4 Simple Ways to Protect Yourself From Malware

We’ve all heard for years that we need to be careful on the internet for a variety of reasons, from being wary about misinformation to preventing the ultimate internet boogiemen, hackers and malware.

There are a ton of negative impacts of cloud malware on organizations, but it can have some pretty devastating consequences for your home computer as well. The advice below should help you avoid these consequences and keep your computer virus-free.

1. Keep Devices Updated

Keeping your devices updated is the first step to protecting yourself from malware. Software updates can do a lot of things, from fixing bugs to increasing compatibility, but the most important reason for an update is to update security. This may be as simple as updating malware definitions to keep the software or the device it’s on safe or as serious as patching a major vulnerability that could make any who don’t update more susceptible to malware intrusion.

If you can, keep an eye on tech news because sometimes these updates cause more problems than they fix. This is rare, but if you hear about it before you update, you may be able to wait until a second update comes out to address the problems introduced by the first one.

If you’ve heard nothing bad about the new update and plan to continue using the device, app or whatever else is prompting an update, then go through with it and enjoy the upgraded security and any new features.

2. Avoid Sketchy Links and Attachments

It’s pretty easy for bad actors to make fake URLs to try and trick you into clicking on them and inviting malware into your system. Luckily there are many ways to spot sketchy links before they can do any harm to you and your system. One quick thing you can do is look at the link’s TLD. To oversimplify TLD a bit, it’s the website’s ending.

For example, most use .com, though .gov, .org and more are also used. Pause and plug the link into a URL scanner before clicking it if it has an unfamiliar TLD as it may be a fake site masquerading as a real one so it can steal your info.

Unfortunately, fake websites aren’t the only sketchy thing you may see. For example, you may get an email with an attachment that you have to click on or tap to fully see it. Before you do, make sure you both recognize the sender and that it makes sense that that person would send you an email like that.

If these conditions aren’t met then don’t even open the email. Contact the person if the email doesn’t seem like it came from them and report it if you don’t recognize the sender. Do not open it.

3. Pay Attention on Every Site You Visit

Websites need to run ads to make money, but some of these ads are malicious. Whenever you visit a website, pay attention and don’t click on pop-ups or fake warnings. They are meant to scare you into downloading malware by falsely claiming that you’re already infected.

Close the website immediately upon seeing one of these pop-ups and run a virus scan if you’re worried about a virus. Should your antivirus discover an issue while you’re browsing, it will pop-up from its own app and some even make a noise to get your attention. If the pop-up is from the site itself and not from your antivirus app then don’t trust it and get away from the site as soon as you can.

Some ads also have large “download now” buttons to try and trick you into downloading malicious files. If you do need to download something from a site with these ads, be careful and only click on the website’s own download button. If you can’t find it then try viewing the page with an adblocker on.

4. Utilize Antivirus Software

If you are incredibly tech-savvy and are very careful about following the advice above then you might not necessarily need antivirus software downloaded onto your computer all of the time. However, if you find yourself confused with this advice or just want the extra safety blanket then keep one at all times. However, downloading the software and running your first scan isn’t all you need to do with them.

You need to ensure it stays updated, just like with the device itself, and do regular scans to ensure your device is clean. When it does spot a threat you will be prompted to delete the offending file or quarantine it to prevent it from doing any harm. Follow its instructions. Even if you don’t want to have an antivirus installed all of the time, make sure you have a trusted one in mind for the occasional spot check or monthly scan.

Do not install more than one antivirus at a time as they may conflict and not only reduce your protection but also crash your system.