download anti virus
Stop, think, click! This motto is being enforced now with computers. People think that everything online or being downloaded is safe, but it certainly isn't. I have known so many people to get a virus because of something they downloaded. Thankfully I recently got a free anti virus download on my computer which protects me while I download music or even when I download homework assignments from the school website. When you download anti virus you are protecting yourself and probably saving yourself a lot of money in the long run (and stress). There is also another way experts say to protect yourself and it's called the 7 Practices for Safer Computing.
The first one is to protect your personal information. Identity theft is seriously on the rise right now and when you are shopping online you need to take precautions to know that the website you are on is secure. The second one is to always know who you are dealing with. Online baking is getting more and more popular but also scarier because there is a lot of information being used. You need to make sure you are dealing with actual bank employees when you are entering information into a computer. Use anti-virus software and a firewall, and update both regularly is the third practice. This is key because so many people get an anti virus or firewall protector but they forget to update it so they think they are safe but they aren't. The forth practice is to be sure to set up your operating system and Web browser software properly, and update them regularly (this step is important so that hackers do not take advantage of you). The fifth one is to protect your passwords. I read somewhere that the most common passwords are people's names or the actually word ‘password'. These things are easy for hackers to get into and your life could be ruined if someone gets into your personal information like your banking or credit cards. This kind of online damage could lead to worse things in the future like identity theft. The sixth is to back up important files (which I learned the hard way my freshman year of school when I wrote a 7 page long paper and my computer messed up and I had to rewrite it the night before). And the last one is to learn how to contact someone online if something goes wrong.
These precautions can help you in securing your future and all of your online transactions and may turn out to be a lifesaver one day.