A novice bought his very first computer. He was looking forward to embarking on a new and wondrous journey. But he had heard that there could be many perils along the way. So he decided to do the smart thing and install an antivirus program to protect himself along the way.
He then sought out one whom he considered to have much knowledge in such matters. He spoke to him with much confidence.
I am ready to begin my safe journey since I am protected by an antivirus program.
His friend replied; Good. You have an antivirus program.
You have taken the first step toward enlightenment.
But the road to enlightenment still stretches far ahead of you.
To fully protect yourself you also need to get all the critical Windows Updates. Then look to see if there are any new ones on the second Tuesday of every month when Microsoft releases new updates.
The word critical means exactly what it says. Your computer and data could die. It is hard to achieve enlightenment when you're buried in the ground.
So the novice updated Windows and told him that he was now fully protected.
His friend said; If you think you are now fully protected then there is still much to learn on the road to enlightenment. You still need a good firewall to protect your computer and yourself.
The novice did what he was advised and thanked his friend for helping him complete his journey to computer security and safety.
His friend said; Alas the road to enlightenment has many curves.
You allowed your firewall to connect to the Internet with the Internet Explorer Browser. And I.E. (Internet Explorer) settings are set by default to allow almost everything to enter your system.
To fully protect yourself you need to also protect your mode of transportation on the web. Once that is done you may continue on your journey to enlightenment.
So the novice changed his settings in I.E. to be more secure. Then asked his friend if he had finally reached his destination of security.
His friend said only one word. NO
The novice said: I have an antivirus program, a firewall and set my I.E. to block or ask me before performing actions while surfing the web. What else can there be? How can anything possibly get through now?
His friend replied;
Because we all stray from the path of enlightenment from time to time.
What fun or learning would we miss if we did not step off the path?
We would miss seeing the best sites.
We would never learn about the hidden secrets of the world.
We could never learn from our mistakes if we never made any mistakes.
To truly travel the road to enlightenment we must sometimes pull over.
To protect yourself when you stray you must don protective equipment.
You must also install antispyware programs so you can get back on the road to enlightenment.Only then can you continue on your journey to enlightenment.
The novice once again did as he was advised and asked his friend once again;
Are my computer and I now fully protected from injury at long last.
And the answer was;
No. You can still be injured on your journey.
You may need to heal yourself before continuing on your way.
To heal your computer you must also run an antivirus scan from time to time to check for viruses it might have missed. And do an "online scan" to check for viruses your antivirus program may have missed.
And you must have spyware and malware removal tools for those programs that slip by your anti spyware programs. Especially if you installed those programs without knowing better.
The novice installed and ran all these tools and all the results came up clean.
He told his friend that all was well. And he was happy.
His friend asked him;
Did you update the tools before you ran them?
The novice was not happy. "He had not".
The novice asked his friend if all this work was worth the trouble to be safe.
His friend told him;
Do not take these steps and you will know the answer soon.
The time it takes to keep up to date is little once everything is in place. And there is still more to learn but you are well on your way.
By now you should realize the road is long and full of danger.
You may wonder if you will ever arrive at your destination of complete security.
Just as those who would harm you or your computer never rest, Neither should you.
You must always travel the road to security and enlightenment.
But fear not. You do not travel this dangerous road by yourself.
Many will try to intervene on your road to computer security enlightment.
But many will also assist you on your journey.
And while you're on that road help those that you can.
As others help us on our journey.
But there is one more major point that needs to be said.
No matter how far you travel down the road to enlightenment you will trip or stumble. If you don't want to start from the beginning of your journey again you should BACK UP EVERYTHING.
If you have read everything up to this point you are well on your way.
By now you should be asking many questions.
Where can I get answers and help?
Where can I find programs to assist me?
You can get the solutions at the same place you get the problems.
On the World Wide Web. www. etc.
My humble web site is one place to start.
From there you can follow the links to better web sites.
And from there you can search out and learn from the true masters.
