Mobile computing is all the rage right now, it has been for quite some time, and it shows no signs of slowing down. This means that demand for long-lasting batteries for your mobile device has never been higher. However, it’s a sad fact that rechargeable batteries don’t last forever. In fact, the act of charging and recharging your battery is the very thing that is slowly killing it! But don’t despair! Following the tips below will help you to get the most out of your battery for as long as possible.

Before we get down to business I must say that as you read through this guide you may come across seemingly conflicting information. As stated above, discharging and recharging your battery, as necessary as it is, actually causes your battery to deteriorate gradually over time. While this is true, it doesn’t actually make a lot of sense.

It may help to think of your rechargeable battery as the human body. Health professionals constantly tell us that regular exercise is essential for keeping fit and healthy, which is true. But at the same time, regular exercise also causes gradual wear and tear on your joints. How’s that for a catch 22!

OK, let’s begin.

Tip 1: Don’t Overcharge

Once your battery is fully charged you should unplug it from the charger. Despite what is logical to think, keeping it plugged in on a full charge doesn’t actually keep it topped up, it actually keeps your battery in a constant cycle of charge – discharge – recharge. The very thing that shortens your battery’s life over time. Your aim should always be to keep your recharges to an absolute minimum.

Tip 2: Don’t Fully Discharge

Back in the day, when we got our first laptops and mobile phones, we were told that we should always fully charge and fully discharge our batteries and that charging your battery before it was dead would lead to the dreaded “Memory Effect.” While this was true of the batteries back then, which were made from  nickel cadmium, the opposite is now true of modern rechargeable batteries, which are made from lithium. Letting your battery run dead (or very, very low) before charging it will eventually reduce its ability to hold any charge.

Tip 3: Keep Your Laptop Cool

I cannot stress enough the importance of this tip. Heat is a battery killer in more ways than one. Even when your battery is not being used, it will gradually lose charge. Heat speeds up this process.

If you are using your battery and your laptop is too warm (or even hot) then the fan inside your laptop will work overtime to keep your system cool, which in turn drains your battery more quickly because it actually powers the fan. And if your battery drains to quickly then you have to charge it more regularly, which will shorten it’s lifespan.

You also need to think about the surface where you place your laptop. Avoid placing it on heat conductive or insulating surfaces like a metal desk or your bed. If you can’t avoid such surfaces then use a laptop cooling pad.

Tip 4: Keep Your Laptop Clean

A buildup of dust inside your laptop will clog up the ventilation system causing your laptop to overheat and leading to the effects in Tip 3.  Even if your air vents are not blocked, a layer of dust on the components acts as insulation to the inside of your system, raising its overall temperature and leading to the same effects.

I’m actually speaking from experience on this point. If I had time I’d tell you a funny story about my overheating laptop, a clogged up air vent and my daughter’s crayon. Let’s just say that it ended very badly for the crayon!

It’s good practice to clean the inside of your system at least once a month. If you don’t feel competent to open it up yourself without breaking it, you should consult a professional. Also, there are cleaning kits that you can buy, which include cans of compressed air. These are used to blow all of the dust out of your laptop by spraying the air into it through the vent. However, please take extra care when using these. If you hold down on the spray for too long it will cause the air to condense into water droplets. Needles to say, this will not be good for your machine.

Tip 5: Increase Your RAM

If your system is low on RAM it will use your hard drive to run its intensive processes. Your hard drive is a mechanical component with a circular disk inside it that spins around like an old vinyl record player. And as we all learned in physics class at school, heat can be generated by movement. The spinning disk is also made of metal, which doesn’t help matters at all.

Many new laptops now have the option of a solid state drive, which is a hard drive that doesn’t have any moving parts. These drives are excellent because they’re cooler, they consume less power and are a lot faster for accessing data. However, they’re quite expensive and have a much lower storage capacity than traditional hard drives. This will no doubt change though with time.

Related Articles

• Processor Speed vs RAM

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OK, so anyone who has ever owned or used a computer should know that there are these nasty little bugs called viruses that can infect your computer and stop it from functioning correctly.  But what exactly are they?  And what harm do they do?

The first thing we need to understand is that the term “virus” is hardly ever used correctly.  When most people say “My computer has a virus”, what they actually mean to say is “My computer is infected with malware.”

Viruses are just one of the eight particular types of computer infections, which are known in the industry as “malware” and are very different from the other seven due to their unique behaviour.  In short, all viruses are malware but not all malware are viruses, if that makes sense…Of course it does.

