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Computer security system, in fundamental terms means keeping your PC and the information inside it safe and secure. Because for most people, computer is the place to keep our personal data.
Yet, most people don’t have enough understanding on how to make their computers safe and secure.  By following just a few simple rules below you can improve the general security of your computer.

The first step to keep in mind is what precisely the meaning of being attached to the cyberspace.  When your computer is connected to the internet, it defines that your home is open in many ways.  There are many directions to get inside your home. Through the windows, front door, back door, etc.  The more windows and doors you have got, the more path someone has into your home.  An open door doesn’t constantly mean you are going to be robbed, but it does improve the risks.

Your PC has several windows and doors, not all of them are locked. New flaws are being found everyday and the cure still haven’t been found until few days later.
Similar to your home, you wouldn’t let your front door unlocked. You shouldn’t leave your computer open wide either. The first two things we will talk about are installing a quality firewall and regularly updating your installed security software.

Recently, updating your application is getting easier, especially your Operating System.  In this article, we are not going to discuss in specific about the way to update the application that you have or use, but generally the software vendor will provide the guide to do this automatically through the internet. A good example of this case is the Microsoft Windows Update feature. Make sure to get the updates for your software.

There are two basic types of firewalls and both have the same services. First is hardware and second is software.

A hardware firewall is likely embedded in your router if you are using one.
Continuing the house analogy, a firewall is like making a wall and gate around your home and giving instruction to the security officer at the gate who can pass and who can not pass.

Having a firewall set up on your computer does not entirely protect your PC. Somebody with advanced knowledge on networking may find a whole to break your first level security system, which is firewall.
The most annoying thing is when we incidentally let somebody in our system  by opening an email or even by browsing the internet. Spyware, virus, trojan and suchlike are even more adept in their methods of fooling you and your security. Emails that you accept from a trusted friend may carry a critical virus without their notice. This point is where the next layer of protection should work, anti-virus software.

Anti-virus software comes with complete package nowadays. These software packages are frequently come as suites, that is including a firewall and spyware scanner. While most of these application are very competent in their promised tasks, it is not wise to be lulled into a false sense of security by them.  They are simply one level in what should be a multi level security program for your system.  One last important note about anti virus program is to be sure that it updates on a scheduled procedure.  New viruses come out day-to-day, so check its updates manually to be sure they have been updated.

Lets go back to the house analogy, we currently have locked all of our windows, doors and other entry ways. All the security system have also been fully updated.  We have a wall around our house with a guard at the gate and we have application that scans everything that enters through the gate. That seems pretty good, but there’s one last security hole we need to address, it’s you.

A large percentage of infections are stimulated by the computer user. The cyberspace is a dynamic  place that demands its users to be trained about its uses. You don’t need to be a computer expert to simply read your email. However, there is a simple  advise for you, spare some time to be learn on some of the threats that pop up daily, and how to prevent them.

Your computer is a powerful machine attached to one of the greatest things ever invented, the internet.  This vast resource can be a risky place if you are not properly prepared and informed.  Regular software updates, a great firewall, anti virus software and a little training are the basic principle in computer security.  Having and understanding these basics will have your computer safer, more secure and when your computer is secure you can browsing and doing activity on the internet.

Applying internet facsimile service is a simple way to broadcast and receive facsimile contents through the cyberspace. Internet facsimile services offer tremendous advantages over its contributors at cheap rates. By subscribing to online facsimile services a user can send out and receive fax contents from anyplace at any moment. It just need a computer, an internet connection and an electronic mail address.

Nowadays, there are some companies providing internet faxing services. Most of these providers provide a paid service and a free service. The differences between these two is that if a client needs to utilise all of the services of an online fax service users require to subscribe for a paid fax messaging services. Unpaid services are proposed with diverse limits for example just receiving telefaxes or transmitting a specific number of facsimiles.

Using internet telefax services is rather simple, the technology is suchlike to electronic mail services to a particular offer. To begin using web telefax services, first of all you have to register to an web facsimile service supplier. The service supply you to sign in to a specific internet fax number. Just like an electronic mail account, this is the address to which other clients can broadcast their facsimile messages. The user as well must create an electronic mail id in the service companies domain, in order to broadcast and accept telefaxes. This is where the clients are supposed to type in their contents and where the incoming telefax messages will be delivered by the service provider. After the customer broadcast the telefax message, the content will be transmitted to the service companies server, where it is converted into an eligible file format before eventually forwarding it to the receivers mail box or fax machine.

The advantages of utilizing online facsimileing service are that theclients able to broadcast and get numerous facsimiles at the same time or send all facsimiles at once. Another superior advantage is that there is no complexity of a traditional fax machine and those annoying paper jams. This technology is quick and still less expensive than traditional fax messaging. So why spending time and energy with the old facsimile machine, sign up for an web fax service at once!

Many personal users and small companies don’t need to purchase expensive software for backing up data files.

To make backup, they can simply burn the data files to a CD or a DVD. Just in case if they loose information they can restore the files from the CD or DVD.
But, that is working only for the case of data files such as documents, photos, mp3 files and other files. That does not work for email client software such as Outlook Express.

This article will discuss how to do manual backup on email client such as Outlook Express. Outlook Express is usually installed together with Windows Operating System and this email client is probably the most common email client software being used by computer users.

1. Creating Backup for Email Messages
Outlook Express data formats is in DBX, every email messages are stored in DBX file extension.
If you want to find the path to the folder that contains your emails, you can open the Outlook Express ? Tools ? Options ? Maintenance and click on Store Folder button.
To make backup for your email messages, find the folder of your email messages and copy all the DBX files.

