Seguridad Informática – Buying a New Computer
Buying a New Computer:- Avoid buying a computer that’s running a relatively new Operating System (OS), e.g. avoid an OS which is less than 1 year old. If you really need a new computer at the time a new OS has been released, then ask if there’s an option to start with an older OS and later upgrade the computer yourself using an included free CD/DVD, and if there is, seriously consider using the old OS for 6 to 12 months before upgrading to the new OS. Reasoning: New operating systems generally have far more bugs and security flaws than old ones do, e.g. When Microsoft Vista came out, it had far more security flaws than the latest version of Microsoft XP did. Similarly, when Microsoft Windows 7 came out in late 2009, it had more security flaws than the latest Vista and XP versions of Microsoft Windows.
- Be extremely careful when buying a secondhand computer, tablet, or smart phone. It could contain malware/spyware that steals your email and banking passwords. Windows computers, Macintosh computers, Android tablets, and Android smart phones are all high risk. Apple iPads, iPhones, and iPods are much safer but not risk-free. If buying a secondhand device that has a hardware reset function (like iPhone and iPad), perform a hardware reset before you start using the device. N.B. This will lower your risk, but not eliminate it.
- Avoid buying a computer that has a wireless keyboard. Reasoning: The encryption on such keyboards is generally woeful. A devious neighbour or government security service could easily monitor all your keystrokes, including website names, usernames, and passwords!
- Before you connect to the internet for the very first time using your new computer, you should complete all the steps in all the remaining pages of this article (e.g. Administrator and Limited Users, Basic Computer Security, Password Security, Hard Disk File System Security, etc.) then return to this page and continue at the next step below.
- Immediately after connecting to the internet for the first time, check for, download, and install any updates for the Operating System. If the computer tells you that it needs to reboot, then reboot it, and repeat this step again just to make sure that all updates have downloaded and installed.
- After downloading and installing all OS updates, do the same thing for any other pre-installed software, e.g. firewall software, anti-virus software, etc.
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Copyright © 2009 Andrew White | Created: 12 Aug 2009 | Page authored by Andrew White | Updated: 26 Aug 2019 |
Buying a New Computer, Operating System, windows 8, windows 10, wireless keyboard, OS updates, Seguridad Informática |