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Using the Network Safely

Whenever your computer is connected to a wired or wireless network, you should always consider that unsolicited access to your computer is within the realm of possibilities. More than likely an intruder may not be interested in the data stored on your machine. Often, they are interested in using your machine to serve movies or music to others; to have your machine generate e-mail spam anonymously; to see data that you have access to on secure servers; or to track your behavior on the Web so they can sell that information to marketers, etc.

When installing programs on your computer that involve network activity, such as free file sharing or communication tools, please be aware that these help to open additional doors into your machine from the outside, and more often than not, pose a security risk.

There are a number of ways in which to protect yourself.

04/01/08

Last Updated: 4/1/08