New Years Eve Resolutions For Your Computer

 
 
 
As we venture into 2012, let's resolve to ditch bad computing habits.

Resolve to stay viruses fre: This year, take the necessary steps to keep viruses and spyware off your computer. Every day, frustrated computer users call about slow systems that are bogged down with pop-up ads, re-directing them on the Internet, generating error messages or preventing booting up. The most common culprits are viruses and spyware or malware.

Le me repeat my mantra: Install a free anti-virus and anti-spyware program such as Microsoft Security Essentials, and set it to automatically download and install updates. If you haven't done this yet, make a post-holiday gift of antivirus to your computer.

Ignore Pop Ups: While you're at it, resolve not to open email attachments from unknown senders -- even if it most recently came from your sister. Don't click on pop-up ads (especially those professing that your computer is infected) or download programs or files from questionable sources. Trust me: The torrent site from which you're considering a download hasn't vetted the content to confirm that you'd really get a desired video or music file, free of viruses or spyware. Is that new Justin Bieber song really worth the risk?

Resolve to password protect: One of the easiest lines of defense in today's online world is to beef up your passwords. Instead of using a word found in the dictionary, consider using a phrase in which you replace some letters with numbers or symbols. For example, "N3rds Rule" is going to be far safer than your child's name or birthday. When setting up your password or security questions, steer clear of using any information easily found on your Facebook profile.

Instead of constantly changing passwords, you're better off having different passwords at different sites. One easy option is to make all your online retailer login and passwords different from your financial logins and those different from your email password. Remembering three passwords based on category is easier than remembering a constantly changing single password.

Resolve to protect your personal data: When it comes to identity theft and credit card fraud, thieves look for the easiest targets. Though there's no way to guarantee that you won't be a victim, you can make yourself more challenging than the majority of people making risky mistakes.

Resist the impulse to respond to unsolicited emails or phone calls, allegedly from your bank or credit card company, that want to confirm your personal information or credit card number. When in doubt, call the number on the back of your credit card to confirm the request is legitimate.

Create some "cyber distance" between your banking and online shopping, social media or news subscriptions by setting up a separate, secure email for your bank logins.

When creating an account at an online retailer, uncheck any boxes offering to save your data. If that website's server is compromised, you want to limit the personal information that a hacker can get and potentially link back to your other accounts.

For more tips on how to keep yourself safe and your computer happy in the new tear, drop me a note for more of what I've learned from years of making mistakes.

 

A Guide to Clearing Personal Data From Old Devices

Before You give away your computer or cellphone, make sure you permanently delete your personal information from the hard drive.

If you were fortunate enough to receive a new tech gadget this holiday season, it can be a great opportunity to donate or sell an older device that you no longer need. Before you send it off, keep in mind that most electronic items contain a wealth of personal information that you want to ensure doesn't fall into the wrong hands.

Whether you're handing down your laptop to your teenager, giving your old phone to Uncle Fred, or donating your gadget to Goodwill, make sure you wipe your data off the device.

If you're passing along a hand-me-down computer or laptop to a trusted family member, performing a backup (to transfer your data to the new system), formatting the hard drive and reinstalling Windows is the easiest way to return the system to factory-like condition. Many people think this is sufficient to wipe your data from the drive, but information is still retrievable using a data recovery software program.

What if your nephew decides to sell your old computer on eBay to fund his new iPad? It's important that you completely erase your data off a hard drive before you send it to a new home or into the unknown.

Instead of just deleting data, you'll want to use a program like DBAN  (free) to overwrite all of the partitions on your hard drive, which makes the information impossible to recreate. If you're donating a computer or laptop, I recommend pulling out and destroying the old hard drive so there's no risk of anyone gaining access to your personal information. Don some safety glasses, grab a hammer and get some revenge on the system that failed you.

Before handing off an old cellphone, pull the SIM card (if possible; Verizon doesn't use removable SIM cards) to disable the phone's ability to connect to a cell provider network and remove personal information. Also, make sure to remove any expansion memory cards. Your next stop should be ReCellular. Enter the make and model type of your phone, register and you'll be emailed detailed instructions to wipe the data off your device. If that doesn't work, check your phone's manual or the manufacturer's website for instructions to wipe the phone's drive. Dropping off the phone with your carrier will not ensure that your personal data is removed before your device ends up resold or donated.

The good news about MP3 players and tablets is that they typically use flash memory and store data in cloud applications or synched with your main computer instead of writing your data to a hard disk, so it's easier to wipe a device and return it to factory default settings. Most have an option through their general settings menu to reset all content and settings to the original state, wiping your files in the process. For a video tutorial specific to your gadget, check eHow.

Selling an electronic item that you no longer need can be a great way to earn a few bucks. Once you're confident that all traces of your personal data has been purged, make sure you clean and refurbish the device so you can get top dollar. Gazelle is a gadget-specific resource to sell or recycle your old toys. Because a third party inspects and confirms its condition before sending money on to the seller, buyers are often willing to pay a higher price than through the buyer-beware experience of Craigslist or eBay.