How can you tell if your computer is safe?
To many of us, our computer is one of the most important things we own; It allows us to complete work at home, gather information, consume media, etc. It is also an important storage device that allows us to store important data, whether that just be family photos or company secrets. As such, the protection of your computer should be top priority, but how can you tell if your computer is secure and safe?
- Probably the first thing you should do if you suspect that your computer is infected is running an antivirus scan through your PC’s antivirus software. Almost all computer come standard with some form of antivirus software (Windows Defender for windows PCs and XProtect for MacOS). While an antivirus scan might not catch everything, or even anything at all, there is peace of mind when running one. If your computer is still infected, there are many guides online on how to fix your PC and get rid of a virus
- Testing your firewall is another way to see if your computer is still secure. Sometimes when we’re clicking away and giving permissions to programs, we don’t necessarily read what they’re asking us. This could allows some nasty stuff to slip past our PC’s firewall and cause your computer to be infected. Usually, to test a firewall you can just run a port test through any port testing service, although you can check your firewall allowed programs manually (tedious).
Overall, if your computer is running smoothly and nothing seems to be wrong, there likely isn’t anything wrong. There is generally a small tell anytime there is something is wrong with your computer (ex. computer running slowly or taking longer than normal to boot up). Just keep a look out and take action if you notice anything strange. The internet is a valuable resource.