Top 7 Practices for Safer Computing

1. Protect your personal information: It’s valuable
   • Ask questions
   • Don’t click on the link in an email. Type a URL into your browser that you KNOW to be correct if you need to go to the site advertised.
2. Know who you’re dealing with
   • Research sellers, or sites offering free software
   • Check the physical address and phone number
3. Use anti-virus and anti-spyware software, and a firewall
   • Update regularly (or automatically)
4. Set up your OS and browser correctly
   • Choose appropriate security settings
   • Update regularly
5. Protect your passwords
   • Keep passwords in a secure place
   • Don’t share on the Internet, over email, or on the phone
   • Longer is better
   • See our article on passwords for more information
6. Back up important files
   • Copy files onto a removable disc or drive
   • Store in a safe place
7. Learn who to contact if you have a problem
   • www.onguardonline.gov/file-complaint.aspx has information on how to report different problems
   • Send spam to spam@uce.gov