How to Prevent Malware From Infecting Your Computer

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How to Prevent Malware From Infecting Your Computer U1FMoZB is a software which is specifically designed to disrupt, damage, or gain authorized access to a computer system. Malware, short for malicious software, is an umbrella term used to refer to a variety of forms of hostile or intrusive software, including computer viruses, worms, Trojan horses, ransomware, spyware, adware, scareware, and other intentionally harmful programs.

The Basics of the Computer Virus





Malware Prevention Tips

While no single strategy is ever 100 percent fool-proof, there are some attempted and genuine cybersecurity techniques for keeping malware contaminations under control that, if set in motion, will shield you from the vast majority of the trash of the Internet.

Yes, it’s possible to clean up an infected computer and fully remove malware from your system. But the damage from some forms of malware, like ransomware, cannot be undone. If they’ve encrypted your files and you haven’t backed them up, the jig is up. So your best defense is to beat the bad guys at their own game.





Update Programs and Windows

Ever wondered why it’s important to install the Windows and programs updates?

Most of them include security updates. Security issues are the worst possible  security vulnerabilities – as they may be exploited by malware or hackers. These types of situations are regularly identified in various parts of Windows – ActiveX, Internet Explorer and .Net Framework are just examples.

Other updates address other bugs and issues in Windows and programs. Even though they are not responsible for security vulnerabilities, they might impact the stability of your Operating System, or just be annoying.

Last, but not least, Windows Updates and programs updates sometimes come with new features, while patching some known issues.

Most computers have Windows Updates set up to “Install Updates Automatically”, which is the recommended setting. However, you also have the option of manually checking for updates. Here’s how:

Open Control Panel > Windows Updates and click on “Check for Updates”.

If you’re running Windows 8.1 or Windows RT 8.1, you can manually check for and install the updates by following these steps:

1. Make sure your PC is plugged in and connected to the Internet using a non-metered connection. Don’t disconnect, unplug, or turn off your PC while the update is being installed.

2. Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, tap or click Settings, and then tapor click Change PC settings. (If you're using a mouse, point to the lower-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer up, click Settings, and then click Change PC settings.)

3. Tap or click Update and recovery, and then tap or click Windows Update.

4. Tap or click Check now.

If you’re running Windows 10, you can manually check for and install the updates by following these steps:

To check for updates now, click the Start Menu button, and then go to Settings > Update & security > Windows Update, and click on Check for updates. If Windows Update says your device is up to date, you have all the updates that are currently available.

    Tip
By default settings Windows 10 periodically checks for updates so you don’t have to. When an update is available, it’s automatically downloaded and installed, keeping your device up to date with the latest features.


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Cyber criminals frequently and automatically scan websites and PCs with different types of malware to see if there are any vulnerabilities they can use to penetrate that website or system. And they find these backdoors a lot more often than you can imagine. An example of a software vulnerability is buffer overflow. This is a very common weakness, where a data input uses up more space than it’s given, so it spills over into different locations, causing an app to crash or giving cyber attackers a way into your PC.

Buffer overflow is also a method that cyber criminals can use to gain administrator right to your system. Once that happens, they can run malware on your PC without you knowing it.

All that can start with an outdated applications. Software updates do not include only performance improvements and new features. Almost every time you receive an update, you can be sure that it packs security fixes as well. That’s why updates are crucial and you should install them as soon as they become available: because they can put a plug in the security holes in your PC and make your system safer.

In the spirit of keeping things real, you should understand that updates can’t fix all of your security problems. There are glitches in software that even the software makers aren’t aware of. Sometimes, cyber criminals will discover these weaknesses on their own and start exploiting them until the makers can release an update.

Patch My PC Home Updater  is a free, easy-to-use program that keeps over 300 apps up-to-date on your computer. It is an easy way to update or install any of these programs on your computer. It is a free and very useful tool that allows you to keep your computer secure by automatically updating older versions of installed software so that possible security vulnerabilities are patched.

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Heimdal Free is a program that scans your computer for outdated programs and silently updates them so you are using the latest and most secure versions. This allows your computer to be protected from vulnerabilities that are commonly found in older programs. The updates are installed automatically, in the background.

No one likes to navigate confusing websites looking for the right software version. You have to avoid toolbars, spyware, adware and other threats to find the app you need. Heimdal FREE makes it easy: choose from a list of over 20 applications and install a new app with one click. The latest version is always available and there is no need to download and run an installer. Safe, easy and quick!

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Uninstall Unused Apps

In Windows, go to Control Panel > Program and Features and click on the “Installed on” column to sort your apps.

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This will help you see which are the oldest apps you have installed and sort through them, so you can uninstall what you don’t use constantly.







Choose Strong Passwords

Passwords are the keys to your accounts - only the person with the key can access them. When choosing a password, you want to make sure you choose one that is unique, strong, and not easily guessed by strangers or those close to you. Choose a password that uses letters, numbers, lowercase, uppercase, and characters. Never use the same password for different accounts. It is good practice to change your password every few months.

While it’s easy for a human to be tricked by fake login pages, password managers are not tricked in the same way. If you use a password manager (including the built-in password manager in your browser), and it refuses to auto-fill a password, you should hesitate and double check the site you’re on. Better yet, use randomly generated passwords so that you are forced to rely on auto-fill, and less likely to type your password into a fake login page.

Check out, Creating a good password, tutorial.







Use Reputable Antivirus Software

There are more than 600 million malware programs targeting Windows users. Antivirus software also plays a key role in helping you stay safe on the internet. A strong, reputable IT security solution can prevent malicious software from getting onto your machine and clean up any issues that may slip past your system’s defenses. Remember to enable auto updates and ensure your antivirus settings are suited to your needs and browsing habits also run regularly scheduled scans with your Anti-Virus software.

Below are some reliable free and paid antivirus programs.

Avast Home Edition

AVG Antivirus Free Edition

Avira Antivir Personal Edition

ESET Nod32 - paid software

Kaspersky - paid software

Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware – Free and paid versions.


Even with antivirus software watching your back, follow these rules to reduce your risk of infection:

  • Open only attachments that you’re expecting. If you receive something unexpected from a friend, don’t open it. Instead, email or phone that person to ask whether he or she really sent you something. Your friend’s computer might be infected and trying to infect your computer, as well.

  • Be wary of items arriving in email that ask for a click. For example, if you receive a message saying somebody wants to be a Facebook friend, don’t click it. Instead, visit Facebook from your browser and look to see whether the person is listed on your “waiting to be friended” list. The more emailed links you can avoid, the safer you’ll be.


  • Avoid websites that provide pirated material. If you have to download a file from the Internet, an email, an FTP site, a file-sharing service, etc., scan it before you run it. A good anti-virus software will do that automatically, but make sure it is being done.


  • Some pop-up windows or boxes will attempt to corner you into downloading software or accepting a free "system scan" of some type. Often these pop-ups will employ scare tactics to make you believe you need what they are offering in order to be safe. Close the pop-up without clicking anything inside it (including the X in the corner). Close the window via Windows Task Manager (press Ctrl-Alt-Delete).


  • Never use illegal file-sharing services if you do you're on your own if you enter this realm. There is little quality control in the world of illegal software, and it is easy for an attacker to name a piece of malware after a popular movie, album, or program to tempt you into downloading it.


  • No matter which browser you use, keeping it current is vital to preventing infection. Take advantage of your browser's pop-up blocking, download screening, and automatic update features.


  • Use extreme caution when accepting file transfers.


  • Use an email service that provides protection against malicious attachments, links, and abusive senders. Microsoft Office 365 has built-in antimalware, link protection, and spam filtering, helping protect you from malware, phishing, and other email threats.



Use a Personal Firewall

Personal firewalls are the best way to protect your home computer against malicious attacks. The personal firewalls monitor all incoming and outgoing traffic on your computer. They check each bundle of data, or packet, that attempts to cross from the Internet to your computer, and vice versa. Every data packet has a signature identifying who sent the packet and how the packet should be processed. Firewalls look at this information and then make access decisions for you. They base these decisions on pre-determined firewall rules. If a packet is of unknown origin or doesn’t fit a rule, the firewall will prompt you to make an ad hoc decision. Beyond their basic duties, personal firewalls monitor and cloak ports to frustrate port scanning techniques. They identify and block known Trojan horses and malicious Web scripts. And, they let you know when an unknown program on your machine is attempting to access the Internet. Essentially, personal firewalls keep the unwanted out, let the desirable in, and keep watch for suspicious activity.

Comodo Firewall Pro

ZoneAlarm Free Firewall

GlassWire Firewall

TinyWall Firewall








Use an Adblocker

A good adblocker can greatly enhance your online experience. Not only does it make pages load faster and remove annoying ads from your online life, it also makes your web browsing experience safer and more private by removing the risk of malvertising (malicious software spread via advertising) and preventing ad servers from keeping tabs on your browsing habits.

There are a few options competing for the title of best adblocker, but we recommend the free and open-source uBlock Origin, which supports most modern browsers.