Also, just to complicate matters further, a particular program may exhibit behaviour that qualifies it as two, three or more of the various types of malware.

Before I go any further I must point out that this article is written and intended for a non-geek audience and is therefore simplified in its descriptions, definitions and examples.  So if you’re a geek and are reading this, please don’t leave snooty comments below pointing out a whole load of technical inaccuracies and/or omissions.  Why not get a girlfriend instead?

What Is Malware?

“Malware, short for malicious software, consists of programming (code, scripts, active content, and other software) that is designed to disrupt or deny operation, gather information that leads to loss of privacy or exploitation, or gain unauthorized access to system resources, or that otherwise exhibits abusive behaviour. The expression is a general term used by computer professionals to mean a variety of forms of hostile, intrusive, or annoying software or program code.” – Wikipedia

The 8 Types of Malware

As mentioned before, there are currently eight different types of computer infections, which are classified as malware and they are:

1) Viruses

Like their biological counterparts, computer viruses exhibit the unique behaviour of infecting a system and then using that system’s resources to make copies of themselves and spread.  A virus can use a variety of methods in which to do this but one of the most common ways is by infecting your computer’s email program and then sending itself to all of your contacts.

Have you ever received a weird email from a friend that contained a strange link to an even stranger website?  That’ll be a virus at work!  If you clicked the strange link and went to that website, the chances are that your computer would have then been infected with the same virus, which would then email itself to all of your contacts and continue the cycle.

2) Worms

Worms are very similar to viruses in that once they infect a system they start to make copies of themselves.  However, there are some important differences that set them apart from viruses;

• Worms are self-replicating, which means that they don’t need to use your systems resources in order to reproduce.
• They have a “payload”, which means that they’re programmed to do more than just replicate.  They may delete important system files, block access to your documents or open communication ports, making your computer vulnerable to further (and more serious) attacks.

3) Trojans

Trojans or “Trojan Horses” are malware programs that on the surface look perfectly harmless (like a picture of your friend’s new baby attached to an email) but has a malicious program hidden inside.

The term comes from Greek Mythology where during the Trojan War, the Greeks give their enemies, the Trojans, a giant wooden horse as a peace offering.  The Trojans took the horse inside the walls of their city but what they didn’t know is that hidden inside the horse were a large number of Greek soldiers who promptly attacked the city from within and opened up the city gates to the rest of the Greek army.

This analogy is very fitting for computer trojan horses because that’s exactly what they do to an infected system.  Unlike viruses and worms, Trojans don’t make copies of themselves.  Instead they may;

• Steal your personal information and send it back to the hacker
• Watch and record everything on your screen
• Download more malicious files from the internet onto your computer
• Log keystrokes (make a note of everything you type)
• Leave your computer vulnerable for a hacker to remote control

Trojans are a particularly nasty type of malware due to their potential for compromising your privacy.  This can lead to identity theft and financial loss.

4) Spyware

As the name suggests, spyware is malicious software that spies on your computer related activities.  This includes (but is not limited to);

• Logging the websites you visit
• Logging keystrokes (make a note of everything you type)
• Watching and recording everything on your screen
• Collecting personal information

The name spyware sounds as if the only thing this type of malware does is “spy” but unfortunately that is not the case.  Some strains of spyware can also do other things like redirect your internet browser to unwanted websites.  For example, you type www.google.co.uk into your browser but instead of being taken to Google, you’re taken to a fake antivirus or fake banking website.  In fact, every website you try to go to takes you somewhere else.  This kind of annoyance can really disrupt the normal operation of your computer and may be down to spyware.

 5) Adware

“Adware” or “Advertising-Supported Software” is any computer software that in some way, shape or form, serves you advertisements of some kind.  These adverts commonly take the form of “pop-ups”, web browser windows that spontaneously “pop-up” on your screen.

Whether or not adware can be correctly classified as malware is debatable because not all computer-based advertisements are unexpected or unwanted.  However, it’s generally accepted that pop-up adverts are annoying, so adware is included in the malware definition.

Adware in itself is benign, causing no harm to your computer system.  However, depending on the extent of the infection, it can seriously impact on system performance and in some extreme cases it can render your computer unusable.  Also, if it’s bundled with spyware then it can expose you to more serious negative effects.

6) Scareware

As the name suggests “scareware” is malicious software that is meant to scare you into performing a certain action, most often this action involves you parting with your hard earned money.

Scareware usually takes the form of fake anti-virus programs or bogus security alerts that warn you about malware infections when in fact, the warning itself IS the infection!  The scareware program may promise to disinfect your computer and protect you from further infections if you first pay a fee of course.

