A firewall is a bit of software (or hardware) that inspects network traffic and filters it based on a set of pre-defined rules. Generally speaking, this allows you to improve the security of your PC by blocking attempts to exploit flaws in Vista and other software.
Windows Vista does already come with a free firewall, but it is simple and only allows minimal customisation. To access the free firewall, go to Control Panel > Security > Windows Firewall. This should be enabled by default and provides a basic level of protection. If you also have a hardware router to connect to the internet, you will have an additional layer of protection which may be adequate enough.
However, if you want to see which programs on your PC are “dialing home” and passing on information then a more advanced firewall is required. The following free firewalls should give you this extra level of customisation:
Zome Alarm
Comodo
Sphinx
PC Tools Firewall
Zone Alarm is our preferred firewall, but other users may find Comodo or some of the other choices a better match.
If you want to test the security of your firewall setup, try the “Shields Up” link halfway down this page : http://www.grc.com/default.htm
If you are going to use a password for anything, you may as well make sure it is a strong one. “Strong” meaning that it would be difficult for someone to guess or crack the password using many of the tools available on the net.
Some tips to create a good strong password would be:
- Don’t use any names/words that someone close to you could guess (such as a pet or partners name)
- Don’t use a dictionary word, as many cracking tools can run through word lists in seconds
- Make the password at least 8 characters long
- Use a combination of upper and lowercase letters
- Add numeric characters and symbols where possible
- Use a different password each time where possible (at least for sensitive things like online banking)
Examples of a weak password would be : dodgem, 1password, dog12345
Examples of a strong password would be : 4gYu-9yQba, 7Fius7fd5, 6NKJnsd8a
There are plenty of free password generator sites on the internet, a good example being : http://www.goodpassword.com/. This site allows you to generate a secure password based on many different variables.
Filed Under (
Technology, Tips
) by
admin
on
03-08-2008
Firstly,
1. Submit your site to every search engines available.
2. Subcribe in mailing list.
3. Talk about it to anyone you met.
4. Exchange link with webmasters around the world.
5. Never give up hope.
Post to it regularly, with links back to your site. Over time your traffic will increase, as long as you post quality information.
Read the rest of this entry »
Filed Under (
CSS, Hacks, Tips
) by
admin
on
29-07-2008
ONE: “When styling fonts with CSS you may be doing this:
font-weight: bold;
font-style: italic;
font-variant: small-caps;
font-size: 1em;
line-height: 1.5em;
font-family: verdana,sans-serif;
There’s no need though as you can use this CSS shorthand property:
font: bold italic small-caps 1em/1.5em verdana,sans-serif;
Much better! Just a few of words of warning: This CSS shorthand version will only work if you’re specifying both the font-size and the font-family. The font-family command must always be at the very end of this shorthand command, and font-size must come directly before this. Also, if you don’t specify the font-weight, font-style, or font-variant then these values will automatically default to a value of normal, so do bear this in mind too.” Read the rest of this entry »
