7 IT New Years Resolutions

I'm writing a long piece on computer security. It might be a book or it might just be an incredibly long blog post, I don't know yet. But the core message can be summarised thusly;

1. Passwords. Get better with passwords, change them and don't use the same one on all your web sites.

2. Anti virus. Remove obsolete products, get current ones. Microsoft free being my pick for Windows and nothing at all being my pick for Mac. You are still more likely to GET a virus by trying anything on your Mac than if you leave it alone. A lot of the anti-this-and-that software on Mac is actually a virus in disguise.

3. Backup. Make an off site backup. 321. 3 copies, 2 different types of media and 1 off site. eg. External hard drive, DVD, Carbonite (or Dropbox or Crashplan).

4. Clean up your hard drive. Remove obsolete programs. Use Windows control panel add/remove programs. Mac users just delete the icon from your Applications folder.

5. Clean your keyboard, mouse and screen. Destroy a few billion germs. Turn it off, use an Iso-wipe or one of those hospital wipes in the little packet. You could consider stealing one next time you visit a friend in hospital. I am sure you can buy them somewhere...

6. Realistically evaluate if you need a new computer. The answer is probably No.

7. Be more productive and spend less time doing IT stuff. You bought your computer to get work done didn't you?

8. Write more blog articles, or at least publish more of the stuff you wrote. (oh, that one was for me)