7) Crimeware

Crimeware is a type of malicious software that is specifically designed to facilitate computer related crime or “cybercrime”.

Any of the previously mentioned types of malware may also qualify as crimeware if their intent is to aid or facilitate the commission of a crime.  Most often the intended crime is identity theft, fraud or financial exploitation.

An example of crimeware may be a spyware program that redirects your internet browser to a fake banking website every time you try to do some online banking.  The fake website may look almost identical to the actual website of your bank.  However, as soon as you log in, your personal information is captured and sent back to the hacker who can then access your accounts.

With modern encryption and authentication techniques, this type of fraud is now a lot more difficult to accomplish but the dangers of this actually happening are still present.

8) Rootkits

A rootkit is a set of malicious software programs that allow a hacker to gain highly privileged (or even unrestricted) access to your computer system.  Because of the high level of access they have to an infected system they are very good at hiding themselves, which in turn makes them extremely difficult to detect and remove.  They can, in effect, render themselves invisible by redirecting or even controlling the very programs that are meant to find them.  Once infected with a rootkit, a compromised system may be left vulnerable to further malware infections for a variety of different purposes.

The unique feature of rootkits is their stealth capabilities.  They can be designed to hide the existence of both themselves and other forms of malware so that you’re completely unaware of any infection.

Related Articles

After reading this article you may be thinking to yourself, “So what’s the good news?”  Well there is some.  There are many ways that you can protect yourself from malware, and buying a MAC is NOT one of them, despite what my friend Roger continues to suggest.  Actually, that gives me an idea for another article…

For tips on how to protect yourself from all of these nasty little bugs, please refer to the articles listed below.

• 5 Steps To PC Security
• Bogus Security alerts

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Or, which is more responsible for keeping your computer running at a reasonable speed?  This issue has been the subject of many long and complex debates in the “techworld.”  However, I’m going to try and “condense the nonsense” and give you a relatively simple answer but first, let’s answer this question; Does it matter?

Does It Matter?

Yes, it does.  By far the biggest complaint about PCs that I’ve ever encountered is that PCs tend to slow down over time.  By the time a PC is about three or four years old it’s not uncommon for it to be almost unusable.  The reasons for this are both numerous and complex (I may actually write an article about them some day).  However, the brute force solution to this problem is to swap your PC’s processor for a faster one.  Or, to increase your computer’s RAM.  Actually, the answer may vary depending on who you ask.  In fact, the correct answer is that no one method alone is guaranteed to make your computer run faster.  However, doing both will.  To know why this is the case we first need to understand what these two things are and how they relate to each other.

What Is a Processor?

The simplest answer is that your computer’s processor is its brain and the processor’s speed (measured in Hertz) determines how quickly your computer “thinks.”  Still with me?  Good.

What is RAM?

RAM (Random Access Memory) is a form of data storage and data and data access.  It allows your computer to access data that is stored in locations that are not next to each other (randomly).  Without RAM your computer would have to search through all of its storage locations in order until it finally reaches the file it’s looking for.

The situation can be likened to searching through a filing cabinet for a particular file but only being able to search through the cabinet sequentially from A to Z.  That would be fine if the file you were looking for were ‘Adams’ but if it were ‘Zachary’, then it would take 26 times as long for you to access the file.  RAM makes it possible to access the ‘Zachary’ file directly without having to search from A to Z.

That is the strictest explanation of what RAM is but unfortunately, that explanation makes it difficult to understand the relationship between RAM and Processor speed.  So for the purposes of this article so instead we’ll define RAM as this;

RAM is the amount of resources available to your computer to perform tasks.

This definition is also true but not in its fullest sense.

The Relationship Between Processor Speed and RAM

This relationship can be likened to a shopper (your computer, let’s call her Jane) who has a very long shopping list (a list of tasks your computer has to perform).  Let’s say that the time it takes for Jane to purchase one item and then move on to the next shop is her shopping speed (processor speed) and has an allocation of £200 spending money (RAM).

Using this analogy, we can determine that Jane finishing her shopping in a timely fashion depends on both:

1. How fast she shops
2. How much money she has

Increasing her spending money alone doesn’t guarantee her finishing her shopping quickly because she may not walk very fast from shop to shop.  And increasing her shopping speed alone doesn’t guarantee her finishing her shopping quickly because she may run out of money, in which case she’d have to wait for her next pay day before she had enough money to finish her shopping.  However, if we gave her more money and increased her shopping speed, then the chances of her finishing her shopping before the shops close greatly increases.

