These days, computers are essential for keeping our lives going. We do everything on them, work, learn, communicate, and play. Since your computer is likely a huge part of your life, it’s extremely important to keep it safe. Most people don’t know how to do that, because it simply doesn’t interest them or taking the necessary steps seems boring. It doesn’t have to be that way, in fact, it’s probably boring to most people because they simply don’t understand it and don’t have the time to figure it out. Here are some easy steps that will keep your computer secure and operating at it’s top performance throughout it’s life.
1.) Make Sure Your Router Has A Firewall
A firewall is a software that keeps all of the potential threats out. Your internet service provider probably offers this for free when they give you a router or a modem, so make sure you ask. If you are pretty tech savvy then you can probably even upgrade the firewall to your own liking.
2.) Install Anti-Virus Software
A lot of people think that if they don’t visit sketchy websites or do any illegal downloading that they don’t have to worry about anti-virus software. This just isn’t the case anymore, you can pick up viruses, spyware and malware from just about anywhere, and right when you least expect it. Anti-virus software may slow your computer down a little bit, but when you think of the benefits, it’s worth it. Would you rather have a very slightly slower computer, or one that doesn’t work? Also make sure you update your software frequently.
3.) Update Your Computer Regularly
It can get a little annoying when you’re trying to do something important and your computer asks if you would like to update. But you really should do this regularly, as each update comes with patches for different issues that the previous update didn’t cover. If you don’t keep your system up to date, you could be prone to many different risks.
4.) Use A Good, Trusted Web Browser
There are still many people out there that just use the browser that their computer came with, probably either Safari or Internet Explorer. But one that is proven to be the safest is Google Chrome. It is available for PC or Mac, and I recommend it highly.
5.) Don’t Trust Public Wi-Fi
Did you know that when you are at coffee shops and connected to the free wi-fi that your information is being sent unencrypted over the connection? Any tech savvy person in the same place can easily use this to their advantage and get your passwords and anything else they want. If you have a 3G device, it’s probably safer to use that instead. Plus, pretending to write novels while you’re at the coffee shop is totally out of style anyway. Get with the times, you don’t need to work while you eat.
