A few quick tips and tricks:

Passwords:

Passwords should be set up for logging onto the computer, on the screensaver and on any sensitive files. Refrain from using personal information or dictionary words for your password. These are extremely easy to guess. Instead, use a combination of letters and numbers in upper and lower case (passwords are case-sensitive so 'D' is different from 'd')

Virus Protection:

Viruses come in a number of forms. Mild ones may only lock up your computer for a short while or leave undesirable elements on your system. Others however, are far more serious. Trojan horses, like their namesake, enter under a legitimate guise and then proceed to do damage, for example, deleting files when they are opened and stealing passwords. A Worm is a program whose purpose is to reproduce. It copies itself endlessly into multiple directories, through a network and onto any media that presents itself until your system is completely overloaded and crashes.

The Importance Of Backups:

Even with adequate virus protection, data can be lost or damaged in other ways through file corruption etc. As a result, it is extremely important to keep up-to-date copies of your data. For individual PCs, the cheapest way to perform regular back-ups is using external drives that are connected to your PC. If you are in a business environment then you also need to consider backing up to a non-disk medium. Backups to tapes or CD/DVD media should also regularly be moved off site. This way your business is protected in case of fire, theft or other unforeseen events.

Software Updates:

It is important that you keep your operating system and all programs as up to date as possible. Microsoft and most other software vendors release updates to their products to fix bugs and known vulnerabilities, provide more functionality and to maintain performance of their products. When these updates are released you can find out about them either by the product notifying you of the update the next time you open it, running the update program that comes with the software or through announcements made on the products webpage or email newsletters.

When updates are released it is industry best practice to apply these updates as soon as conveniently possible. This means that you should have Windows updates turned on and set to notify and download updates. You should set programs up to check for updates when they are started, and if prompted to install any updates ensure that you do this in a timely fashion.

More Tips and Tricks coming soon... If you have any questions then please call or email!