10 Prevention Tips For Computer Health & Safety

When people think of health and safety, they generally do not think about their computer in the same context.

However, your computer system needs just as much protection from Internet viruses that your own body needs from the viruses that affect us. Without proper prevention and protection, your computer could acquire an infection and that infection could damage your computer beyond repair.

Historical Prevention

Prevention used to mean staying off the Internet completely. It is also used to mean that if you do go surfing the web, stay on trusted websites.

These days even staying off the Internet is just not enough protection. In today’s world, some infections that live on USB flash drives, CDs, DVDs, memory cards and other apparatus, do not require the internet to use them.

Even an email program that does not connect to the Internet regularly could contain an infection inside an attachment.

Modern Prevention

The basics are always the best choice for infection prevention because they are easy to implement and use. They are also common sense. Some of these include:
1. Installing a good anti-virus, anti-malware, anti-spyware, firewall or combination program
2. Updating the program daily and running daily scans
3. Not clicking on URLs or links in which you do not know where they go or where they came from
4. Not opening email if you do not recognize the sender
5. Not clicking on links inside a chat or messenger program
6. Not opening attachments that you were not expecting to receive
7. Scanning expected attachments in your email with your security program before opening them
8. Not opening any files you do not know the contents of
9. Not visiting any websites that you are not familiar with
10. Not downloading any program from a website that you are not familiar with

Just by following these 10 simple rules, you could stave off about 80 percent of all malicious content and infections on the Internet. However, despite the best prevention, there is always a chance something could slip by you or your security program.

If this has happened and you think you have picked up an infection of some kind, the best advice is to contact an IT professional or the maker of your security program.

Either of the two can determine the depth of the situation and give you directions on how to go about removing the nuisance before it does any real damage to your system.

Immediate action is necessary because any infection that you do not remove could damage the computer to the point of never turning on again. This can become a costly and frustrating outcome.