2. Account Setting
Your email client settings are stored in the windows registry.
You may find the details in the registry. To open the registry click on Start Menu ? Run ? type in Regedit.
After the registry editor window is open, look at the left panel and click the tree menu to find “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Account Manager.”

3. Mailing Rules
Outlook Express mailing rules are kept in the registry. To open the registry editor refer to Point 2. After the registry editor is open look at the left panel and click the tree menu to find “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities.”
To make backup for this key, select Registry ? Export Registry File ? Save the file and choose name that easy to remember.

4. Backup Address Book
Backing up address book is not that difficult. Outlook Express stored the files with WBA extension.
To find the files, open Outlook Express and select File ? Export ? Address Book ? choose comma separated text file as the output format ? click Export ? select the folder for the backup file to be save and enter your desired name for the file. ? click Next ? choose the field you want to include in your backup files ? click Finish.

5. Outlook Express Stationery
Stationery is stored in Windows Registry. How to find the registry key ?
Refer to Point 2 to open the registry editor. Once opened, find for “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Stationery” and look at value of the Stationery Folder, you can see a set of string. That is the location of the stationery files. To make backup for the stationery files, copy all the files in the folder.

You use backup software if you feel like creating backup manually is too difficult. Search from the internet using keyword Outlook Express backup software.

Virus is a computer program that able to spread from one computer to another computer.
They are designed specifically to gain access into parts of your computer system and they have the ability to duplicate and infecting another computer.

Below is some of the most common methods for a computer virus to spread.

Boot Information

Every disk (hard disk, floppy disk, CD, DVD) contains a boot sector even if it is a bootable disk or not.
When you turn on your computer, then it will search for boot information.
If the computer finds a disk containing boot information, it reads the boot information and uses it to start the computer in normal procedure.
For an example if you accidentally boot your computer from a bootable CD that contains a computer virus, that way the computer virus are being triggered and it is possible to be transferred into the computer’s hard drive.

After the boot information on the hard drive has been infected with the virus, it will be loaded into your computer’s memory every time you start your computer. From that memory (RAM) the computer virus infecting every disk that attached with your computer. This is how the infection spreads.

Most boot viruses could stay on a computer system for a long time without generating problems, it was designed only to stay there and spread themselves.
Such computer viruses are designed to activate their bad behaviour on a specific date depends on the creator.
But there are some nasty boot viruses that can destroy the boot information or forcing a complete format of a hard drive right after they are transferred into a computer.

Application Infections

When a computer program that has been infected with a virus is running, the virus is loaded into the RAM.
While the virus is in the RAM, if you are running another application that application can become infected.
It means that more applications on your system are possible to be infected.
Multiple infections are very common and it will definitely generate system problems.

For some time the program files may operates normally without any problems but eventually they will have problems or the infections causes the whole computer system down.

Generally, when an application is infected with a virus, the first sign of an infection is when you are saving files it is saved without a proper names or the data that you save is incomplete.
This type of viruses are often designed to search for a programs that are used to share information between users/computers such as email applications, screen savers, office document Macros, and self-extracting compressed files.

E-Mail Attachments

Most of dangerous viruses are spreading through an e-mail attachments.
In such cases, the user does not realize that they are attaching infected file/s to an email message and send it to a friend/s or colleague/s.
By the time that email is received, the virus is triggered when the attachment file is opened then infecting a new computer.

These days mass mailing email contains worms or viruses are being released.
These kind of attacks AUTOMATICALLY scans your computer’s files and search for any email address it can find and uses your email application to AUTOMATICALLY send infected messages to every email address that it has found in your computer.

It is very important to be aware over the emails that you open. Make sure that it does not contain dangerous viruses.
Even if that email comes from your family or friends, it may contain a virus.
This is the moment where an anti-virus program would be really helpful to detect your incoming messages and to make sure that the messages you receive does not contain a virus.

There are numerous matters that cause a computer to perform slower than before.
It can be from software to hardware.
It can be the storage is too small or not enough RAM.
It can be your BIOS, Operating System Settings or software that are eating up your CPU and RAM.
Or perhaps it can be your network.

Here are numerous tips that can help maintaining your computer perform faster:

1. This is so classic I shouldn’t need to tell it, keep clean which ever email software you use.
I have customers who are constantly complaining, but who will resist dumping years of accumulated emails.

2. Make sure you have a great anti virus program, apply only one anti virus on each computer, make it up to date and auto monitoring.

3. Make sure you use a strong anti spyware program, utilize only one anti spyware along each computer, have it up to date and automatic monitoring.

4. Run Disk Clean Up Daily by following these steps : Start, Pograms, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Clean Up – a box opens – be certain all box is selected, click ‘OK’ – a box pops up – Click Yes).

5. Delete Cookies and Cached Files Periodically by following these steps :
Start, Control Panel, Internet Options, Delete Cookies, Click OK, Click Delete Files – select ‘Delete All Offline Content’ – Click OK, then set your clear history to no more than seven Days – Click OK.

6. A really essential measure almost everyone misses Clean The Prefetch Folder :
Start, My Computer, ‘C’ , Windows, Prefetch Folder, Edit, Select All, File, Delete – Click Yes, Close Windows.

7. Empty Recycle Bin. I believe everyone knows how to empty the recycle bin.

8. Scan drive ‘C’ :
Start, My Computer, Right Click ‘C’, Click Properties at the bottom, Click Tools, Click Check Now.
Be certain both ‘Automatically fix file system errors’ and ‘Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors’ are selected, Click Start.

9. Defrag Computer :
Start, software, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Defragmenter, Select ‘C’ Drive, Click Defragment.

The last two steps, step 8 and 9, can take a while if they haven’t been done recently.
I complete this entire routine on my computer before I finish working for the day everyday and the total steps requires no longer than twenty minutes.