how to protect your computer from viruses for free

Password security company says the three most common passwords are password, 123456, and 12345678. While some people use the same password for everything, try to avoid that practice. Use a strong passwordĪ strong password is one that is complex, with a mix of letters, numbers, and symbols.

For more, see Online Storage Wars: Which Virtual Storage Is Best? 5. And the price is right: free for up to 5 GB of data. Use a service like Google Drive, and your files will be continually backed up to the cloud. You have three basic backup options: an external hard drive, online backup service, or cloud storage. Back up your computerĭo you regularly back up the information on your computer? If you don’t – and 29 percent of computer users fall into that category – you have no protection from calamites ranging from hard drive failure to your house burning down. See our story Antivirus Software is a Waste of Money for more ideas. Avast is another free anti-virus program. For Windows users, Microsoft Security Essentials is free. You don’t have to pay for software to protect your computer or for an annual subscription to maintain the latest virus protection. Microsoft says 44.8 percent of Windows virus infections happen because the computer user clicked on something. Don’t click on links within emailsĪ good rule of thumb is if you don’t recognize a sender of an email, don’t click on any links within it. The software patch came after the Department of Homeland Security sent out an advisory late last week about the security flaw recommending computer users disable the Java plug-in in their Web browsers. Oracle just released on Sunday an update to its Java software to fix a security hole hackers could have used to infect computers with malware. Software makers like Microsoft and Oracle routinely update their software to fix bugs that could potentially be exploited by hackers. But let’s take a look at eight additional ways you can protect yourself from viruses and malware: 1.

The way to defeat these scams is simple enough – don’t give strangers your credit card numbers or access to your computer.

How to protect your computer from viruses for free