TruthScape.com  9  The Truth About RuneScape Account and Password Scamming and “Hacking”       9  How to Improve Your Account Security

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Modern operating systems are incredibly complex collections of hundreds of programs that work together to let you do what you want on your computer. Due to all the features integrated into them, it is difficult for developers to manage everything and ensure that all aspects of the operating system are always free from bugs. Security is one area where this can be a problem: over time, skilled hackers and virus/worm writers discover and then exploit flaws in operating systems, which can put your computer (and thus your RuneScape account) at risk.

The same issue also applies to your Web browser. There are millions of Web sites out there, and no browser developer can foresee every type of page that an author might make. So flaws are discovered over time in browsers, and again, these can put your computer at risk. For example, browser flaws can lead to you downloading software without your authorization, often malware.

Of course, software developers have a responsibility to correct security flaws, so they will act to fix them as soon as possible. You have a responsibility as well, though: to keep your operating system and browser up to date. If you do not, you unnecessarily put your computer at risk, and also may have other problems. For example, in North America, the date that Daylight Savings Time starts was changed in 2007—if you didn't have your operating system up to date, your system time would be off by an hour for several weeks.

There are two approaches to keeping your operating system updated. First, you can turn on automatic updates, which is an option on most newer computers; when enabled, the operating system itself will periodically check for updates and install them for you. Other people prefer to check manually for updates; you can do this by telling the operating system to check for updates from a menu item, or by going on the Web.

Here are the menu items and sites to use for the two most common operating systems:

• Microsoft Windows: Select “All Programs” and then “Windows Update”. Alternately, visit windowsupdate.microsoft.com
  
  
• Apple Macintosh: Open the Apple menu. Choose “Software Update” (OS X 10.3 or later), or choose “System Preferences”, then select “View” and then “System Update”. Then click the “Check Now” button. (I hope that's right - I am following Apple's instructions since I don't use a Mac.) On the Web, try www.apple.com/support/osfamily/.

Warning: if you go on the web for updates, be sure you go to the right web sites, as linked above. Just as there are fake RuneScape sites, there are also fake Microsoft and Apple sites, and they can harm your computer!

Use a Hardware or Software Firewall Use Antivirus and Anti-Spyware Software