Protect your Home PC from Hackers!

A recent study commissioned in July of 2008 by Steganos, a provider or privacy software, has found that many home computers are woefully unprotected and the users are unaware of the privacy and security software and settings on their computers. The Study found the following: ” 13% of respondents had no Anti-Virus Software installed on their home computer ” 9% did not know if Anti-Virus Software was installed on their home computer ” 19% had no Firewall installed on their home computer ” 60% had no privacy software installed at all on their pc ” 25% did not know if privacy software was installed at all. The report would suggest that at least 85% of home computers are not adequately equipped to handle viral type computer threats such as viruses, trojans, and spyware. These findings do not come as a surprise in the IT community since most are constantly noticing similar results with their clients. 

Most users are not aware of the real dangers to their home computer either because of complacency, ignorance, or apathy. Many corporate users do not need to worry about viral threats since the majority of their computing experience is conducted in the workplace or on company laptops where IT departments handle these threats in the background with high-end security systems. Since the users are kept out of the loop “by design”, they are not completely aware of the protection based applications that are in place, nor do they understand the steps required to maintain that protection. Because of this, the users don’t quite understand the nature of the threats nor do they comprehend the real dangers – and that is where the IT industry have dropped the ball. The problem lies mainly in the education of the computer user. Millions of home computers are used for email and social networking on websites like MySpace, Facebook, etc. With respect to home computer security (ie. viruses, spyware, etc.), these are the most dangerous activities for the uninformed and unprotected. 

Security experts will acknowledge that sites such as MySpace.com are over-populated with infectious apps, and that hackers have always been a miles ahead of the home computer user making them easy targets in these virtual hangouts. Again, educating the user to comprehend these threats and protect their home computers should have a dramatic affect which will drastically reduce these issues In an effort to educate the home computer user about these threats, Bruce Powers has recently created a website called the Powers Zone (The Powers Zone) and has setup a series of informational videos ranging from how to recognize the different threats to your pc to how to download, install and use the tools required in an effort to inform and empower the users about these threats and how to protect their computer from these threats using gratis software (free). 

The first video is a comprehensive 30 minute instructional video created for the home computer users that are either novices, not technically able, and those unfamiliar with these dangers and walks the user in a step-by-step fashion in a effort to familiarize them on the threats to their pc and how to protect themselves. Bruce also has a monthly newsletter designed to keep users up-to-date with the latest technology changes.

  

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