Tips And Tricks To Make Your Computer More Secure
You might think that using the in-built security that came with your computer is enough but with the advances that hackers make on a daily basis it’s important to take as many steps as we can to keep our computer secure. In this article Katherine Kouba takes a look at some of the extra steps you can take to secure your business and personal data.
A computer is something which pretty much every individual uses in their daily life. It’s become an integral part so we must keep it safe and secure. We use computers to do our professional as well as personal tasks and often the lines are blurred – we have personal items on our work computers and work items on our personal computers and all of this is confidential.
Wee must take some precautionary steps to save our documents – not only through backups (both on and offsite) but with encryption wear necessary as well. Most of us use computers safely but in certain situations or because of carelessness of others on our linked networks, we can lose our security and unknowingly damage our computer.
Cybercrime is becoming cleverer by the day and by using faked emails or by hacking a website they can easily gain access to your computer without you realising you’ve done anything wrong.
People avoid or don’t take much time to think about the threats and problems of unsecured computers – they assume that if they don’t visit “bad” websites they will be safe but it’s still very important, and also necessary, to make your computer secure and safe.
Don’t rely on your inbuilt security measures – the more levels of security you add the better and below we’ll give you some tips on what types of software you should be looking at.
Use a good firewall
It is really important to use a decent and standard firewall in the computers. A firewall is basically a block between your computer and the internet that checks all incoming and outgoing connections to make sure they’re legitimate and won’t damage your computer – or spread something bad to others.
Install Anti-virus software
Years ago a lot of anti-virus software got bad press as it was a carrier of viruses itself. Now the market it much more regulated and they won’t slow your computer down too much either. An anti-virus will regularly scan all of your documents, programs and Operating System core files and alert you if there are any problems. Most modern antiviruses can also automatically fix issues so you don’t even need to take any action to keep your computer safe.
Never use public Wi-Fi
Public Wi-Fi is really handy if you’re out and about and you need to check the train timetable or settle an argument using Wikipedia. The problem is, it’s not very secure and a determined “bad guy” could (in theory) find a way to snoop on the information you’re send to, and receiving from, websites. Remember that you shouldn’t use public wi-fi for checking your online banking (no matter how secure they say it is) and check that you’re using a secure version of a website (it should have a little padlock in the address bar to show it’s okay).
If you rely on Public Wi-Fi for accessing sensitive information then get yourself a VPN which will add an extra layer of protection – although nothing is infallible.
Never use the same password
We all have that habit using of the same password for everything. Whether it is your Facebook, email or Bank account. Using the same login credentials makes our lives easy and simple.
While we are able to remember our logins for multiple sites, if a hacker gains access to one account, using the same user name and password combinations gives them access to all other accounts too. Use a password manager – either the one built into your browser or a standalone program – to make sure you have strong and different passwords for each site you visit.
In Conclusion
These are just a small sample of the things you can do to make your computer safe and secure. Don’t think that you’re saving money by not purchasing anti-virus or a VPN – the cost to you in the long run will be immeasurable if you lose your data or give someone access to important files. Make sure that your computer is safe and secure and you’ll have peace of mind.
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