How To Make Your Computer More Secure

by | Nov 23, 2020 | Computer Info

With everyone looking for ways to stay afloat these days, spammers and hackers have been busy.  We are seeing more spam calls and emails, and more people are having accounts hacked.  This leaves everyone trying to figure out how to keep their computer secure and their information safe.

Follow these easy steps to keep your computer secure and clean:

  • Make sure windows and all your apps are up to date. The easiest way to make sure your computer is secure is to do the updates for Windows and all the programs you have installed.  When hackers find doorways into certain programs they can use those to get your information. Companies know this and are constantly looking for ways to keep you safe so they send out updates when they find vulnerabilities. 
  • Make sure you have an antivirus program.  You need a good antivirus program to keep your computer clean and to stop unwanted programs from entering the computer.  Windows comes with Windows Defender, which is free and works pretty well.  If you find that you need more protections some of the ones I recommend are BitDefender, ESET, and Webroot.  These are all good and don’t slow down your computer like some of the others.  If you want a free one there is AVG and AVAST, they work but you will get ads and pop-ups for you to purchase them. 
  • Use Strong Passwords.  The best thing to do to keep someone from hacking your accounts online is to use strong passwords.  These you can create yourself or you can use another program like LastPass to create and save the passwords.  Along with strong passwords, you can set up 2-step verification.  This means that you have another device that will give you a second password that you need to enter after you put in your password.  Most people use their phones but there are other gadgets that you can set up with 2-step verification.
  • Create a restore point.  Once you are sure your computer is clean and free of any infections then create a restore point.  This is easy to do in Windows 10.  Just search for restore in the search bar at the bottom of the screen.  Then click Create a Restore Point.  When the box pops up click the Create at the bottom, give it a name (I usually use the date) and click OK.  Then it will create a restore point so you can restore your computer to this point if something goes array.  Do this at least once a month so it stays current.
  • Back up the whole PC.  Set yourself a schedule to back up your computer at least weekly or better yet get a program that will do it for you like Carbonite or OneDrive.  This will ensure you don’t lose all those family pics if your computer crashes.

Use these simple tips to keep your data safe from the wide world of the internet. If you have questions or would like help implementing any of these tasks, feel free to give us a call.