Understanding this analogy is the key to understanding how both processor speed and RAM are responsible for the overall running speed of your computer.

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What Are They?

In my day to day work of consultancy and supporting desktops, I frequently come across the following situation;

While surfing the internet, a user is confronted with a “security alert” or other such warning message on their screen. The message warns the user that their computer is infected with viruses, trojans and spyware, or that it contains registry errors, etc, and prompts the user to download security software that will remedy the situation. The user clicks the ‘OK’ button to download the software because it will protect their computer. Right?…WRONG!!! These messages are 100% bogus and will harm your computer by downloading and installing the very same viruses they’re warning you against.

Unfortunately, this type of scenario is becoming more and more common. The sadistic people who create malware (malicious software) are becoming ever more cunning in the ways they deliver malware from their computers to yours, and the method of choice at the moment seems to be tricking you into thinking that;

1. There’s a problem with your computer that needs fixing urgently
2. The software they’re offering will actually help

This kind of trickery is actually quite ingenious because from time to time your computer will display valid warning messages about different things, so computer users who are not very tech-savvy will often be unable to tell the difference. If you fall into this category, help is at hand!

Being the caring and considerate guy that I am, I’ve prepared a list of simple points to take note of so that you can protect yourself from these bogus security alerts.

How To Combat The Threat

1) Purchase security software – I cannot stress enough the importance of having good security software installed on your computer. Ensure that it is from a reputable company, purchase an annual subscription, and keep it up to date. This won’t prevent you from inadvertently clicking a bogus security alert but it will minimise the damage caused if you do.

2) DO NOT click any button on a bogus alert! Not even ‘Cancel’ – Often a bogus alert will present you with two options, ‘OK’ (to download and install the software) and ‘Cancel’ (to quit). Because these alerts are programs created by software engineers, the buttons can be programmed to do anything the engineers want! Even the ‘Cancel’ button! Clicking ‘Cancel’ will most likely do exactly the same thing as clicking ‘OK’.

3) Never click a security alert that appears while you’re surfing – If a security alert appears while your surfing the internet, more often than not, it will be bogus. The alert will be generated by the website itself and may even be designed to look like its coming from your computer rather than the internet.

4) Recognise the kind of sites that bogus alerts may come from – Bogus alerts often come from sites that are saturated with advertising. They may have large animated banners, pop-up messages about competitions or lots of flashing, colourful graphics. They may also offer freebies like desktop icons, animated cursors, mobile phone ringtones, etc.

5) Aggressively close your browser – When confronted with a bogus security alert you should aggressively close your browser. This doesn’t mean you should click the X on the top-right corner of the screen while grinding your teeth and scowling. It means that you should instruct your computer to terminate your browser, rather than instructing your browser to terminate itself (clicking the X button). Why? Because the malware programmers are clever and the latter action can be overridden. Sometimes these malware sites can be programmed to restart your browser (after you’ve closed it by clicking the X button) on the same page where you closed it and display the bogus alert all over again. So the only way to get around this is by aggressively closing your browser. This is how you do it.

Please note that these instructions are for the Microsoft Windows operating system only.

1. Right-click on the taskbar (the bar that is usually on the bottom of your screen)
2. On the menu that appears, click ‘Task Manager’
3. On the next window that appears, click on the ‘Processes’ tab
4. In the list below the tabs, in the ‘Image Name’ column, locate the process associated with your browser*
5. Left-click the process to select it
6. Click the ‘End Process’ button
7. A warning message will appear. Click OK to confirm that you want to end the process
8. Your browser may have more than one active process. If so, you should end them all

*If your browser is Internet Explorer the process will be called iexplore.exe. If you use FireFox it will be firefox.exe. Opera – opera.exe, Safari – Safari.exe, Google Chrome – chrome.exe.

I hope you’ve found this guide informative and helpful. Please visit our blog periodically for more interesting news and articles.

Disclaimer

_{The information in this article is provided without warranty of any kind; either expressed or implied and should only be used as a guide to PC security as opposed to an exhaustive or comprehensive list.}

Acknowledgements

_{Windows™ is a registered trademark of the Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries.}

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If you’re new to computers the whole issue of securing your PC against viruses and other threats may seem too complicated to deal with. You may even be tempted to ignore the issue completely, surf the internet without protection and hope for the best, thinking that it will all sort itself out. Well the bad news is that PC security is complicated, it’s getting more complicated by the day and it WILL NOT sort itself out.

