Chapter 9. Keeping Your Computer Safe

Table of Contents

Using separate users
Update your computer
Lock your screen while away
Set up a firewall
Avoid Internet nuisances and crime
Make backup copies of your files

This section describes how to keep your computer safe from security threats.

Using separate users

During installation of Ubuntu, a single user and password is created. However, in order to keep your computer and documents safe, it is important to use a separate user account for each person that uses the computer. In this way, multiple users can have access to the computer while preserving and protecting their own personal settings and files.

On Ubuntu, each user has their own home directory in which files and settings are stored. Furthermore, each user can be part of one or more groups, which define which parts of the system that user has access to.

[Note]

You may need administrative rights to make some of the changes detailed below. See Administrative tasks for more information.

Managing users

To modify the users or groups on your system, you can use the Users And Groups application located in ApplicationsSystemUsers and Groups.

To add a new user, click on Add user, enter the required information and then click OK.

To edit the properties of each user, select a user and then click the Properties button located in the Users settings window.

To give a new user administrative rights (see Administrative tasks), edit that user's properties and, under the User Privileges tab, ensure that the Administer the system box is checked.

To remove a user from the system, select the user you want to delete from the User settings window and click Delete.

Managing groups of users

To add a new group, in the User settings window, choose Manage Groups and then click Add group. Choose a name for the new group and, if you want, change the default value for the Group ID. If you try to allocate a Group ID that is in use, the system will warn you.

You can add users to the newly created group by selecting a user by checking the box of the user in the Group Members list. Removing a user is as simple as adding one: deselect the box left to the name. When you are ready, click OK and the new group with its users, if inserted, will be created.

To edit the properties of a group, from within the Groups settings dialog choose a group name and click on the Properties button.

To remove a group from the system, select the group you want to delete from the Groups settings dialog and click Delete.