One of the things I do in my spare time (yeah right!) is to help people out securing their home networks. I do gateway router installations and configuration, Wireless network setups, anti-virus installations and upgrades, spyware cleanups, etc. etc. None of these tools are expensive, but it does cost a couple of hundred dollars to secure your machine properly. But the long term cost of not doing this is usually an infection and reinstall.
Yesterday, somebody asked me..."If I don't want to do all that stuff, what is the best free thing I can do to protect my machine?" He was surprised by my answer "Turn off your computer when you aren't using it".
In these days of always on Internet connections, we somehow have gotten in the habit of always leaving our computers turned on. Why?
Most people use their machine only a few minutes each day. Turn off your computer when it is not in use and malicious users cannot probe and compromise your machine. If your machine does somehow become compromised, it will not add to the machines probing and compromising other machines on the Internet or fulfill whatever nefarious purpose the malware author intended. You may even save on your power bill and reduce wear and tear on your computer.
Sure it is not a good solution for computers that are used for hours a day, and you probably should still do the other things, but for the average home user it is a big step forward in securing your computer.
For my treatise on how to secure home computers please have a look at... http://www.whitehats.ca/main/members/Cerberus/cerberus_home_security/protecting_home_computer.html
Rick
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