There are a host of actions that system administrators can and should perform to ensure that their computers are not compromised. The netstat command line tool available on both Linux and Windows generates a list of open connections on your system. However, for any personal computer user, the amount of information generated by this command prompt can be overwhelming and unhelpful. There are some everyday means to ensure the effectiveness of your operating system security which can be done without much technical help. Downloading applications that run inside a sandbox is the surest way to make sure that programs from unknown publishers don’t run amok on your computer. Google chrome uses sandboxing extensively and there are also proprietary software like Sandboxie which isolate individual files and registry keys that you may not trust.
There are, however, some risks involved in virtual sandboxing and difficulties in removing malware that are not easy to deal with. If you really must have one of these, it is better to get it done remotely through some online technical assistance. Here are a few do-it-yourself tips that you can easily implement at home. Get a decent antivirus suite like MS Security Essentials and keep it regularly updated. This is what I do even though I run Azure, MS cloud computing solution, and I have my own personal firewall to go with it. Techvedic customized my in-built firewall so now I am secured while browsing, downloading and messaging.
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