With all of the viruses, worms, and spyware floating around in cyberspace it is more important than ever to be security conscious. Securing your PC from all of those nasty programs will not only save you a lot of time, it is also a necessity to help avoid losing important data and potential theft of personal information.
Here are the four quick steps you can start putting to use right away, the entire process should only take a few minutes excluding the download time for updates.
1. Use a firewall. With the release of the built in firewall with Windows XP it is easier than ever to use employ, simply open up your network connection properties and turn it on. The base setting will be more than sufficient and unlike other firewall offerings it requires almost zero configurations.
2. Configuring Windows Update is one of the least troublesome tools to implement. Once configured the updating service will automatically download and apply any critical patches for your Microsoft software transparently in the background while you work.
3. Antivirus and anti-spyware software is essential in keeping your system free of viruses, worms and other malicious...