How can you tell if your computer is safe?

Ensuring your computer is safe is a fundamental, yet vital part of being confident in your system security. While there are multiple ways to ensure your computers safety, I will talk you through a couple of actions I would take personally to make sure that I am not exposed to any malware/viruses. The first step I would take to ensuring my computer hasn’t been exposed, is to run a security scan. This could be done using antivirus programs like McAfee, Norton, or Threat protection by Nord VPN. After running a full diagnostic of my computer, I could tell if I have been exposed to any malware. If my computer comes back clean, I will start the preventative maintenance measures. If the computer comes back with malware, I will let the Antivirus run its course to remove any malicious code or files that may be embedded in my system. Once everything is squared away, I will implement firewalls to ensure my network is safe, and allow the Antivirus to detect any threats going forward. It is also smart at this point to make sure that I have unique passwords for my applications and that I enable two step verification as much as possible, when possible. Two step verification will give me added confidence that if someone were to attempt to break into one of my accounts, I would be notified. It is also good to encrypt files that may hold sensitive data on my computer. This process may differ from operating system but should not take more than a couple of clicks to secure my data. Another practice to ensure my computer is safe is to be cautious of the networks I connect to, especially public networks. Using a VPN could ensure that my IP address or other personal data is not transmitted to the connection that I am on, essentially it puts me in “incognito mode”. Computer safety and network safety are paramount and should not be taken lightly. In order to safely and confidently use a computer, it is smart to take these steps and precautions.