Using a VPN is a great way to help increase your online security. It allows you to browse or work from your computer without a direct link to your computer and an increased level of encryption for your connection. You should however be mindful that if you want the highest level of security when using a VPN, you should make sure that whatever VPN you do choose is verified with "No Logging". A VPN that logs your activity is not truly secure as that data is still available on the providers servers.

Passwords are a part of most everything we do today. From E-Mail, to Social Media and Online Shopping. The strength of your password(s) is drastically important as some of your accounts likely contain sensitive personal or financial data. The "Ideal" strong password should contain Not Less than a minimum of 8 characters, contain at least 1 capital letter, 1 lowercase letter, 1 number and 1 special character. This combination of characters makes it extremely difficult for someone to figure out or hack your password. An alternative would be to use a reputable password manager as these programs often generate very secure passwords for you and remember them for you as well.

Open Source software can be a great way to get free, secure and sometimes feature loaded software. What "Open Source" means is that the code for the software is openly available for those with the know how to be able to look at and review the code for any discrepancies. Said discrepancies can include security and performance. These softwares typically have communities that maintain them rather than a vested corporation. Some examples of Open Source Software are the "FireFox" web browser from Mozilla.org and "GIMP Editor" which is similar to Photoshop and is available at GIMP.org.

These days, every ISP seems to provide a router for their provided services. However, the level of security typically isn't up to par. Even if it is, by using an ISP issued router your home network is NOT secure from anyone who has access to your ISPs network or if your ISP gets hacked. (Yes, it does happen) The best way to combat this is to buy a personal router and get a "Modem Only" solution from your ISP or set the ISP issued router to "Bridge Mode", which makes it function only as a modem. SpyderTech PC recommends ASUS branded routers as they have excellent "near enterprise" grade security built right in on most models. (This has to be manually enabled after setting up the router) Their "AiMesh" feature is pretty excellent as well if you need to add an extra AiMesh "Node" to remove any dead spots in a large home.