How to Keep Your Computer Safe and Secure while Browsing

The days of Windows XP operating system are almost over and Microsoft is about to stop

providing security patches/updates for Windows XP on April 8 2014.Without any security

update your operating system or PC will be a soft target for Hackers or people who are looking

for vulnerabilities in your system.

Almost 35% of the people are still using Windows XP operating system on their computers, and

they hardly care whether any updates will be available in the future. This will increase the likely

hood of making their systems more prone to online attacks. It would be better if you could

upgrade from Windows XP right now, however if you are not able to do it now, for some reason,

then I am going to tell you couple of things, that would help you to protect yourself for a time-

being. But don’t expect too much, as it is like placing your hands on a leaking dam, which can

rupture anytime.

Eventually when Microsoft is going to stop providing security patches for Windows XP, it is

going to increase the risk further more as the more critical loop holes in Widows XP are going to

be exploited and manipulated by some Hackers. This is mostly going to affect the small business

owners or individuals who are using Windows XP on the daily basis. Large organizations will

continue to buy Custom Windows XP support by paying hefty sum. These problems will keep on

lingering as they will never be fixed, because of the discontinued support from Microsoft. Other

software’s will also eventually stop supporting Windows XP in the near future. However there

are some important precautions that you may take in order to avoid being hacked online in that

scenario.

Chose your Software Wisely:

• Use up-to-date softwares only. Windows XP supports Internet Explorer 8,you must do

way with it, as it is too old, and will not receive any future updates. Chorme will stop

providing updates for Windows XP in April 2015 and same is expected with Mozilla

Firefox. So it is better to use the two browsers instead of Internet Explorer 8.

• Use a Licensed version of Antivirus on your PC. Windows Security Essentials is going to

support XP for some time and may stop providing any support in near future, as per

rumours,it will end up its support in July 2015.So always keep your Antivirus copy up-to-

date and never use free or trial version.

• If you are using any JAVA plugins in your browser,then stop using it,as it is a favorite

tool, which hackers can easily exploit. Even using Flash players and Adobe Reader can

be risky. Keep them updated all the time. If you are not using them too often, then I

suggest you to uninstall them from your PC.

• When you are running an important business application or a piece of hardware, that

doesn’t support Windows XP,just remove the XP machine from the Network. It is the

most fool proof way to remain secure.

• If at all possible try to upgrade to Windows 7,as it will receive security updates in the

near future expected up-to 2020.Or if you are planning to buy a new Laptop or PC go

with a free Ubuntu Linux.It is a completely free operating system, and it can support

older hardware and will receive security updates in future also.

Note: To Activate windows 7,you can check out some useful info Here- http://windows7activator.info/