Spring Cleaning – Computer Style
Spring is here according to the calendar, and we are enjoying the new growth in nature and renewal of the earth. Your computer might need renewal too.
Here are some quick tips to help you stay safe and protect your valuable data and computer resources:
1 – Say Yes to software updates. These patches and in some cases enhancements improve your applications by adding protection, fixing bugs and increasing security or giving you new or improved features. They are free, so why not? Don’t skip them.
2 – Say No to duplicate passwords. Sure, it’s easy to use the same password over and over. How many on-line accounts do you have, ten, twenty, one hundred or more? Hackers love it when you make it easy by using the same password over and over. Sort of like the grocers offering BOGO, buy one get one free. The best suggestion it to use a password manager. Look at 1Password or Last Pass or other highly rated password managers. It’s more effort to do this but you might save yourself from loss.
3- Get rid of apps you don’t use any longer or on-line accounts you have not used or essentially forgotten about. We like something, open it, register, use it a couple of times and then forget about it. Do some digging and ditch those things. Don’t forget to clean up browser extensions too if they are not used.
4 – Pay attention to your email. Criminals use emails to spread malware, fakes, and scams. Unsubscribe to mailing list not useful to you. When you get an email that sounds too good to be true, delete it because it’s not (true). Be very cautious when someone sends an email with an attachment you did not expect. If you think it’s important, call them to ask about it. Otherwise delete it. Some phishing emails can look very convincing from what looks like your bank, insurance carrier, or other business you do business with. Hover over the sender’s email and see if it looks legit. You might see some “strange” email sender address, although it appears to be from “customer service”.
5 – Run a scan to delete malware or other nasties. A malware scanner can deep clean your device and go through all files one by one to see if something is lurking there. Numerous well-known vendors offer these apps such as MalwareBytes, Norton, and McAfee as well as others.
Another recommendation is to back up your system daily if not more often. Use a combination of local back up in addition to cloud-based services. This may save you in the future. Things break or fail at the worst possible time. Be sure to test your systems. Is the backup working as you expect? Be aware of problems such as a slow computer, software crashes, or unusual behavior from your system.
Another way to protect yourself is to use two-factor authentication (2FA) for critical data such as banking, investments, medical and so on.
From an article by Malware Bytes. An app for scanner your computer for malware and other noxious things. April 2022