We have a number of challenges to our computers’ security here. The biggest one comes in the form of the 8 year old boy, who really really likes the internet, and doesn’t like to pay attention to irritating little popups from anti virus programs telling him that what he’s doing might not be all that safe. Even though I tend to be in the room a lot of the time he’s online, I’m not always paying close enough attention to see him dismissing warnings, and the last time we went through this, the computer required a complete rebuild.
And that’s with anti virus and firewall protection. I’m not sure what we’re using right now. Because we have so many computers in the house, we bulk buy our protective software, rather than using something mainstream like Norton Antivirus. Whatever you use though, it’s important to have something, and preferably a firewall as well. And if you can train your 8 year old not to click on dodgy links, that helps too.
Seriously though, teaching the user how to keep the computer safe is the biggest problem. We can all be taken in by links, even those of us who are most experienced. Which is one of the reasons that we have encouraged our kids to work though free online courses like the BBC webwise course. It’s a good starting point, and covers a lot of what you need to know to keep yourself, your data and your computer safe while you’re exploring the internet.
So if you happen to have any 8 year old boys around, I highly recommend it. After all, it’s better to be safe than sorry.
