Our laptops and desktop computers hold essential information. Not only do you have saved stuff from your work, but personal items too. From pictures to all kinds of media, one often uses their devices to store all of them. However, one can come under attack by a virus, on occasion. Not only does that lose all your data, but could remain in your system for a while. There are some ways to make sure your computer is protected from these viruses.
The writer of this article once encountered a virus that took hours to find. It had replicated itself as a windows file and was hidden among the system files. So, there can be many types of viruses. However, these measures can help you prevent attacks from most of them.
1. Don’t Use Any Free Anti-Viruses
It is true that a lot of free anti-malware software is also infecting your system. Since they are free, you don’t know what kind of protection strategies they use. They could be keeping an eye on your data or tracing it, while you think the system is being cleaned. A lot of these free ones don’t even catch trojan files and don’t even bring them up on a scan. If you must use an anti-virus, we recommend a paid one.
2. Downloading From Shady Sites
There are sites that hide viruses within innocent .pdf files. You may want a free copy of a book and find yourself on such a site. It is better to not download the book from that site if it is too far down the search engine or near the end of it. You may just be downloading malware that could slow down your system. Always verify the integrity of the site before using it.
Read More: 4 Dangerous VPN Apps That Can Steal Your Phone’s Data
3. Keep Your Device Patched Up And Updated
It is essential for you to make sure your device is fully updated. A lot of companies makes sure to introduce new security features with every update. If you are on an older version, someone could exploit a fault and force a virus onto your system. So, make sure that your device is up-to-date.
4. Scanning Email Attachments
Oftentimes, one may receive an email with an attachment to it, the body of the email blank. Upon clicking on that attachment, you could become the victim of a computer virus infection. To prevent viruses from downloading through emails, always scan your attachments first. You never know what might be hiding behind a normal email.
Read More: How To Create A Strong Password & Keep Hackers Away!
5. Back Up Your Data
While this may not be a sure-fire way to prevent a virus attack, it can certainly help a lot. Making backups of your data to other devices can keep you safe even during an attack. If your data is compromised or lost, you can always use the backup and bring yourself back to your position. It may take effort to create backups of every data file, but it can save you by a margin!
Stay tuned for more from Brandsynario!