If your PC is unprotected, it will be attacked by viruses within 15 seconds of it being connected to the Internet. An unprotected PC is an easy target for hackers and identity thieves. You must therefore take every precaution to safeguard your computer. This article will give you instructions on how to protect PC from adware, spam ware and virus attacks.
Learn How to Protect PC:
There are few very essential tools that your computer must be equipped with. These are as follows:
Firewall
- A firewall is nothing but a wall or a barrier between your PC and the Internet that prevents your computer from security threats in the form of hackers or viruses.
- It monitors the Internet traffic flowing to your PC and identifies and blocks any unknown sources trying to access your computer.
- It works in the background and hides your PC from view, thus preventing hackers from attempting to hack it.
- You can download some basic Firewall software form the internet free of cost and learn how to protect PC by using it. Some computers also come with built-in firewall systems.
Anti-spam and Anti-spyware
- A spyware or spam ware is software that gets installed on your computer without your consent or knowledge and transmits your data to other systems, or may even take control of your computer.
- Spyware can come on your PC if you download some free software from the internet or download files from file-sharing websites.
- Spyware is capable of following your internet habits and passing this information to hackers. It can also trash your computer, which makes it even more important for you to install anti-spyware for protecting your PC.
Anti-virus
- A virus or a worm spread from computer to computer by duplicating itself and getting into files or other computer codes through downloaded files and e-mail attachments.
- Viruses can take total control of your computer, make it useless and destroy it completely.
- They also send your confidential information to hackers and spread junk mail.
- You must install an anti-virus program and update it at regular time intervals to protect your PC.
You must also keep the following things in mind if you want to protect your PC:
- Be careful about phishing; it is an e-mail that appears to be a genuine correspondence from you bank asking for your sensitive information, but really is a scam. A phishing e-mail is designed to fool you into giving your bank account and credit card information to internet criminals.
- Spam or junk e-mail fills up your inbox with dubious and fraudulent mails, which are mostly pornographic; so always block such mails and report them as spam.
- Your privacy is at stake constantly from the pop-up ads coming on your computer screen. These advertisements and cookies track your surfing habits and transmit all your personal data to hackers.
- Keep away from file sharing websites (peer-to-peer or P2P), as it turns your computer into something like a server and makes it accessible to any person using the P2P service. Therefore, avoid using these services and discourage others form doing this too.
- Don’t open e-mail attachments from unknown senders, as in most of the cases it will be a virus or a worm. Don’t open attachments if they look suspicious to you, even if they are from someone you know. Chances are that their computer has been hacked and is sending you viruses.
- Be careful about the disks and files that you accept from others and make sure that you don’t reuse the disks which have previously been used in other computers if you want to protect your PC.
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