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It isn’t just cold and flu season for
people—computers are prone to coming down with viruses and nasties,
too. Give your PC a winter check-up to make sure it’s in shape for the
year ahead. The following checklist will help you determine whether
your computer is the picture of health or prone to come down with the
sniffles.
- Check to see if you have security
software installed on your computer.
- Make sure your security software is
up to date.
- Find out if your security software
automatically updates, or if it requires manual updates.
- If you own a laptop, make sure your
security software works on wireless networks outside your home.
- The following types of risky online
behavior can put your PC at higher risk:
- Surfing
open wireless networks
- Downgrading
or disabling your computer’s security settings
- Visiting
websites with out-of-date security certificates or other questionable
characteristics
- Opening
emails, attachments and links from unknown senders
- Check to see if your computer’s
performance is noticeably slower than it used to be.
- Test-drive your computer’s programs
to see if they don’t work as well, or stopped working.
- Make sure you don’t have different
security programs on your system that conflict with each other.
Think of security software as an
immune system booster for your computer: it protects against many
common bugs that get passed around. But when that software is out of
date—or absent altogether—your computer is more vulnerable to all sorts
of health hazards. So keep your PC in tip-top shape by making sure
you’ve got the best, most reliable security software out there.
Do you think you may have computer settings that have been changed by
spyware or other unwanted programs? To give your computer a free scan
with Micro Trend’s HijackThis, click here. |
