HELPFUL HINTS

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HOW TO BE SAFER ON THE INTERNET.

The big thing about being safe on the internet is keep your PC up to date. Viruses get changes to their code to keep up with the latest anti virus software, so if your PC isn't up to date it wont be able to protect itself. Think of it like a vaccine, a vaccine doesn't do you much good after you have already been sick with a virus!

If you are seeing signs of infection immediately begin updating your system and trying to run a scan or two. Sadly, a lot of the time, when a user is noticing an issue its too late for a scanner to be of much help. The infection is too broad and the PC will need to be looked at professionally. So if after some scans the system is still not operating correctly give us a call at (618) 456 2000 and we will get you back up and going!

Safe Surfing

People always seem to ask me what safe internet browsing guidelines are. I’ve given the same answer over and over again. First rule of thumb, if it says “free” DO NOT click on it. Most free games, free trials, and definitely free items are just a guise to trick you into clicking on them. Once you click on the link, it will automatically download lots of spyware to help you find your perfect item. Now spyware itself in just one program doesn’t hurt that much, but when you have a few hundred to even a few thousand programs running in the background to help you “shop” for items, it can be disastrous to your computer.

Social Networking

Something to keep in mind is if it’s popular, that’s where all the viruses will be located at. I cannot stress to people enough the danger of Facebook. This was a terrific idea behind the site, so it has caught on like a wild fire, but people are using it to mark their name on the world of the internet underground by designing destructive viruses that run amuck in the world of Facebook. It is just impossible for a popular site to contain every virus that contaminates it, tens of thousands of people connect every second and even if they can clean that virus they have up in just a few seconds that’s still thousands of people who are now infected. If you must use Facebook JUST read peoples comments and your main site, NEVER click on any application, picture or advertisement on their website; most likely these links are viruses.

E-mail Savvy

A little tidbit I will touch on now, is when reading your e-mail messages if you do not know the person don’t open the e-mail. If you do know the sender of the e-mail, still be cautious of pictures or other such files since e-mail accounts do get hacked quite often and the hackers will send e-mails to people on the address book of the hacked e-mail account, trick you into thinking your friend sent you a picture; and when you click on this e-mail the hackers now have access to your e-mail account. If you want to try to protect your e-mail address from spam, ask people to not forward you messages, hackers will gain access to an e-mail server and they will usually only collect e-mail addresses from forwards to many e-mail accounts so they get as many addresses as possible to add to their spam lists.

Free Virus and Spyware Scanners

There are many types of virus and spyware/malware scanners available on the market today. Just because its "free" doesn't necessarily mean its a poor choice. The thing to keep in mind with many of the free scanners is that a person needs to monitor them regularly. Paid ones do regular daily scans and such, but I have noticed that gets a person in trouble at times. You think oh my program is running and all is good. Then we forget to check on it regularly and the program has a break down of some type and don't catch it and then you have a bad infection on your hands. So I suggest the free scanners so a person is familiar the program and is monitoring the situation. I personally use the built in security with Windows 10 and Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware.