Three Key Steps to Secure PC Software

Secure pc software is essential to safeguarding your mobile device, computer and data from hackers. Hackers, also known as cybercriminals, break into your computer for many reasons. They may steal or alter, or even delete information that you value. Contrary to other thieves who often have legitimate uses for the official website stolen items hackers are motivated by malicious motives. They are more concerned with unauthorized access to sensitive information. This could occur before you realize that something is wrong.

The three key steps to secure pc software are firewalls, passwords and virus protection. If you follow these top practices, it is less likely that your computer will be compromised by malware or hackers (software that encrypts your data and demands payment for its unlocking).

Change the name of your administrator account. Make sure you choose an extremely secure password that includes lower- and uppercase numbers, letters, and computer symbols. Avoid using a simple password like 1234 because hackers can use automated software to crack passwords that are simple to guess in just a few minutes.

Maintain your operating system (OS) and other software up to date. The majority of software updates include security fixes to protect against hackers. Install all patches and enable automatic updates if there are any, to limit the amount of time you are exposed to hackers.

If you have a laptop or another portable device, ensure that the drive is encrypted even when it’s not in use. This is especially crucial for UF students. You can enable encryption in Windows by opening Settings > Update & security > Device encryption. This will secure your entire internal drive as well as most external drives, like SD cards.