A virus can be an upsetting, expensive endeavor to deal with. A virus can wreak havoc on your personal files (like important spreadsheets or family photos) or the system files that keep your computer functioning.
These files can become corrupted, encrypted, or deleted, which makes recovery difficult or sometimes impossible.
Some less obvious viruses — the ones that might slow down your system instead of destroying it — can still affect you by stealing data and what you type on your keyboard, gaining access to your stored credit card information or important sites you use, like your bank.
First thing’s first: if you email or get email frequently, the best practice to avoid a virus is to only open emails from senders that you are familiar with.
This will mitigate the risk of receiving a malicious message that could lead to you self-inflicting a virus by mistake. If the email does come from a friend but the email subject sounds suspicious, take precaution and contact them on an alternate method to confirm they did send it.
Some infections, once in an email account, will send out spam emails to infect others and, while you personally may not be infected yet, a friend might be.
Second, be careful what you download and where you download from. Malicious software is everywhere and recklessly browsing the Internet can lead to getting a virus.
To avoid this, always check for a secure website, one that starts with “HTTPS://” — this means that the connection is secure and it’s safe to visit due to the encryption on the webpage.
Fortunately, most websites that people visit daily have the option for a secure “https://” URL, so try adding an “s” to the “http://” portion of your address bar when browsing your favorite websites (if it doesn’t already have it).
Third, install anti-virus software and make sure to keep it up to date. Legitimate anti-virus software aims to keep your device protected, however it’s a method of prevention and can’t keep out everything depending on your actions.
Even with anti-virus, you should browse responsibly and update the software as soon as possible, whenever possible to cover yourself.
New threats are being created and distributed daily and updating the software gives your anti-virus the means to combat malicious files.
The best tool to prevent this issue is managed anti-virus, such as the one provided by Tech Experts.
We provide a solution that is managed and monitored so we can catch viruses as they happen rather than after they happen. This reduces (or eliminates) downtime and keeps your computer clean and running smoothly throughout the year.
Remember, a computer is only as safe as you make it, however with the proper precautions, you will be able to enjoy your personal computer without the dangers of viruses, spyware, adware, or ransomware.
Evaluate everything before you open it or navigate to it, don’t download anything that seems even slightly suspicious, and always err on the site of caution.
Taking a chance on something could mean losing all of your data and facing an unexpected cost from a repair bill.