A Facebook post by Anthony Robbins caught my eye, “RT @Debbie_Ford: Most of us are trained to look for what’s wrong in any relationship or situation. Make a choice to look for what is right.“
I am not going to give you any relationship advice, instead I will focus on a situation that many people will have to deal with sooner or later, the dreaded computer virus/malware infection.
So lets find the good that comes out of having problems with viruses, malware and rogueware, that happen to Windows and Mac users alike.
Awareness of computer threats/vulnerabilities
Knowing that you can be infected while doing common tasks like opening an email, clicking on a link or installing a new program, is a great reminder to be careful with what you do online and offline as well.
Be careful with what you receive, where you click, and what you download.
Encourages a good computer maintenance routine
Having an antivirus program, spyware removers and even the latest secure browsers, will do nothing to protect you if they are not up to date. Take the time to create a weekly maintenance plan that includes downloading the latest Windows updates, get the latest protection definitions for the antivirus program and update any other security software you use.
And most importantly after updating make sure to scan your computer, not doing this particular step is like having a pill that will take away an infection and just looking at it, but not taking it.
It makes you take control and protect your privacy
Knowing that your personal information, like name, credit card(s), tax documents and anything else of value can fall in the wrong hands, is a great incentive to keep it safe in the first place. There are many different ways to do that.
- Using strong passwords
- Changing them often
- Using password managers to store those passwords
- Logging off or locking your computer when not using it
- Making sure you are using secure connections when visiting banks or payment websites
- Important files should be kept in secure password protected or encrypted folders
Using all or some of these ideas, will help keeping a close lid on your information.
Makes you think of backing up your important files
Many times when dealing with computer infections, the computer starts or shuts down by itself, it will lock up open documents or corrupt important system files.
Having a data backup will give you peace of mind that your data is secure, and stored in a safe place where it can be restored again, after clean up is done.
A good data back up includes multiple copies, and different locations for the backup. For example only having files burned into a cd or dvd can be good, but not good enough. In case those disks get scratched or lost, your important information can’t be restored.
Having a portable hard drive is also a great solution, it allows you to take it to a different location, for example if backing up your office information, take the backup drive to your home or the other way around.
Conclusion
As you can see, making the choice to look for what is right in a bad situation, can also bring some good practices and new knowledge. You should always be in control and learning something new to enhance your daily habits.
And if you take the computer to get repaired, ask questions. A good computer repairman will show you what happened, ways to avoid falling a victim again, and show you how to keep up your computer running safe and secure.
