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Following the above guidelines will go a long way toward keeping your confidential information and important data safe. To make
managing your multiple username and passwords easier you may want to consider using some type of password management
program/service such as : LastPass, RoboForm, or KeePass Keeper or LastPass.
4. Install anti-virus software
Viruses, spyware, and other malware continue to pose a threat to users of any computer/platform. Using your computer at Lehigh is no exception. Having a good, up-to-date antivirus program is essential to minimizing the risk of your computer becoming infected and/or having your data and other personal information vulnerable to related threats. LTS recommends several antivirus packages that are free for personal use. Whichever program you choose to install on your machine, it is crucial to keep it up-to-date and run updates whenever prompted to do so. Since new threats are released almost on a daily basis, the anti-virus programs recommended by LTS all have automatic update features which you should always take advantage of.
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- Go to the Control Panel (Start > Control Panel), click on Windows Firewall.
- If the Windows Firewall state is set to On (shown in the screenshot below), then you are
already good to go and you can close the window.
- If the Windows Firewall state is set to Off, then click on Turn Windows Firewall
on or off from the left menu pane. - Check each button next to Turn on Windows Firewall. By default, only Notify me when Windows
Firewall blocks a new program should be checked. In any case, make sure that option is the only
one checked. Once you have turned Windows Firewall on, you may close the window.
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- Go to System Preferences (can be found on the dock or by going to Apple menu > System
Preferences), and click Security. - In the Security section, click on the Firewall tab.
- If necessary, click the lock icon on the lower left, and enter your OS admin password to
allow changes to be made. - If not already set by default, Select Set access for specific services and applications
so that the listed services are allowed through the firewall.
6. Extend your warranty
See computer purchase and warranty recommendations for information on purchasing the appropriate warranty coverage.
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- Lehigh H: drive space: Each student is given 5 GB of Lehigh network drive space. This data can be accessed from Windows and Mac computers as well as public site computer labs. The data is backed up regularly by Lehigh.
- Pros
Data is backed up by Lehigh nightly
Assistance is available from Lehigh staff with accessing the space from personal computers and also, if necessary, with file restoration from backups - Cons
Maximum of 5GB of space available
Requires the use of the Lehigh VPN in order to access the space from off-campus - Google Drive App: As part of a student's Lehigh Google account, Google Drive cloud storage space is available. Using Google's Drive app a student can have the important files on their computer automatically backed up to their Lehigh Google Drive space. The instructions and app can be found at https://www.google.com/drive/
- Pros Fast, backups run automatically
- Cons Must have Internet access to use, only 30 day retention on deleted files.
- External hard drive: In addition to manually copying files from your computer to your external hard drive, current operating systems typically offer some sort of backup feature that works by automatically backing up data at regular times to an external drive - Mac OS Time Machine is an example of such a backup feature.
- Pros
Very fast/easy to backup files
No ongoing costs beyond the purchase of the hard drive - Cons
Backups can only be done when the drive is connected to the laptop
The user must be proactive in doing the backups otherwise backups get out-of-date - Online backup services: Internet services such as Crash Plan, or Carbonite offer automated backup services and online storage at a per gigabyte cost. Services such as these will automatically back up the data on your main computer to their cloud storage servers.
- Pros
Backups are done automatically without the user needing to do anything
Large amounts of data can be backed up for a relatively low monthly cost - Cons
Internet access is required to do backups
Large amounts of data can take a while to back up - Online cloud storage: Services such as Google Drive, Dropbox, Box.com, OneDrive, Amazon Cloud, etc. These services provide you with storage space in the Cloud (Internet) that you can access from multiple devices (laptop, tablet, phone, etc).
- Pros
Data stored on the cloud service is available from any device (web, laptop, phone, tablet, etc)
Files can be synced onto different devices making it possible to work on the same set of files from different computers Cons - Enroll in Lehigh's Enterprise Dropbox to get free near-unlimited storage while you are a student.
Monthly cost for storage is much higher than for online backup service
Cloud storage is not a substitute for backups. If a file is accidentally deleted or changed in most cases it is not possible to recover it
A good backup strategy includes elements of all of the above. The external hard drive is great for fast backups and restores,
the online backup service, while slow, will provide protection in the event you forget to backup to the external drive or if your
laptop and hard drive gets stolen or destroyed. Finally, storing your data on an online cloud storage service can be made much
safer by having your data also backed up to your external and/or online backup service.
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