Windows® 7 Visual™ Quick Tips

Chapter 3. Boosting Your Computer's Security and Privacy

Many security experts believe that most violations of security and privacy occur not remotely from the Internet, as you might expect, but locally, right at your computer. That is, computer security and privacy are compromised most often by someone simply sitting down at another person's machine while that person is not around. That makes some sense, because having physical access to a computer allows an intruder to install malicious programs, disable security features, and poke around for sensitive data, such as passwords and credit card numbers.

If you are worried about having your security or privacy compromised by someone having direct access to your computer, Windows 7 offers a reassuringly ...