Web Browsers Privacy Extensions You Should Use








Check Your Browser Plugins

Browser plugins are an insidious security threat. They seem completely harmless, but the truth is that they can hurt both your privacy and your security.

So it’s good to keep things under control, especially because cyber criminals use browsers as the main attack tactic.

How to clean up your extensions in Chrome:

Go to your Chrome menu and go to Settings:

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Choose Extensions:

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Delete the extensions you don’t need or use anymore:

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How to clean up your extensions and plugins in Firefox:

Go to your Firefox menu and click Add-ons:

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Choose Add-ons or Extensions:

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For extensions, choose to disable or remove them:

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For plugins, choose either to “Never activate” or “Ask to activate” for those plugins that you know are vulnerable to attack. Or for all of them if you want to be really careful.

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You may have toolbars installed or any other type of crapware that comes with shady apps.











Use WinPatrol

WinPatrol will alert you to hijackings, malware attacks and critical changes made to your computer without your permission.

Using Winpatrol to protect your computer from malicious software








Backup Your Imporatant Files

Backup refers to making copies of data so that these additional copies may be used to restore the original after a data loss event.  When using a computer, data loss often appears due to virus infection, system failure, partition damaged and more. In order to ensure data security, you had better back up the entire disk or only your important files.

Here are the 5 best disk cloning and file backup software for your Windows to keep your data safe and secure:

Ease US Todo Backup Home

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EaseUS Todo Backup Free is extraordinary compared to other circle cloning software for your Windows. The product is flawless, and straight forward and comes free of cost. With the help of this tool you can openly clone Windows 10 OS to new hard drive inside couple of minutes. You can utilize Disk Clone choice to clone the entire hard drive to another under Windows 10. Unlike the basic copy and paste, Clone will enable you to begin your PC and additionally program typically without reinstalling the system and other applications. Get it here





Macrium Reflect

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Macrium Reflect is a free backup, disk imaging and cloning solution for personal and commercial use. Protect your data, upgrade your hard disk or try new operating systems in the safe knowledge that everything is securely saved in an easily recovered backup file. Get it here






Acronis True Image

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If you’re an amateur, then Acronis Cloning Software can prove out to be one of the best disk cloning software you’ve ever used so far. Comes with a simple uniquely designed interface and bold icons. The features present in this computer imaging software are quite powerful which allow users to customize the cloning process, just how they want it. Get it here





Clonezilla

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Regardless of whether there is a single machine or a bunch of computers, Clonezilla can perform disk cloning productively and rapidly. This disk imaging software makes the procedure simple and adaptable in many ways. Get it here




MiniTool ShadowMaker

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MiniTool ShadowMaker is an all-in-one data protection and disaster recovery solution for PCs. It can back up your Windows Operating System, selected partitions, and even the whole disk. With a copy of backup, you are able to restore computer once a disaster occurs, like system crash, hard drive failure, and more.

The main feature of the program is to create backups of any physical disk that is connected to the computer it is run on without sacrificing important features such as compression, encryption or verification of backups.

The program supports a wide variety of additional features; these include creating bootable recovery media, disk cloning, and different backup schemes. Get it here


How to Create a Solid Backup Strategy










Update Java Runtime Environment

    Caution
It is very important not only to keep Sun Java up to date but also to remove older versions which have security holes and can be exploited by malware.


Java Update is a feature that keeps your Windows computer up-to-date with the latest Java releases. When you have auto update enabled, your system periodically checks for new versions of Java. When a new version is found you're prompted to give a permission to upgrade your Java installation. You can schedule how often to check for updates, or check manually at any time.









Be Careful What You Download

A top goal of cybercriminals is to trick you into downloading malware—programs or apps that carry malware or try to steal information. This malware can be disguised as an app: anything from a popular game to something that checks traffic or the weather. Our advice to you is, don't download apps that look suspicious or come from a site you don't trust. Always hover over a link (especially one with a URL shortener) before you click to see where the link is really taking you.

You can drastically reduce the risk of an infection by knowing what and from where you are downloading a file. We recommend that you install a site advisor like Norton Safe Web or Bitdefender Traffic Light which will help you decide if the site is trustworthy or not. As a general rule it’s recommended that you download files from known and reputable sites that have confirmed that the download is malware free. If you are unsure about the quality of a download, leave the site and research the software you are being asked to install. If it is OK, you can always come back to site and install it. If it is not OK, you will avoid a malware headache.










Surf the Web Safely

The web is filled with useful and helpful content that we use every day. While there are billions of helpful pages, the web also contains sites that have been intentionally set up for malicious purpose. Some legitimate sites also get compromised—they are modified by attackers to deliver malware and other malicious content.