Now that I’ve made you feel totally hopeless, I’m pleased to tell you that there is some good news. Armed with some good advice and a healthy dose of common sense, it is possible to surf the internet securely.

The purpose of this article is to advise you on what you need to do to secure your computer in 5 relatively simple steps. Unfortunately, the common sense part is up to you but since you’re reading one of my articles let’s assume that you’re a highly intelligent person with more common sense than you’ll ever need.

Step 1 – Buy an Internet Security Suite

Yes, the first step in this guide does require you to spend some money but take it from me; a good Internet Security Suite is well worth the investment.

If you’re unsure what an Internet Security Suite is, very briefly, it’s usually a combination of a firewall and antivirus software and I’ll explain what these are shortly. These products can be bought and installed on your computer separately but I always advise people to get a combined product as it’s less complicated. An Internet Security Suite may even include other useful features like ad blocking, anti-spam, or even file backup and PC tune up facilities. I’d love to go into more detail about these but it would be beyond the scope of this article to do so.

What Is A Firewall?

To use a very simplistic analogy, if your computer were your home and all of its functions and processes were a party, a firewall would be the bouncer you hired to keep out any undesirable and uninvited persons. These ‘gatecrashers’ take the form of Viruses, Trojans, Worms and a whole host of other such trouble makers, which we collectively call Malware (malicious software). Your ‘bouncer’ is equipped with a guest list (which you have defined) and he will only allow entry to those ‘guests’ (legitimate websites and internet programs) who have their names on the list. Makes sense? Good.

What Is Antivirus Software?

Antivirus software is akin to antivirus medication. It cleanses your system of viruses and helps you to fight off infection. Just like biological viruses, malware can infect your computer, replicate themselves and severely impair your computer’s normal operations. And that’s if you’re lucky! If you’re unlucky, malware can even steal information from your computer (files, photos, your contact information, credit card details, etc) and send them to God knows who, from God knows where, so they can use them for God knows what! All without your knowledge! Scared? Good. That’s why you need an Internet Security Suite.

Choosing The Right Software

So what is the best Internet Security Suite? Well, it depends on who you ask. The best advice I can give you is to try all of the most reputable ones. Most, if not all of them offer their products on a free trial basis, which lasts for around 30 days. During your free trial you should test the software rigorously using an independent testing source. I personally recommend the Shields Up! Service, which can be found on the Gibson Research Corporation website.

There are a lot of free firewall and antivirus programs available, some of which are very good. However, I would advise you to avoid these if at all possible. In my opinion, they don’t compare with paid for protection.

Whichever software you decide upon, ensure that it has the following essential features.

• Bi-directional (inbound and outbound) IP packet filtering
• Regular virus definition updates (at least once a day)
• The ability to hide or ‘stealth’ your computer’s communication ports
• Real-time (always on) antivirus protection
• Minimum 1 years subscription

Don’t worry if you don’t understand what all of these features are, you can confirm the product’s features with a quick email or telephone enquiry to the software company. Better still, you can browse the company’s website.

Step 2 – Password Protect Your User Accounts

If you share your computer with one or more other people, it would be a very good idea to have your own password protected user account. When you share a computer, its security is no longer your sole responsibility; it’s the responsibility of everyone who uses it. In such an environment, password protecting you own account will not prevent the other users from downloading malware but depending on the circumstances, it may at least prevent the loss of your own data.

If you’re the owner of a shared computer it would be a very good idea to restrict the access of the other users. This means giving them limited accounts so that they can use the computer without being able to make changes to the system that will damage the computer or affect other users. Administrative accounts should only be given to those who really need it for a good reason. And no, “I want to install iTunes™” is not a good reason.

You can change user accounts on your computer by going to the Control Panel.

Step 3 – Beware Of Suspicious Emails

If I had a penny for every time I won a foreign national lottery, I’d be a millionaire! Or if I lost a penny for every time I got a begging letter from West Africa, I’d be broke! All jokes aside, these kinds of scam emails are now an unfortunate part of everyday life for anyone with an inbox. The term for this is called ‘phishing’ because the sender is often ‘fishing’ for your private information (i.e. your name, email address, banking details, etc).

By far, the best way to deal with these annoyances is by using common sense. How could you win a lottery that you have not entered? Why would an exiled Iraqi General need you to help him access money from his frozen bank account? And why would a bank, with whom you don’t have an account, ask you to confirm your online banking details? The overriding principle in dealing with these is, “If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.” We could also add to that, “If it looks dodgy and sounds dodgy, then it probably is dodgy.”

