7 Tips for the truly paranoid PC user - Tip #1

Tip #1:

Don’t read email on an admin account

Web surfing on a user account with administrative rights is kind of like walking through a bad neighborhood with your house keys in one hand, your Social Security card in the other, and your ATM PIN written on your forehead. You’re offering up all kinds of sensitive personal information to eager takers.

Because of that risk, the usual advice is to avoid surfing the Web on an admin account to limit the damage if a zero-day exploit happens to compromise your account. Given the growing number of attacks launched via email messages, it’s a good idea to extend this precaution to your inbox by reading new email messages only on a nonadministrator account. This practice won’t protect you from phishing attempts that try to trick you into giving up your password, though, so be sure to stay on your guard against fake email messages, too.

While adhering to these tips will go a long way toward shielding you and your data from prying eyes, to secure your PC further be sure to check out our tips to avoid the most devious security traps, Prism surveillance, and watchers on the Web. We can’t promise that following these measures will make you spyproof, but you will certainly sleep better. Just remember to keep one eye open.