As more and more of our financial transactions move online, it’s critically important for you to secure your computer against intrusion. All it takes is a keylogger and all of your sensitive banking and credit information can be in the hands of some unscrupulous individuals (one of the reasons I never do anything sensitive on an unsecured computer, like at a hotel business center or the library).

The first line of defense is common sense. Don’t install anything that you don’t trust and don’t trust anything you’ve never heard of. Modern internet browsers are much savvier these days, always checking with you before installing anything, so be sure to think about it before mindlessly clicking “Yes” or “OK.” After your common sense, the next line of defense is an effective anti-virus and anti-spyware software package.

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The Consumerist did a great job exposing Best Buy’s Optimization services scam last week but the real gem, besides having another reason not to buy computers there, was in the end where they listed free tools you could use to optimize your computer.

First, before you download or run any tools, use the ones that come free with Windows – Disk Defragmenter, Disk Cleanup, etc. Once you’ve done that, it’s time to bring in the big guns… all of which are free.

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