Antivirus programs are not perfect and cannot be considered absolute cybersecurity measures. In this article we are going to examine the basic cyber security practices, those that everyone, experts and non-experts, should follow to protect their computer from data damage and theft. It is difficult to make a complete list of all the tips and best practices to follow every day and it is also impossible to do everything (the desire to use a computer would pass us), so here we will see some of the most important cyber security practices that can be and they should be followed without too much effort .
READ ALSO: Check if you are protected enough on the internet and if your PC is safe
1) Use the Antivirus
This is a point that seems obvious and obligatory, but not followed by all. In fact, even the most expert computer technician can be infected, while surfing the internet, from those zero-day vulnerabilities (the unknown ones) of plugins such as Adobe Flash or other programs such as the browser itself, simply by visiting a web page. This will not be frequent, but it happens so it is good to have an antivirus, even if it was Windows Defender of Windows 10 (which works very well.
As antivirus today the most recommended is Avast, free.
2) Leave UAC enabled
User Account Control or UAC is User Account Control, which was hateful in Windows Vista, but which remains much less intrusive and useful in Windows 7 and Windows 10. UAC can be tedious when installing programs on the newly installed or purchased computer, but afterwards it does its job without too much trouble.
UAC helps prevent automatic installation of malicious software that can modify the system without authorization and is an important level of protection.
Experts can limit UAC control in Windows 7, 8 and Vista
3) Leave the Firewall enabled and configure it correctly
Windows has an integrated firewall that works well and is more than enough for everyone. It is therefore not necessary to install an additional firewall, the important thing is to keep Windows enabled. The firewall blocks unsolicited inbound connections and prevents malware from exploiting vulnerabilities of system services that listen to the network. Today, with this integrated firewall, the rapid spread of a worm like the Blaster becomes impossible, which, in other times, spread rapidly all over the world on Windows XP PCs.
Configuring the firewall correctly simply means indicating which type of network is used on Windows 7 and Windows 10: whether home, work or public network. If you select the Home option when you connect to the internet using Wi-Fi in a bar, the laptop shares some files on the network and makes them visible to other connected users. The public option prevents other people from accessing shared resources.
4) Uninstall Java
Most people have an outdated, insecure and useless program: Java.
Unless you work with programs that require it, Java is useless and full of security bugs.
If you have installed Java (look in the list of programs in the Start menu), visit the control panel of your computer and uninstall it.
Alternatively, you can also just disable Java on browsers to avoid security problems
5) Keep software up to date, even automatically if possible
All the programs we use every day are probably full of security problems. These security bugs are found every day and in fact you will notice how the most exposed programs on the internet: Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, the Adobe Flash plugin and some Adobe Reader, Microsoft Office and even Windows itself are continuously updated by those who develop them . It is therefore always important to install these updates as soon as they become available.
Leave Windows Update set to automatically update the system or at least set it to notify you when there are new updates.
Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Adobe Flash, Adobe Reader, the Apple and Google programs all have automatic updating which you must therefore leave enabled in order to always have the latest version, without having to worry. However, browser extensions update automatically on Chrome and Firefox, as well as internal plugins.
6) Pay attention to the programs that you download and install on your computer
A large number of malware are manually installed by the same users who are deceived by apparently innocuous or famous names. It may therefore happen to download a fake antivirus or a modified version of open source programs such as VLC, Emule or others. Even in certain healthy programs, pitfalls often hide in the form of a toolbar or adware. The important thing, when downloading programs, is always to download from the official website of the developer and read the reviews or guides to that software from reliable sites (like Navigaweb.net of course).
Sometimes it is difficult to find the real download button, so check each link to find the right one and avoid downloading an advertised, possibly malicious, program. The same goes for the programs included in the promotional CDs of computer magazines and for the attachments of the Email.
7) Avoid using pirated software and cracked programs
When trying to pirate a paid program, the risk of running into a virus is very high. This common sense practice for cybersecurity is recommended by one who, until recently, used only cracked programs. Then, with the blog, I was able to find out how, for almost all things, there is free software and that it is absolutely not convenient to have pirated programs on the PC. Downloading pirated software is a bad idea from a security perspective because the crack code can be tampered with and cause intrusions.
8) Attention to Social Engineering and Phishing
Today computers are more protected than they used to be and it is more difficult to make viruses and spread them. For this reason, social engineering techniques are used to deceive as many people as possible with announcements and promises. Phishing is the most used technique of social engineering, which consists in sending scam messages via email and bogus request for private data such as those to enter the online bank account.
In another article, the topic on how to defend against social engineering techniques to steal personal data and to scam was investigated.
9) Do not use the same password
If you use the same password everywhere, when a website is compromised by hackers or if one of the passwords is left visible to someone, it may be that that password will be used to attempt access to all our other online accounts. You could also try the password - email address combination to get into your email account and find the information to get everywhere.
10) Always have a malware scanning and removal program at hand.
among the programs that must always be installed on your computer is MalwareBytes Antimalware, the best manual antivirus scanner to find and remove malware. This program should be used when you suspect that your PC is infected and, if used on time, it should be enough to clean up and clean up your computer.
If all this wasn't enough, see which programs to use to remove viruses from your computer
READ ALSO: How not to catch viruses on the internet and protect your PC from malware
