The internet can be a rough and tumble place sometimes, especially if you aren’t technologically savvy or up to speed on the geeky jargon that gets thrown around. If you’ve got a family computer and kids old enough to use it and browse online every day, you probably will want to know what you all can do to safely surf the web to not only protect yourselves from harm, but to save your computer from viruses and malware, which have the potential to completely crash your machine. Here are some safe browsing tips for beginners.
Use the most secure web browser
Almost one-third of Internet users have fallen victim to socially engineered malware, either by clicking through a fake website, opening a malicious document, or clicking on an infected email link. Installing and running the most secure web browser is a good way to protect yourself against engineered malware and phishing sites. NSS, an independent testing organization, found Microsoft’s Edge browser blocked 99% of the samples that were thrown at it, while the popular Google Chrome stopped 85.9%, and Mozilla Firefox stopped 78.3%.
Get malware protection
Having an antivirus software installed on your computer is a great defense in case malware ends up invading your computer. There are plenty of free options, but some of those options can be viruses themselves, so do your research when determining which one is from a reputable company.
If you’re unlucky enough to experience malware on your computer, there are ways to remove it. Taking your computer into a shop to get serviced is probably the simplest way since you just drop it off and pick it up when it’s ready, but it helps to know what kind of process is involved. Similarly, you can contact a company online like FraudWatch International to remove PAC files, malware, and viruses.
Use a password manager
You know that convenient feature on your browser that auto-fills your passwords and login information when you visit a website that requires an account, like Amazon, it can help you, so you don’t have to remember all your passwords, but it’s also a great place for hackers to gain all your information in one swoop. Instead, get a password manager and turn off the ‘remember passwords’ option on your web browser. This way, you only need one secure login, and then you can create individual passwords for each website without having to worry about remembering them all. This can save you a lot of headache in case an account gets compromised because instead of a domino effect that occurs with reusing passwords, the damage is reduced and contained.
Download from trusted sources only
It’s inevitable that you’ll eventually download something from the Internet, but not all downloads are trustworthy and can quickly install malicious software onto your machine. Make sure all download sources are trustworthy, and if you’re unsure of the origin of the file, app, or software, it’s better to be on the safe side and just not download it. You could even search on the web to check for reviews and see if it’s reputable or not, so you know for sure whether the file is genuine.
