How to Avoid Demonic Computer Possession

The night was dark. The wind shook every creaky floorboard of the old house. She thought she could hear faint scratching noises behind her, but she was afraid to turn around. Then she turned the comforting light of her computer monitor on and the shadows disappeared. In real life, few actual monsters lurk in the shadows of our room. However, going online without formidable defenses exposes our personal information and computers to grave risk.

The real horror stories:

• Over 430 million adults were cybercrime victims in 2010 (Source: Norton)
• PandaLabs discovered a vast online market for stolen bank details (Source: Panda)
• In March 2011, Kaspersky, an antivirus software provider, detected and neutralized over 219 million malicious programs on user computers (Source: Kasperksy)
• ThePushdo/Cutwail “botnet” spam network sent out 1.7 trillion emails in 15 months (Source: SecurityNewsDaily)
• Macs are now also popular targets for malware (Source: Sophos)
• Hackers and cybercriminals are now heavily targeting popular social networking sites like Facebook (Source: ZDNet)

Another scary statistic: If your computer accesses the internet without protection, sooner or later it will likely become infected and your personal information will be at risk. Unlike that unnerving walk down a dark alley, when your fears are likely more imagined than real, there is a 100 percent chance that your computer will be attacked if exposed to a threat online without a stalwart weapon.

Cybercrime has become such a real threat that the FBI now has cyber squads in all 56 of their field offices. However, there are things you can do to protect your computer and personal information such as bank account data, personally identifiable information and media files.

Here is the first line of defense:

• Install powerful antivirus software and keep it up-to-date.
• Keep your Windows updates current.
• Scan all email attachments before opening them and do not open emails from an unknown source.
• Do not click on suspicious-looking video or images on Facebook.
• Employ your browser's free pop-up blocker.
• Do not download anything from an unknown source.
• Do not allow pop-ups on suspicious sites to load.
• Install and use parental control software .
• Watch out for fake security alerts. Do not let them run a scan.
• Utilize the Private or Safe browsing modes of your browser when viewing potentially dangerous pages (such as adult content or unknown video sites).
• Ensure web forms are secure before entering personal information.

Those are a few easy ways to avoid most online dangers. Simply put, to avoid the "something wicked" that will come, use internet security software and don't download anything from an unknown source.

For added protection, here is a second line of defense:

• Create a mirror image of your hard drive, so you can rebuild an exact copy of your hard drive if your computer should completely crash.
• Use password protection software to help you create and store complex, un-guessable passwords.
• Do not allow your children to have access to computers that don't have usage policies in place.
• Install security software onto your mobile phones.
• Allow your security software to scan external drives or discs before they download data.
• Do not leave your computer unattended.
• Password-protect your computer.
• Back up all files onto an external hard drive or cloud-based storage site.

Though trillions of bytes of evil lurk on the internet waiting for a tiny breach in your security, you can combat most nasty online demons by employing good security software and offensive tactics. The rules to staying safe have not really changed though the years: be prepared (use security) and don't take candy from strangers (free media).

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