Name some programes that keep a computer secure?

Answer 1

Antivirus software is what you need (to name some of the best; Norton, Kaspersky and Bitdefender). Sorry i did kind of go on a little but i would recommend reading it all to keep yourself safe, virus's and infections can be very dangerous and costly.

Some products like Norton (i know from experience) scan webpages as well as download, this helps avoid clicking on scams, risky sites, or downloading infected files

It is important to keep your antivirus software up to date as new viruses and infected files are posted onto the internet every day

The antivirus software AVG also stops chain mail, this means that those pesky emails you get from your contacts don't get sent to all of yours, these are normally scams such as people needing money or fake investment opportunities

Despite not being a program i recommend backing up files, important documents and personal data such as pictures and recordings. You could upload this data on a removable storage device such as a USB or upload it to the cloud using programs such as Google drive.

Make sure your operating system is up to date, the company (*e.g:Microsoft or apple) could push out some important changes, patching glitches or flaws. Updating should keep your inbuilt firewall up to date (Make sure this is turned on)

When downloading files make sure you have your virus software and firewall turned on, you never know what could be in those files! When opening a file with a .exe extension be extra careful, they are often programs but are commonly used for viruses (Turst me i have had a bad experience with one of these)

Again not a program but for safety don't save/remember passwords on public devices such as a library computer, that meant the next person to use the device can't login to your account or personal details. If at home remember to keep everything secure at night and before you leave, this important if you are doing online banking. Adding a password to your computer would not hurt either, it also stops children and other unwanted people out of your private documents and important work. A good password should have upper and lower case letters, numbers and some special characters (!,",£,$,% etc...)

An example: Example123@$

Scanning your computer regularly can make sure any sneaky viruses are detected before they do too much damage, if your antivirus program can remove the virus do so however if it can't then turn your system off immediately! these bugs can delete and steal data such as passwords, this could lead to money in your bank being stolen if you shop or bank online

When online i would advise using a pop up blocker (depending to browser may need to be turned on or installed), pop ups are usually used for advertisement but can lead to viruses getting into your system. Some internet browsers such as internet explorer have it installed and is automatic on. When online i would also recommend checking your privacy setting (built into your browser) to stop fraud, identity theft and targeted advertising. Especially on a public computer (always after each use) but also at home to take extra precautions clear your browsing history, cookies (No you can't eat these) and browser cache, doing this will help protect your address, name, information and stop websites and other users knowing what sites you have visited. Try to restrict how much information about yourself you put on the internet as it is there forever, even if you delete it, it is still saved in some database, the more you put on there the larger your digital footprint is.

Generally with common sense and precaution you don't need expensive antivirus software, aslong as you are careful with what you look at, download, upload and open you should be ok. However its better to be safe than sorry as a bad virus could be expensive to fix and could give the hacker information such as bank details.