Ever since Windows 7 was released, there has been a renewed sense by the consumer that a Microsoft product was actually concerned about security. And they were not only concerned about security but also about making the security on the operating system easy to set up. If you look at both the professional and the consumer reviews, you will see that the new operating system by Microsoft has been getting rave reviews. But the security of the system is still not complete when you first turn it on. While Microsoft has put more effort than ever in securing the system there are still some things that you must make sure that are installed when you start using it. We will take a look at some of the security measures that you must take to make sure that Windows 7 has all of the security that you need when you are surfing the internet.

The first thing we will look at is the firewall

When you start up Windows 7, you want to make sure that the Firewall that comes with the system is set up. There is other third party firewall software that you can use on the market but when you are first starting, make sure that you turn the windows 7 one on first. If you decide that you want to try another brand, then you can surf the web and easily download and install it. But you do not want to get on the internet and your home network without having at least the one that comes with the machine installed first. Also, if you have a router, make sure that the firewall that comes with it is turned on as well. A hardware firewall is better than a software one but when you use them in tandem then you will have an even more safe machine.

Install the correct browser

By the title of this paragraph, you may think that we are going to advocate one browser over the other. That is not going to be the case. While in the past we would have advocated Firefox, there are other browsers on the market that are just as secure. Even the picked on Internet Explorer has made their latest releases very secure compared to what they put out in the past. And the new version of Internet Explorer will also be updated as far as keeping up with the acid test that all browsers go through. So these days, an updated version of IE is almost as safe as Firefox and Chrome. The key thing is to make sure that your browser is updated against any known security flaws. All browsers these days are vulnerable when they are not updated.

And last but not least, the correct antivirus software

It should go without saying that you are going to need to run some sort of antivirus software on the machine. You can either go with a third party antivirus solution or you can go with security solution that is created by Microsoft themselves – Security Essentials. It has a good reputation and it is updated on a regular basis. This way you know that your machine will always be safe.

This is a short check list of things that must be activated when you first start up Windows 7. This way you can make sure that your operating system is secure.

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