Will turning off programs save me from hackers when I get online?

In this excerpt from
Answercast #18, I look at keeping programs open on your computer while being
connected to the internet: I do it all the time.

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Turn off programs?

No, you don’t need to turn off other programs.

A lot of people these days are connected to the internet continuously. For example, my machines. Not only are they on all the time, but they are also continuously connected to the internet. So, if I were at all concerned about that, I wouldn’t be able to run anything because I have to first try and disconnect from the internet.

Inviting a threat

It just doesn’t really work that way.

The threats you get from the internet are not so much threats that will proactively somehow reach into your computer and do things. It’s the threats that you invite on to your computer, knowingly or otherwise, that are the risk.

Internet safety

So rather than shutting down Word, for example, I would caution you instead:

• Don’t download Word documents from people you don’t trust (it is possible to write a malicious Word document whether you’re connected to the internet or not.)

• Don’t download executable files from people you don’t trust, or sources that you don’t trust.

• Don’t open email attachments that you aren’t expecting.

There is whole litany of things that help you avoid inviting malware on to your machine! That’s a significantly bigger risk than simply having a bunch of programs open while you’re surfing the net.

If that were a problem, I would have been toast long ago. I have lots and lots and lots of programs open all the time while I’m online. I have actually (knock on wood) never had a malware infection on any of my machines.

So, it’s not something that I believe you need to be concerned about.

Go ahead, leave your programs open; connect to the internet; surf safely, but go ahead and surf.