Computer security has many guises.

Whether you are a home user or a business you need proper security if you are to ensure your data and your privacy aren't at risk. You need to be secure from outside intrusion (via the internet), viruses and now the growing threat of spyware (designed to steal your data or monitor your internet communications). A proper backup strategy is as vital now as it has ever been, a simple hard drive failure or malicious virus can destroy all your data in one fell swoop.

For businesses the need to be vigilant is even more crucial. You need to be thinking about internal threats to your systems and data too!

I can advise on security at all levels and help you to increase your data and system security. For home users we offer a fixed price solution that is much cheaper than you will get on the high street (the software is free) so you pay only for us to install it and configure it to give you the best protection possible.

The number of Zombie PC's appears to be on the rise. I believe this is because of a rapid uptake in broadband without the additional security necessary to protect a PC on an "always on" high speed connection. For home users I can dramatically increase your protection using free software and for businesses I can advise on low cost yet high security solutions.

Security Myths:

I already have anti virus so my system is protected.

False. Your system is now protected from viruses, but only if the software is kept up to date. Is yours configured to do daily automatic updates? In addition anti virus scanners cannot pick up spy ware and other non-viral malware that is also a threat to your privacy and data security. In addition unless you have Windows XP with the internet firewall turned on then you have no protection to outside hackers stealing you data or damaging your machine by breaking into it from the internet. There are better firewalls than the one that comes with XP too!

Nobody would bother hacking into a home PC

False. Home PC's make great resources for hackers interested in launching multiple assaults in large corporations. The current favourite is a "denial of service attack" whereby many thousand of computers are used to send internet traffic to a website, overloading the computers and networks so that the companies website is renedered useless. Many of those computers are hacked home PC's. If you have broadband then the risk is even higher. Tighter anti-spam (junk email) laws worldwide also make home PC's of interest to organised criminal activity in using your machine to send spam emails without your knowledge.

Security FAQ's (Frequently Asked Questions)

What is a computer virus?
A computer virus is a program that has the ability to spread itself around rather like a normal virus. They are written by people that either don't like Bill Gates (Microsoft) or who are just keen to see how far the damage they do will spread. Not all viruses are destructive but many can cause your machine to crash, fail to boot, shut itself down every half an hour or even wipe your hard disc clean! Methods of infection vary but the main cause is opening an infected spam email.

What is Spyware?
Spyware is a general term for another class of malicious or deceptive computer programs that do not spread like an infection. They attempt to steal your information. Usually just for market research purposes but also for more malicious purposes like stealing you bank account access codes. Some Spyware simply throws pop up banners on your computer screen as advertisements, (often called adware) but most spyware slows down your computer to a greater or lesser degree.

What is a firewall?
A firewall is a computer program or hardware device that guards the Internet connection of your computer. It prevents hackers from gaining entry through your Internet connection. The more sophisticated ones also restrict which programs on your computer are allowed Internet access, helping to prevent spyware from doing its underhanded job.