How can you tell if your computer is safe?

When it comes to keeping your computer safe, there is a lot to keep in mind. My first suggestion always would be to make sure that your system is fully up to date at all times. A lot of attackers take advantage of older systems due to known issues and bugs. If your system isn’t updated properly, someone could take advantage of it. Another suggestion that is crucial is to download a trusted antivirus software. Many people don’t keep this in mind because they think that it is just going to be another bill that they are going to have to pay. This is not true. There are numerous free trusted antivirus software available for different consumers. A few examples include Malwarebytes, Avast, and AVG. I would suggest, at the minimum, to have one of these software’s installed on your system to keep it protected from the many instances of malware that it could come across. If you are comfortable spending a little money, it would benefit greatly to purchase a software such as Norton or McAfee. Straying from malware protection, I would advise for everyone to use complex passwords. This may seem rather simple, however, it is common for people to use basic passwords and to use them frequently for different sites and log-ins. Having numerous complex passwords make it much harder for an attacker or an intruder to access your system. Another simple, yet crucial, suggestion would be to ignore any type of spam or unknown messages. Attackers use this method quite often to try to gain access to your information by distracting you with some random information. Lastly, the most important method of protecting your information and computer is to use encryption. Even if an attacker gains access to your network and files, encryption helps in preventing them from being able to do anything with your information. Cryptography and encryption techniques help protect with confidentiality, integrity, authentication, and non-repudiation. Following all of these examples should help your system be protected and safe from a lot of attacks that occur often throughout the world.