1. How can you tell if your computer is safe?
You can tell if your computer is safe by making sure you follow the proper precautions of safe computer and internet use in order to make sure you aren’t exposing your computer to undue risk. You need to make sure you have an antivirus software installed so your computer can scan and defend itself from attacks and viruses. You need to make sure your software and operating systems are fully up to date to prevent security holes that could allow a virus or hacker entrance into your device. Updating to a version of software that is supported by the provider and can be monitored for weaknesses and fixed with patching is important. You need spam filters enabled in your email and need to understand how to identify phishing emails. One of the leading compromises of computers is user error and phishing emails are becoming more and more prevalent and causing a huge number of compromised computers. Pop up blockers on browsers can prevent suspicious sites from bringing you to an alternate site that downloads a virus. Ultimately avoid suspicious sites. Make sure you have a firewall that can prevent incoming traffic from unknown sites. There is software that can test your firewall to make sure it is secure. Make sure you are protecting your sites and devices with a long and proper password which entails special characters, non predictable words, upper and lower case letters, and numbers. A log can be a good way to monitor if your device is compromised. Examining the log to see who has accessed the device, how many wrong passwords were entered can be an indicator that someone was trying to force entry to your device. Looking at the task manager and examining app history and usage can give you a clue if you have been compromised. If something is running that is unfamiliar you often can google its name and see if it is a virus or not.