Our computers hold just about everything that’s important in our lives. From simple phone numbers and contact information for people we’re close to, to the most important work and business related documents and forms and even our personal finance information.
No matter the kind of data you have stored in your computer, you want to make sure it’s safe no matter what, so that in any sort of emergency, you don’t lose everything that’s important to you. But if you’re in the dark about how to keep your computer and its contents as safe as you can, you’re not alone.
That’s why we’ve put together this list of 4 simple things that you can do today to make sure your information is safe no
matter what happens to your computer.
Back Everything Up
The best practice to follow so you will never have to worry about losing your important information is to back everything up before you even have a chance to lose it.Invest in a good, large external hard drive and save a copy of everything on your computer to your hard drive, as well. Don’t leave the hard drive lying around your home or office – when you’re done backing up to it, toss it into a purse or briefcase so it’s always with you. That way no one else will have access to the information stored on it besides you.
Password Protect Your Computer
When you log into your computer, you should have it set so that you have to enter a password to access even the desktop area.If you don’t have this in place yet, you’ll want to set one up. This way, no one else besides you (and whoever you choose to share your password with) will have access to the files and data stored on your computer. If you walk away from your machine at all during the work day, make sure you set it to sleep so that it requires the password to “wake up” again.
You don’t want co-workers or unwanted family members to visit all of your personal information stored on your computer while you’re away from it, so set it with a password if you want to protect it.
Install Anti-Virus Software
Some of the best anti-virus softwares available on the market today are either relatively inexpensive, or some are even free. You’ll want to install one of these as soon as possible.Anti-virus software will help protect your computer from unexpected hackers who try to disguise viruses in email or browser links. Viruses are more common than you think, and people who are professionals in hacking into peoples’ computers are also professionals at disguising the viruses that they create.
By having a good anti-virus software installed, you minimize, or even potentially eliminate, the risk of your computer getting a virus that has the capability of eating all of your data and making it unavailable to you.
Update Your Operating System
Believe it or not, many hackers love to find loopholes in the security of some operating systems. If your current OS is out of date, you may be at risk for a potentially deadly computer virus.There are “holes” in older operating systems that many hackers have figured out over the years. So take the 5 or 10 minutes it takes to download and install the latest operating system update for your computer to protect it overall from hackers and viruses.
