Secure PC software is crucial to safeguarding your computer, mobile device and data from hackers. Hackers (also known as cybercriminals) are able to hack into your computer or other device for many reasons, including the theft, modification and deletion of information that you consider important. Hackers are motivated by malicious motives, unlike other thieves who may utilize stolen items to fulfill legitimate needs. They are most concerned with the unauthorized access to sensitive information. This could happen before you realize that something is not right.
The three essential steps to protect your PC software are passwords, firewalls and virus protection. If you adhere to these best practices your computer will be significantly less likely to be compromised by malware, hackers or ransomware (software that locks your data and demands payment in order to unlock it).
Change the name of the administrator account. Be sure to choose a strong password that contains lower- and uppercase numbers, letters, and computer symbols. Do do I need antivirus for Mac not use a password that is simple like 1234 as hackers could use automated software to hack passwords that are easy to guess in mere minutes.
Update your operating system and other software. The majority of software updates include security fixes to help protect against hackers. Install all patches and turn on automatic updates when available to minimize the window of time that you are vulnerable to intrusions.
If you own a laptop or any other portable device that isn’t being used, make sure the drive is encrypted. This is especially crucial for UF students. You can enable encryption in Windows by opening Settings > Update & security > Device encryption. This will protect your entire internal drive as well as most external drives, such as SD cards.