to have one.

When you have an operating system with as many features in it that Windows 7 has, there is a lot that you have to look over. You have to make sure that your decisions allow you to keep certain components of the system safe from being compromised. This attention to security also has to be paid to your home network as well. You have to be sure that you are able to keep all of the threats that you possibly can, out of your system. So we have put together a couple of tools that will allow you to keep your home network safe and as an extension, your personal computer as well. When it comes to the threats to your network, you have to worry about both the internet and the physical threats that can happen. Most people only worry about the threats that come from the internet. They never think about the threats that can come from your next door neighbor.

Some of the tools that we mention may be overkill for a small network but they will help keep you and your network safe. Other tools that we mention are easy to use and made for normal consumer usage. We do not expect you to use every tool that is at your disposal to protect your home network but we want to let you know that the option is available just in case you need it.

One of the tools that you can use to keep your network safe is a tool called NMap. It is a free piece of software that you can find on the internet. This tool will scan your network and tell you what computers are connected to it. This can help expose if someone is connected to your network that should not be. You can also use the tool to help expose any weakness in your network. It will show you open ports that are vulnerable to someone being able to get into your network. Seeing which ports are open on your system will allow you to be proactive against any threats before they happen.

Another tool that you can use to help protect your home network is the firewall that already comes with your router. Most people will plug the router in and never mess with it again. If you actually explore all of the options that are available, you will find that it has a whole suite of applications that will be able to keep your network safe. It is up to you to actually turn these features on. On the newer routers, the firewall is turned on automatically. But it still may not be optimized to best protect your network. Read your manual and see what you will need to do to make sure that the router is using all of its abilities.

The biggest security threat that we have in 2010 is the threat of botnets forming and becoming too powerful. Everyone who has hosted a web site that was the victim of a DDOS attack has most likely seen the damage that a botnet can do. Even some of the bigger sites are falling victim to the ever increasing powers of a botnet. They have grown bigger over the years and this is a real problem. At one point, they were mainly used for a DDOS attack; but now they are now being used for sending spam and delivering viruses and other malware across the internet. If you own Windows 7, you are already half way there from keeping your computer from becoming infected. But even though the security protection in Windows 7 is good, there are several things that you must do to make it even better.

I guess that we should explain what a botnet is before we go any further. It will be hard to explain to you on how to defend yourself from something that you don’t even know what it is. So in short, a botnet is a bunch of computers that a remote black hat hacker has taken control over. After they have taken control over the computers, they are now known as zombie computers. The owners of them may not even know that anything has happened to them. Most botnet owners these days like to keep their ownership of the computer quiet. If the owner of the computer knows that they are on there, they will try to get it fix and erase the program that is controlling the computer. So the botnet owners only take control of the computer when they need it. This means that if they have something that needs to be distributed to a large amount of people, or an attack needs to happen, they turn on the zombie network and then let it go to work. They also rent out the botnet to other interested parties so that they can do their dirty work for them as well.

To keep your computer safe from becoming part of a botnet, you need to make sure that it is safe from infections. Most systems are turned into a zombie from a Trojan that was able to access your computer without you realizing it. You can stop this by making sure that your antivirus is up to date and that you run a scan over your computers hard drive frequently. Stopping these little pieces of malware will help keep your computer out of larger trouble.

Windows 7 is well equipped from protecting itself from infection. But the use of a good antivirus and common sense can go a long way in keeping your computer even safer.

When we need to protect our computers from outside intruders, there are a few options that are available to us. We need these options, because everyday our computer is probed by strangers that want to be able to access our personal information. They will take our information and sell it to the highest bidder. So to help prevent people from being able to penetrate our computer, we can use software known as a firewall. A firewall will block the ports of your computer and keep the bad guys from getting in. But, there are several different firewall solutions that we can use to get the job done. And our job is made a little easier by using Windows 7, one of the most secured operating systems out there.

The first type of firewall solution that you can set up to block intruders from your computer, is a hardware solution. You can use a software firewall or a hardware firewall. Most experts tend to agree that a hardware version is the better way to protect your computer. Preferably, you should have mix of the two, both a hardware and a software firewall set up. When you are dealing with a corporate network, then you could spend thousands of dollars on a firewall that will help protect you. But for the average home user trying to protect their network, the hardware solution would come in the form of your router. If you go into the router administration settings, you will see that there is an option that you can turn a firewall on or off. Most routers come with this option already turned on. The firewall on your home router can be the best option that you have when protecting your computer. Make sure that you keep it on.

Even if you have the hardware firewall option nailed down, you still want to back that up with a software firewall as well. This way your computer has double the protection. There are a few options that you can use for a software firewall. One of these solutions is the firewall that comes already built into Windows 7. In the past, the firewall that came with the Windows operating system was not a strong solution and you still needed a third party option to help back you up. But in Windows 7, the firewall is as robust as any third party solution that is on the market. You can surf the web safely knowing that you have a full featured firewall backing you up.

The last solution in regards to firewalls on Windows 7, is to use a third party solution. There are many companies that make a full featured suite of firewall products that will help protect your computer. You may even be able to purchase a firewall package that will also come with other security products as well. Products such as an anti virus solution. Over the years, some of the top software solutions out there, have really refined their products so that they can take on any attacker trying to get into your system. They have seen the worse that the web has to offer and they were able to create solutions for it. You will not be putting your computer in any type of harm if you went with a well known third party firewall vendor.

As you can see, there are many options that are available to you when it comes to a firewall. Take your time, and pick what solutions seems right to you.

If you have a job that makes you deal with a lot of data that runs through your computer, you must make sure that you have a secured working environment. If you do not, then there is a chance that it can hurt your or your employee’s business. If you have made the move to Windows 7, then you can be sure that you have one of the most secured working environments of any operating system. But there are ways that you can make it more secured. No operating system will be able to handle the litany of threats that exist on the internet right out of the box. It will need something extra to be able to do this. Here are a couple of ways that you can make sure that you have a clean working environment.

