Viruses, Trojans, phishers, scammers, and snoops are interested in your PC the moment you turn it on.  Here are some ways to protect your home PC without spending any money.

 

Anti-spyware programs don't always catch the same malware, so it is a good idea to scan your system regularly with at least two anti-spyware programs.

 

Shields Up can be used to find out how vulnerable you are to online snoopers, hackers, and crackers. It performs a series of tests, including checking every one of your Internet ports, and reports whether you're in "stealth" mode (the safest) and whether your PC responds to ping requests (for maximum safety, it shouldn't). It also gives you recommendations on how to close off your system if it's open to threats. It can be downloaded at:  https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2

 

I mentioned before "War Driving" where people drive around with their laptop and identify unsecured wireless networks and use them.   There are ways to protect your wireless network with router settings, changing your SSID (network name), and disabling SSID broadcast.  You can get a free program that will do most of it for you called Network Magic.  You can download it at: http://www.networkmagic.com/

 

 If you have Windows XP Service Pack 2, you have a halfway useful firewall built in.  By default, when you install SP2, the firewall is turned on. But if you suspect it's accidentally been turned off, you can check by clicking the Security Center icon in the system tray. The Security Center screen will pop up. (If the Security Center icon doesn't appear in your system tray or Taskbar, select Control Panel > Security Center.) Look at the top of the screen to make sure the firewall is turned on. If it's not, click the Windows Firewall icon at the bottom of the screen, select On, and click OK. The firewall will now be turned on.

 

Encrypt data that you don't want others to see.  Crypttainer from Cypherix is free and simple to use.   It creates a new, encrypted volume on your PC. Create files inside that volume, or move files into the volume, and they're encrypted on the fly. You can work with them as you would any other files, without having to use a password.  When you want any files or folders hidden from prying eyes, highlight them and click the Unload button in Cryptainer LE. They'll suddenly vanish. To make them appear, click the Load button, and they're back after you type in a password. Only those with access to the password will be able see them. You can download it at: http://www.cypherix.com/cryptainer_le_download_center.htm

 

 There are simple ways to thwart phishing attacks. Never click on a log-in link from an e-mail purporting to be from your financial institution, eBay, or PayPal, no matter how legitimate it looks. Instead, go to the site yourself and log in.  Second, use an anti-phishing toolbar, which will block you from visiting a phishing site or warn you when you're visiting one. There are plenty of good ones out there. The Google Toolbar includes an anti-phishing feature that will block you from visiting a phishing site and pop up a warning about it. After you install the toolbar, click on its "Options" button. Then, under the "Browsing" tab, check the box next to "Safe Browsing." Click the "Safe Browsing Settings" button and configure your level of protection. Click "OK."   You can download it at:  http://www.google.com/tools/firefox/toolbar/index.html

 

Most PCs come with file sharing turned on.   It's easy to find out, and then to turn off sharing. Open Windows Explorer and look at all of your folders. Any folder that has a small hand beneath it means that folder is being shared, and that anyone connected to your network can gain access to it. To turn off sharing, right-click the folder, select Sharing and Security, click the Sharing tab, select "Do not share this folder," and click OK.

 

 When you use an anonymous proxy server, your browser doesn't contact Web sites directly -- the proxy server acts as a buffer, which means the sites see the IP address of the proxy server, not your PC's IP address. Web sites can't read your cookies, see your history list, or examine your clipboard and cache because your PC is never in direct contact with them. You can surf without a trace. If you use The Cloak you can surf the Web anonymously.   Click the "Surf" link on the left. From there, type in the URL you want to visit, and the site acts as your proxy, with all your information hidden.   This proxy server is located at: http://www.the-cloak.com/anonymous-surfing-home.html

 

 You can fight back by placing an opt-out cookie -- provided by the ad network -- on your hard disk that will tell sites to keep their servers off your surfing habits.  To opt out of DoubleClick online advertising go to http://www.doubleclick.com/us/about_doubleclick/privacy/dart_adserving.asp and click on the "Ad Cookie Opt-Out" button at the bottom of the screen.   Some other advertising networks let you opt out as well. Go to this site http://www.networkadvertising.org/consumer/opt_out.asp and check the Opt-Out box next to any ad networks you want to opt out of, then click Submit.

 

 Never ship an item until you confirm that you've been paid. Don't trust an e-mail from a bidder, or from PayPal itself, that appears to say a payment has been made. Instead, log into your PayPal account and see if there has in fact been a payment.  Only sell items to people who have already bought items at other auctions. Scammers often set up new accounts for scams, and these accounts have zero activity. If you see a high bidder on an item of yours with zero activity, go to https://signin.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?SignIn&UsingSSL=1&pUserId=&co_partnerId=2&siteid=0&ru=http://offer.ebay.com:80/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?CancelBidShow&pageType=561 page and fill out the form for canceling a bidder.  Some scammers recognize that zero activity may work against them. So some of them look for 99-cent "Buy It Now" items and buy a number of those, building up solid buying activity. So you should also look at the details page of any potential bidder -- if all the items are of the 99-cent Buy It Now variety, there's a good chance he's a scammer.