By visiting malicious or compromised sites, your PC can get infected with malware automatically or you can get tricked into downloading and installing malware. To avoid malware that are distributed through these websites:


  • Do not click links in suspicious messages you received in email or other messaging services.

  • Learn to spot spoofed or fake websites.

  • Avoid sites that are likely to contain malware.


How to Stay Safe Online










Watch Out For Social Engineering

Another top method for infection is to scam users through social engineering. Whether that’s an email that looks like it’s coming from your bank, a tech support scam, or a fishy social media campaign, cybercriminals have gotten rather deft at tricking even tech-savvy surfers. By being aware of the following top tactics, you can fend off uninvited malware guests:

Check the sender’s address. Is it from the actual company he or she claims? Hover over links provided in the body of the email. Is the URL legit? Read the language of the email carefully. Are there weird line breaks? Awkwardly constructed sentences that sound foreign? And finally, know the typical methods of communication for important organizations. For example, the IRS will never contact you via email. When in doubt, call your healthcare, bank, or other potentially-spoofed organization directly.

Bonus mobile phone tip: Cybercriminals love spoofing banks via SMS/text message or fake bank apps. Do not confirm personal data via text, especially social security numbers. Again, when in doubt, contact your bank directly.


Do not call fake tech support numbers. These often involve pop-ups from fake companies offering to help you with a malware infection. How do you know if they’re fake? A real security company would never market to you via pop-up saying they believe your computer is infected. They would especially not serve up a (bogus) 1-800 number and charge money to fix it. If you have security software that detects malware, it will show such a detection in your scan, and it will not encourage you to call and shell out money to remove the infection. That’s a scam trying to infect you. Don’t take the bait.

On the flip side, there are those who may pick up the phone and try to bamboozle you the good old-fashioned way. Tech support scammers love to call up and pretend to be from Microsoft. They’ve detected an infection, they say. Don’t believe it.

What is Social Engineering?










Physical Media Infections

Portable storage solutions such as USB flash drives, external hard drives and other devices make sharing files easier than ever. Together with floppy disks and optical discs (CDs/DVDs), carrying important files with you is a snap. Therefore, there will probably be times you receive a storage device from a colleague, family member or friend that contains files you need or simply want to transfer to your computer. After all, that is what the media was designed for - sharing files. Nevertheless, you should be extra cautious about files you receive on media from other sources.

Your friends, family, and associates may unknowingly give you a disc or flash drive with an infected file on it. Don't blindly accept these files; scan them with security software. If you are still unsure, do not accept the files.

Anti-AutoExec does only one thing, it blocks USB-spreading malware so it doesn't infect your PC. It effectively block all processes executed via Autorun.inf file, it is very lightweight and you don't have to configure anything, just install the software and it will protect your PC in the background.

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Disable Image Previews in Outlook

Simply receiving an infected Outlook e-mail message, one in which graphics code is used to enable the virus' execution, can result in a virus infection. Prevent against automatic infection by disabling image previews in Outlook.

By default, newer versions of Microsoft Outlook do not automatically display images. But if you or another user has changed the default security settings, you can switch them back (using Outlook 2007) by going to Tools | Trust Center, highlighting the Automatic Download option, and selecting Don't Download Pictures Automatically In HTML E-Mail Messages Or RSS.








Follow Up On Your Suspicions

If you find a suspicious file on you computer you scan it with multiple antivirus scanners to determine if it is a threat or not. Use one or more of the following online file scanners.

Jotti’s malware scan

VirSCAN.org is a FREE on-line scan service.

Virustotal suspicious file analysis.






Security professionals agree a multi-layer approach—using not only multiple layers of security technology but also user awareness—helps keep you protected from the bad guys and your own mistakes. Now go forth and fight malware!

What is a Worm Virus

What is Trojan Horse Virus

What is Spyware

What is a Rootkit

What Is a Keylogger

What are Potentially Unsafe Applications

What are Potentially Unwanted Application (PUA)

What is Cryptojacking Attacks

What is Oligomorphic Malware

What is Metamorphism Malware

What are Malware Obfuscation

How to Secure Your Cloud Storage

How to Secure Your Text Messages

How to Secure Your Voice Conversations

How to Secure Your Email

Web Tracking Technologies

How to Anonymize Your Internet Use

What is Private Browsing and Why You Need Private Browsing

Encrypt Your Local Files, Folders, and Drives

How to Protect Yourself Against Scammers

How to Prevent Identity Theft

How to Stay Safe Online


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