Users' Advice On Windows XP Security

1. Make an administrator account with a hardly typed (at least 8 characters) password.

2. Make a restricted user account.

3. When logged in as administrator, shut down your internet connection if it is possible.

4. Log in as an user when you surf the web. (Note it is easy and fast to log out and into another account).

5. Use a local host (e.g. Apache) to test your webpages and shut down your internet connection when testing.

6. Log in as user when downloading files.

7. If you have more than one drive, use one of them for system files only. Do not download anything from the internet to your system drive. Make a restore point and check downloaded files before you install them.

Install Linux.

Sorry Kgun but I couldn't resist it.

Good advice offered though.

To add a few others, firewalls, the default windows firewall is a joke. Get another firewall, sygate is good.

Follow safe practices on the net, DO NOT use internet explorer, try firefox or opera both are free and far superior.

Switch your email client from outlook (it allows emails to run activex controls, major trojan gateway) try thunderbird or eudora.

Never ever open an email attachment that you are not expecting. If you must open an attachment you are not sure of then highlight it and drag the mouse down - why? if a an attachment is named picture.jpg it could still be an executable with a filename such as picure.jpg