Tips on maintaining PC health

by Walter Calnek

Home networking is just as popular as office networking these days for all the same reasons. Money can be saved. People can share resources. Everything on the network is accessible by anyone on the network!

You love your network! Everyone on it share resources  printers, the Internet, storage space and all of the data on all the computers hooked up to it. It’s great! It’s one thing to share resources with your family or co-workers but do you want it accessible to everyone on the planet? Do you want to invite anyone inside your computer? An uninvited guest could destroy all the data on your system let alone access all your personal information.

If you leave the door to your house wide open, you might receive an unexpected or invited visitor. To protect yourself, you have doors and locks. You can also leave your computers doors’ wide open. Unfortunately, you may not know they are open and you may not recognize the implications until you get stabbed in the heart with a large bill for computer repair that could have been avoided.

Doors and locks will only keep the honest people out. Regrettably, the same holds true for computers. But, quite simply, leaving the door wide open is an invitation. Find any open doors, close them, AND lock them! Better yet, make your door invisible and undetectable! Yes, this IS possible. It doesn’t mean your door will never be knocked on, but if a passer by can’t see the door, they are less likely to knock, let alone gain entry.

Security is critical. Know where your doors are; know whether they are open or closed.

Install a firewall when sharing an Internet connection. A router can effectively accomplish this for you.

Limit file access on your network to only those whom you wish to see the files you are willing to share.

Use password protection both on your network and on your confidential files.

Anywhere there is an open doorway, close it, and secure it. If you don’t know  or don’t wish to know  more about the doorways, hire someone who does.

Remember, the balance in your bank account could depend on it!