The first thing that you need to do to guarantee that you have a clean working environment, is to set up a regiment that will make sure that your computer is bug free. When you download certain programs, they may have a bug that your anti virus can not yet detect. So, when you originally downloaded the program, it was able to slip through all of the sensors that would have normally went off when a piece of malware enters your computer. To correct this mistake, you need to update your anti virus software and run another scan on your computer. Some people think that running two anti virus solutions on the machine will help with a problem such as this. That is not true. When you run two anti virus on the same computer, they will set each other off and possibly erase certain features from one of the programs. So just stick with one anti virus program, and run a full system scan at least once a week.

The second thing that you can do, in making sure that your Windows 7 system is a secured environment, is to make sure that you check the logs of your firewall or router, and see if there has been any unusual activity. If you are working on a project that has very sensitive information involved with it, there may be people that try to get that information from you. They will try to test certain weak points in your network security and find a way to get around this. This is why you might have to take the unusual step of checking the logs for traffic that is requesting permission to access your machine. If you do not understand the data, then get someone from your IT department that will. Someone who has the basic knowledge of corporate network security will be able to read a server or router log, and tell you if someone is trying to penetrate your system. Remember, if the data is valuable enough, someone will try to go after it.

You will normally hear that you can protect your computer by just installing anti virus and letting it work. Sometimes, to have a truly secured computing experience, you have to go a little deeper than that. You have to fine tune the security until it is protecting you from even the most advanced threats.

When you are alone on your computer at night, surfing the internet, you will sometimes have a tendency to believe that being on the computer will make you totally isolated. As if no one in the world, would be able to violate the inner sanctity of your computer. But unfortunately, this is not true. When we use our computers on the internet, there are many ways that people are able to access all of our inner thoughts that we put down in digital format. Even though we may believe that our data will always be secured, it can only be that way if we work at it. When most people think about their security being violated on the computer, they mostly think about black hat hackers coming through the line remotely from another part of the world. But this not always the case. A large percentages of security breakdowns in a wireless network, happen when the perpetrator is only a few yards away from the actual network. So how can we stop this from happening. How can we keep people from accessing the network with our explicit permission. In this article, we will give you a few ways that will allow you to keep your network secured.

In Windows 7, the network security features have been made to be more effective. If you go into your control panel, you will see a wide overview on the different states of your home network. You can check the network that you are connected to and you can also create homegroups. Homegroups are a specific settings that will allow you to decide such matters as who gets to share certain data items on your computer. If the visiting computer on the network is not part of the homegroup, it is not allowed to access that part of your computer. This a good first step, but will only keep parts of your network safe. To really be sure that you are secured, we must take a look at the router.

There are a few steps that you must take with the router, so that you are sure that no one can access your network without you knowing. The first thing that you have to do, is to make sure that you change the username and password that gives you access to the router. Make sure that they are not on the default setting that they were in when you bought the router from the store. After you have done that, make sure that you have an encryption layer set up for the router. You can use WEP, WPA. or WPA II. We recommend WPA II, since it is the upgraded version of the most secured network encryption out there. Now after you set the encryption layer up, if anyone want to get on your network, they have know the password that you set up. But that might not be secured enough for your taste. You can also go in the router and set it so that someone has to have a particular MAC address to get on the network. MAC addresses are the unique number that is on your network card. Every device that connects to the internet has one. They can be spoofed, but someone would have to know your network card to be able to get the right number that will allow them on your network.

So as you can see, there are several levels of home network security that you can set up. Make sure that you do, so that you can truly surf the web secured.

People like to feel secure in anything that they do. If you drive a car, you want to make sure that it is not going to have any problems while it is on the road. You do not want to stop at a red light and the brakes do not work. The same thing applies when you are riding on an elevator. When you press the button to go to a certain floor, you expect it to stop at that floor and to not keep going. People would like that same feeling when they surf the internet. They want to be sure that when they connect their computer to the network, there will be no one trying to get into their system. They have heard all of the horror stories and have watched a ton of movies that describe the antics of black hat hackers. The average user knows that an attack on their computer can cause them financial problems. These financial problems can last for a long time. So how can you keep intruders off of Windows 7 as you surf the internet? One of the best ways is to download and install a firewall on your computer.

So you might be wondering what a firewall does exactly and how can it keep people off of your computer. Well, there are a couple of ways that we can answer that. A firewall is a program that monitors the incoming and outgoing traffic from the internet. It does this by looking at the ports on your computer. The ports are what allows your computer to have a bridge to the outside world. We could go into a more technical reading of how the ports work, but all you need to know, is that it allows the internet to come to your computer. So a firewall will close off the ports that you are not using. For a program to use a closed port, you have to give it explicit permission to do that. Once you have gave it permission, then that particular program will be able to communicate with the outside world as well. Your browser, and IM clients, are all examples of programs that use a port to connect to the internet. Using a firewall will stop any bad programs from using a port and keep allowing the good programs to continue working.

There are several ways that you can have a firewall monitor your computer as you are working. The first way is to activate the firewall that comes with your wireless router. Most modern day routers will come with a firewall already built into the firmware. You can go into the routers admin menu and set this up. If you do not surf the internet with a router and use a modem only, you can download a software firewall to protect your computer. There are several of them out there. You can read on Google which one’s are highly regarded and make your decision from there. Also be aware that Microsoft Windows 7 comes with a firewall pre-installed. You can activate it and have all of the protection that you will ever need.

As you see, a firewall is a good ideal while you are surfing the internet. Make sure you have one in place so that you can be sure that you are secured.