Online security check

One of the good things you can do in order to test your computer security is to visit some websites that perform online security checks. Such a website will usually install a small program into your computer, and then it will communicate with the online server and establish whether your computer is propery secured or not. Before using such online security check system, please make sure that the site you are using is full thrustworthy; otherwise it would not be recommended to perform any kind of online security check through them, as some sites may actually do the opposite and install harmful code into your computer.

One of the recommended sites that offers such a free service is Symantec (symantec.com). Their online security check system is pretty popular and has been around for years. An alternate online security check provider that is also full thrustworthy is Trend Micro (trendmicro.com).

During the security check, your firewall may show a lot of alarms due to the fact that the online scan servers are performing a lot of security checkings by attempting to connect to known ports on your computer, and also sending various packets aimed at discovering vulnerabilities in your computer. The difference is that these systems are NOT looking to exploit these vulnerabilities, while a hacker or worm will usually do the opposite. Instead, they will actually warn you about any existing vulnerability so you can fix it. When performing the tests, be patient - it usually takes several minutes until such a test is completely performed.