Staying safe online has become more difficult as time goes on. With the number of viruses, hackers, scams, and fake websites on the internet today it’s very important to have the best in computer security. We at Turbo IT Solutions understand it’s hard to figure out how to protect yourself from these types of problems. With these 7 tips, we hope your business can become more secure in the online world.
Creating Good Passwords
We know it’s annoying when a website asks for 1 uppercase letter, 1 number, and 1 symbol for their passwords. It can also be hard to create a unique password for every website you need to use for your business. It is very important, however, to have different complex passwords. According to revisionlegal.com, “In 2015, there were more than 177,866,236 personal records exposed via 780 data security breaches. Businesses were the target of 40% of the security breaches (312 breaches).” By having different passwords with unique characters in it, you can better avoid hackers from getting access to your information. It is also important that once you’re done on one of your accounts to log out so that if somebody were to access your computer, they couldn’t grab any of your information.
Use a Password Manager
Now you may be thinking to yourself, how do I remember so many different complicated passwords? One of the best ways to is by using a password manager. The password manager we like to use at Turbo IT Solutions is called KeePass. This program keeps all your passwords in a safe place, that can only be accessed by you. Now you go from having to memorize multiple passwords to just memorizing one. The best thing about KeePass is it’s completely free! If you would like a step by step tutorial on how to use KeePass, click this link to start learning: KeePass Tutorial
If you would like to download KeePass click this link: KeePass Download
Download Antivirus Programs
The best way to avoid viruses and scams on your computers is by downloading an antivirus program. The problem is, there’s so many to choose from that boast all sorts of features and benefits, so which one do you choose for your business? If you’re looking for an anti-virus software that has good value in both price and functionality, AVG should be your anti-virus of choice. With the free antivirus plan, you get access to full computer scans, blocks unsafe links/downloads/emails, access to computer performance issues, and real-time security updates. If AVG suspects a website or download to be unsafe, it will automatically refuse to load the web page or start the download. In my opinion, AVG is the best antivirus program for its price. To learn more about AVG and what other plans they offer, click the website link: AVG Download
Double Check URL’s and Downloads
Although Antivirus software are really good at keeping you safe online, they’re not perfect. Sometimes certain downloads or websites slip by the antivirus database, so it’s important to have a good judgment. The most common way of noticing a bad download is the file size. If you are looking to download a song and notice that the file size is unrealistically big (100MB or more) it most likely contains viruses that can infect your computer. Always check your URLs as well. Usually, a bad URL will be similar to actual product names. For example, instead of facebook.com, a scam website would call it face-book.com.
Download Ad Blocker
The majority of ads on websites are tricks to get access to your personal information. We’ve all seen them, the ones that say “free credit check” or “win a free iPad”. Just accidentally clicking on these ads can be bad for your computer, so the best way to avoid them is by eliminating them completely. Adblock Plus is an extension on your internet browser that automatically blocks all ads on websites, so you can easily browse websites without worrying about potential scams/viruses. Click this link to learn how to install it on your browser: AdBlock Plus
Encryption
Encryption is the act of protecting private files on your computer with passwords. Programs like Veracrypt help you keep these files private so that only you can access them. Since it is a more complicated technical program, I have included a link to a good step by step tutorial. Veracrypt Tutorial
VPN’s
A VPN is a private server that only certain users can access. A VPN connects devices of your choice to another computer (called a server) and allows you to browse the internet using that computer’s connection. So if that server is in a different country, it will appear as if you are coming from that country, and it can help you provide some anonymity on the internet as well as keep your information safe from public wifis. Click this link to learn more about what VPN’s do and how to use them: TunnelBear VPN Program
With these tips, we hope that you can take the first steps to building a better security for your computers and networks. If you would like to learn more IT tips for your business make sure to check out our social media, where we post new informative content to make your business better!