What security do I need for my laptop?

With growing technology viruses and malwares becoming a big problem, Criminals steal personal data, identity, bank, and credit card account numbers. You should protect your personal information no matter what devices you are using, it is a great idea to pick a security suite that installs and runs on your phone and laptop, and some other devices. Laptops store all types of valuable information, from apps passwords, and confidential files to financial and personal emails, this feature makes criminals attractive targets for cyber-attack. There are several quick and easy steps that you can take to increase the security of your laptop, the most important stuff are actually very simple.

Set complex passwords                                      

Using passwords is essential in stopping other people from getting unwanted access to your laptop. If you frequently use your laptop in public places like your office in the company it is a good idea to ensure that people can’t enter your laptop if you have left your laptop neglected for a few minutes, make sure that the screensaver starts automatically and demands a password to reach. These passwords should be unique, long, and difficult to guess you can use symbols with numbers or some sentences, avoid using simple numbers or your birth date.  And if you are using the same password for all apps and devices, you have given somebody access to all of your accounts on your laptop and it is so important that don’t share your passwords with others, like colleagues. Good passwords are like really good locks on the door, having a password on your computer and phone will stop strangers and people from picking up and using your device.

Update your laptop security software

The best way to keep your laptop safe and secure is to keep your software up to date. Browsers like Chrome and Firefox may update by default, make sure to turn on auto-update for your operating system, browser and apps, if that item is unavailable, set yourself a regular reminder to manually update your system. The next important point is to scan files before opening them with antivirus software before opening them, files and updates can contain odd words or dubious web pages. So don’t leave security software and virus definitions out of the update.

Backup your data

Backing up your data is necessary to ensure you do not lose what you hold in your laptop from ransomware attacks to stolen data. You can do it with either a local backup or a cloud backup.  Have a recent copy of your information on hand when malware catches your personal data. There are several techniques and ways to back up your data. Pay attention to not backing up files to the same hard disk that Windows is installed on. Always store media used for backups in a safe place to prevent unauthorized people from having access to your personal files and data.

Increase your laptop’s physical security

Physical security for laptops means keeps it a close eye on your device. It is easy for people to steal it from your office room, at an airport, from your car, or at a cafe or library. Never leave your laptop unguarded or unattended in public places, exactly in palaces that aren’t totally secure. securing your laptop to a table with a lockable cable can greatly reduce the risk of theft This isn’t strictly a security issue, but you will want to protect your laptop from physical damage. Add a cover to your laptop, it can help you avoid any crash that can cause data mislaying. to keep your laptop safer from knocks or collisions, choose a waterproof outer coating to stop any rain from soaking through. Webbed pockets on the sides are also desirable, as you are carrying a bottle of water or a reusable coffee cup without the danger of it spilling onto your laptop it can hurt it. Then it will be good to invest in the best quality bag. At last, don’t leave laptops unlocked and unattended, and don’t use untested location-tracking software. Remember this tip, enable the location finding service on your laptop, it can be a great help if you lose your laptop, because you are distracted or it is stolen by a thief.

Click on Emails links that are safe

Email attachments are the primary source of virus infection. Sometimes, malicious links will come from your friends who have been infected, or from emails that look legitimate but are actually fake. This is popular as  phishing. So that isn’t enough to don’t open emails from people you don’t know and don’t click on links in emails that you don’t trust, if you open that file, the virus will infect your laptop. If you want to be truly safe and secure, you could never click on all of the links in your emails. But that’s not realistic or suitable, although we suggest against clicking email links to sensitive locations like the bank’s website, head to your bank’s website normally. For other links in emails, use caution when deciding whether to click a link in a message the middle option is knowing how to consider a link before you click on it, even ones from your best friends or family.

Watch out about programs you download and install

Be aware that there are many different kinds of programs, be careful about the programs you download and run in your system.  Make sure to download and run software that’s widely popular and trustworthy, or suggested by trustworthy sites. When you are in doubt, be wary of any site that offers downloads of free programs or anything else that shouldn’t be available to users for a few months or without a fee, because hackers know that people want things immediately and free by tempting them to download things. As extra security, run one anti-virus software after downloading the files, to ensure that nothing that can steal your information.

Don’t Trust the notifications

Never download, run or install some programs you didn’t go looking for. If a website sends you a notification that you are out of recent date, Chrome needs to be up to date, or a program needs to be added to your system. They are a usual trick to get you to install something for attackers. The Message Bar can show security alerts when there are potentially unsafe active contents in the file that you want to open or you may have a file that you are ready to edit and you need to enable editing. In this situation, the Message Bar appears, a yellow icon or read icon to alert you about the problems. If you know the content is from reliable sources, on the yellow Message Bar, you can click enable contents to create trusted documents or enable content for a session, at the red Message Bar, you can click the warning text in the Office view, the view that you see when you click the file tab, then you can click edit anyway.

Use a private network

To secure your privacy when using public Wi-Fi and prevent your internet supplier from tracking the browser history, use VPN services. because public Wi-Fi is convenient, it is not always safe.  making it impossible for people on the same network to track what you are doing, sending data with your smartphones or laptops when using Wi-Fi hotspots in public places, like at coffee shops, restaurants, airports, or hotels, could expose your most sensitive personal data like passwords, bank account, and credit card numbers to cybercriminals.

Microsoft Defender Offline

Microsoft Defender Offline is an antimalware scanning tool that allows you to boot and run a scan from a trusted place, it runs outside of Windows to delete rootkits and other threats that cover the Windows operating system, it can aim at malware that attempts to bypass the Windows. You can use it if you doubt malwares infection, or you want to select a clear endpoint after malware begin. In both Windows 10 and Windows 11, it can be run with one click directly from the Windows Security application. In previous versions of Windows, a user had to install Microsoft Defender Offline to bootable media, restart the endpoint, and load the bootable media, it is provided as a separate download for previous versions of Windows.

Summary

Taking a few simple steps can go a long way toward protecting your privacy and making your laptop more secure, you should be equally careful when you download files to your device. Viruses and malware are more prevalent than ever which is why you should take caution before you download some programs or files. Don't click on links or ads for software in email, popups, Make sure to turn on automatic updates in Windows Update to keep Windows and other Microsoft applications up to date, install and use antivirus software and keep it current, Make sure your passwords are hard to guess and protect your laptop, Don’t open suspicious attachments or click unusual links in messages, and also avoid downloading movies, music, programs, or applications that do not come from trusted sources and you doubt in them, and the last item doesn't use USBs or other external devices from other people.