Some scam emails are a lot more sophisticated than the ones I’ve mentioned so far. Some of them claim to be from reputable and easily recognisable companies, with whom you may have a connection (i.e. PayPal, eBay or your bank). They may even have the company’s logo or website address in the email, and the sender’s email address may even be correct! In this instance, spotting a scam email becomes a lot more difficult but not impossible. Here are some things to remember.

• Email addresses can be faked. Just because an email says it has come from accounts@paypal.co.uk doesn’t mean that it actually has
• Website addresses can be faked. Just because a link says http://www.barclays.co.uk, doesn’t mean that’s where it will take you if you click on it
• By and large, banks will NEVER contact you by email and ask you to confirm any details of any kind

A list of Do’s and Don’ts For Dealing With Suspicious Emails

• DO NOT respond to a suspicious email under any circumstance
• DO NOT open any attachments from a suspicious email
• DO NOT click on any links in a suspicious email
• DO delete any email you think is suspicious
• DO use email filtering software (antispam)
• DO contact your bank and ask them if the email they sent you is genuine

Step 4 – Use a Pop-Up Blocker

A pop-up is an internet browser window that ‘pops up’ automatically after visiting a website or clicking a link. These can often be harmful to your computer (depending on the site that called the pop-up). Most browsers come with a facility to prevent these pop-ups from…Well, “popping up.” Check the help files for your particular browser to see if it has this facility and if it does, switch it on!

Also, beware of messages that appear on websites offering you free antivirus software, free registry scans, etc. These messages are often designed to look like genuine messages from your own computer but they are most definitely not! Clicking on them will almost certainly infect your computer with malware.

The only security related messages you should be getting on your screen are the ones from your own security software, which you have installed. Get to know your software, remember what it’s called and the name of the company that makes it. Familiarise yourself with the look and feel of the messages it gives you. After a short time you will be able to spot a real warning message from a fake one.

Step 5 – Secure Your Wireless Network

If you don’t have a wireless network at home this step doesn’t apply to you. If you do have one, it may interest you to know that armed with tools freely available on the internet, a hacker (not even a very good hacker) can access an unsecure wireless network with relative ease. Once access is gained he/she can potentially read the files on your computer, view the pages you’ve browsed on the internet, and even use your internet connection for a whole host of criminal activities. For instance, they could use your internet connection to send bulk emails, hack into other computers, download indecent images of children, and many more.

I’ll be honest with you the chances of this happening are slim but incidents of this kind are on the increase so it’s better to be safe than sorry. It’s also worth mentioning that if somebody does use your wireless internet connection to carry out criminal activities, and it does come to the attention of the authorities, the police will come knocking on your door, not the hacker’s.

So How Do You Secure Your Wireless Network?

Encryption

This should be your first line of defence against wireless hackers. Encryption basically means placing password protection on your network. Only computers with the password will be able to connect to the network.

Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA)

WPA is one of two common methods of password protecting your wireless network. The other is Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP), which we won’t speak about here since the common opinion is that WEP is far less secure than WPA.

WPA allows you to protect your network with a single word or phrase. The password or passphrase must be between 8 and 63 characters long and can contain upper and lowercase letter, numbers, spaces, and special characters (!@*_, etc).

For more information on how to setup WPA protection, please consult the Windows™ help files on your computer. You can access the help files by clicking on your desktop and then pressing the F1 key.

Summary

I hope you found this guide informative, helpful and relatively easy to understand. If you would like to do additional research about PC security, an internet search engine or online encyclopaedia would be a good place to start. I’ve always found them to be an invaluable source of knowledge.

Just to recap on what’s been covered in this article, the 5 steps to PC security are;

• Step 1 – Buy an internet security suite
• Step 2 – Password protect your user accounts
• Step 3 – Beware of suspicious emails
• Step 4 – Use a pop-up blocker
• Step 5 – Secure your wireless network

If you follow these steps you’ll be well along the way to securing your online world.

Disclaimer

_{The information in this article is provided without warranty of any kind; either expressed or implied and should only be used as a guide to PC security as opposed to an exhaustive or comprehensive list.}

Acknowledgements

_{iTunes™ is a registered trademark of Apple Computers Inc in the United States and other countries. Windows™ is a registered trademark of the Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries. Barclays® is a trademark of Barclays Bank PLC. eBay® is a registered trademark of eBay, Inc. PayPal® is a registered trademark of PayPal, Inc. All other trademarks and/or service marks remain the property of their respective owners.}

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