How to protect your pc against viruses

Some operating systems have built-in firewalls that may be shipped in the "off" mode. Be sure to turn your firewall on. To be effective, your firewall must be set up properly and updated regularly. Check your online "Help" feature for specific instructions. Making use of complex passwords and strong methods of authentication can help keep your personal information secure. Protect your devices and accounts from intruders by choosing passwords that are hard to guess.

Use strong passwords with at least eight characters, a combination of letters, numbers and special characters. Don't use a word that can easily be found in a dictionary or any reference to personal information, such as a birthday.

Some hackers use programs that can try every word in the dictionary, and can easily find personal information such as dates of birth. Try using a phrase to help you remember your password, using the first letter of each word in the phrase. For example, HmWc w2—How much wood could a woodchuck chuck. Choose unique passwords for each online account you use: financial institution, social media, or email.

If you have too many passwords to remember, consider using password manager software, which can help you create strong individual passwords and keep them secure.

Many social media, email, and financial accounts allow the use of stronger authentication methods. These methods can include using a fingerprint, one-time codes sent to a mobile device, or other features that ensure a user is supposed to have access to the account. While checking email, visiting websites, posting to social media, or shopping, pay attention to where you click and who you give your information to.

Unscrupulous websites or data thieves can attempt to trick you into giving them your personal data. Phishing attacks—where hackers send seemingly genuine messages to trick you to hand over personal information—are becoming more sophisticated. For instance, you may receive an urgent message stating that your bank account has been locked and requiring you to enter your password and Social Security number to unlock it. Think twice before clicking on links in messages such as this.

Most genuine messages from financial institutions will not ask for personal information directly, but will instead instruct you to call or visit a website directly. You can also verify the email address that sent the message to ensure it came from the expected sender.

When shopping online, check out the website before entering your credit card number or other personal information. Read the privacy policy and look for opportunities to opt out of information sharing. If there is no privacy policy posted, beware! Shop elsewhere. This article is about ways to protect your PC from viruses that can screw up your computer, or allow criminals to steal your data, personal information, or money. Use an anti-malware app - Installing an anti-malware app and keeping it up to date can help defend your PC against viruses and other malware malicious software.

Microsoft Defender is free anti-malware software included with Windows, and it's kept updated automatically through Windows Update. There are also anti-malware products made by other companies that you can choose from. Running multiple anti-malware apps at the same time can cause your system to be slow or unstable.

If you install an anti-malware app from a different company, Microsoft Defender will automatically turn itself off. If you install two anti-malware apps from other companies, however, they might both try to run at the same time. Don't open email messages from unfamiliar senders, or email attachments that you don't recognize - Many viruses are attached to email messages and will spread as soon as you open the attachment.

It's best not to open any attachment unless it's something you're expecting. For more information see: Protect yourself from phishing. Use a pop-up blocker with your internet browser - Pop-up windows are small browser windows that appear on top of the website you're viewing. Although most are created by advertisers, they can also contain malicious or unsafe code.

A pop-up blocker can prevent some or all of these windows from appearing. The pop-up blocker in Microsoft Edge is turned on by default. If you're using Microsoft Edge, make sure SmartScreen is turned on - SmartScreen in Microsoft Edge helps protect you from phishing and malware attacks by warning you if a website or download location has been reported as unsafe.

Use the arrow key to scroll to the drive where you installed Microsoft Defender Offline file. Microsoft Defender Offline starts and immediately scans for malware. Confirm that the Windows firewall is turned on. See Turn Microsoft Defender Firewall on or off for instructions on how to do that on modern versions of Windows. In the Search box, type firewall, and then click Windows Firewall. In the left pane, click Turn Windows Firewall on or off you may be prompted to enter your administrator password.

Only download programs from sites that you trust. If you're not sure whether to trust a program that you want to download, enter the name of the program into your favorite search engine to see whether anyone else has reported that it contains spyware.

Read all security warnings, license agreements, and privacy statements that are associated with any software that you download. Never click "Agree" or "OK" to close a window that you suspect might be spyware.

Be wary of popular "free" music and movie file-sharing programs, and make sure that you understand all the software packaged with those programs. Use a standard user account instead of an administrator account.

An administrator account can access anything on the system, and any malware run with an administrator account can use the administrator permissions to potentially infect or damage any files on the system. For more information about how to protect a computer against viruses, see Protect my PC from viruses. Want to chat with a live person? Our Answer Tech trained professionals are ready to help: Answer Desk. Security information and training.

For computer virus and security-related support for locations outside North America, go to the Microsoft Support website. This computer is infected by spyware and adware.

Click Start , and then type Windows Update in the search box. In the results area, click Windows Update. Click Check for Updates. Follow the instructions to download and install the latest Windows Updates. Restart your computer. When you see the computer's manufacturer's logo, repeatedly press the F8 key. Click the Shortcut tab. Click Open File Location. Right-click the folder, and then click Delete. Click the Download Now button, and then click Run.

Microsoft always releases some security updates in which some bugs and security issues are fixed. Windows Update not working issue has different situations. Now, we summarize several effective solutions which can help you solve it easily. A Firewall app can notify you when a virus or a worm is trying to connect to your computer. It can also help you block viruses, worms, and attackers from trying to download potentially harmful apps on your computer.

Windows has a built-in Microsoft Defender Firewall. Usually, it is safe enough to only use this tool. However, there are still other available choices.

It can mitigate the impact of malware. When some changes need the administrator-level permission on your computer, UAC will pop up and give you the choice to refuse or approve the change. When you use a web browser to visit webpages, they can keep your personal information you offer like your name, address, some passwords, and more. The direct way to do this is to clear caches and view history for the web browser.

Usually, you need to pay for genuine software. But cracked software is free. You may want to download and install cracked software on your computer. To protect your computer from viruses, you should not do this. Cracked software always subjects your computer to hard-to-detect bugs, causing more issues to your computer. Some cracked tools are even implanted with viruses that can easily attack your machine and the data in it.

So, you should not use cracked software. You may like to download some files like music files, movies, documents, etc. This activity includes some potential risks. If you download files from an unsafe site, the download files can be infected with a virus.

So, just pay attention to the files you want to download. If Windows or your third-party security tool gives you a warning, you should manually check whether the files are safe.