5 Reasons Why Every PC Owner Should Always Update their Antivirus Software

It’s one thing to have antivirus software installed to protect your computer against threats, but it’s another matter to keep it consistently and constantly updated.

It’s actually not hard to miss because all antivirus software will prompt you for an update, which is that little pop-op on your screen that notifies you. But if you have been failing to regularly update your antivirus software by ignoring the notifications, chances are you’re not fully protected from Internet safety risks and external attacks. Most notably, your computer might be attacked by a new virus that your software has not been updated for.

It is crucial to update your antivirus software frequently to make sure that it has all of the information it needs to fight the most recent threats. Here are some of the important reasons why PC owners should always update their antivirus software.

New Threats are Created on a Daily Basis

Cyber criminals are always looking for holes and vulnerabilities that they can exploit to create new and more powerful viruses. If your PC’s antivirus software is not updated against the most current viruses that have been created, you are leaving yourself open to attack. Remember that your antivirus protection becomes outdated as soon as a new virus is released, so it is important to keep it as updated as possible.

Virus Protection is Crucial for Protecting Your Valuable Files

Did you know that some viruses and spyware can actually hack into your system and erase or corrupt the data on your computer? Some viruses can even lock away your own information with a password that you didn’t create. If you have any sort of sensitive, valuable, and private information on your computer, it is vital to make sure that you are protected against the most recent viruses.

A Hacker Can Turn Off Your Updates

Are you aware that someone could have accessed your antivirus software and disabled the “real-time” monitoring feature, which automatically downloads updates? Sometimes, this happens when someone is trying to compromise the security of your computer and other times it can happen by accident. If you have set your antivirus software to automatically update but it has been turned off without your knowledge, you could have a false sense of security that leads you to believe that you are protected, but in reality, you are not. Make sure that you check and verify that your computer has the latest software and that it has been updating with the latest virus information.

Your PC Could Infect Others

If your computer contracts a virus, it could affect not only your own hard drive but it could also be passed along to other computers by e-mail, USB flash drive, or network links. This means that any computer you come in contact with or all other computers at work could be infected just because you didn’t update your virus protection.

These are just a few of the reasons why it is so important to keep your antivirus software up to date. If you don’t, you could be leaving your computer dangerously vulnerable to infection.

Understanding Online Privacy and What You Can Do To Protect It

All your private online data, including the websites you visit, the content of your chats and e-mails, your personal information, and your location, just became suddenly less secure. This is because Congress just blocked crucial privacy regulations. This will allow your Internet Service Provider to collect all your data and sell all that data to the highest bidder without asking for your permission. This must have been what the Indians felt when negotiating with the white man.

A pair of resolutions, which passed through the Senate and House with exclusively Republican votes, will roll back rules previously proposed by the Democratic leadership of the Federal Communications Commission during the Obama administration that was passed in October of last year but had not yet gone into effect.

These FCC rules called the Net Neutrality Rules or Title II will be completely dead following the expected signature of President Trump. The rules would have required ISP’s to get explicit and specific approval from customers before selling the following “sensitive data”:

§  Your precise geo-location

§  Children’s information

§  Health information

§  Financial information

§  Social Security numbers

§  Web browsing history

§  App usage history

§  Content of communications

Since the rules were rolled back through the Congressional Review Act, the FCC is also barred from creating any similar rules in the years to come. In theory, the information collected will be stored under some sort of ID separate from your actual name. But that’s cold comfort considering the level of detail from this sort of information would make your identity a dead giveaway. Also, ISP’s can hardly be trusted to keep your information suitably safe from prying eyes since they can sell all these to the highest bidder.

There are a few things you can do to try and keep your data safe, and while they aren’t really easy to do, they’re worth the effort if you value your privacy.

Inform your ISP you’re “opting out”

You can visit or call your ISP to inform them that you’re opting out of all advertising-related things in your package, and tell them point blank that they need your permission before selling any of your data to advertisers. The former will force them to comply, though the latter is doubtful, but at least will give them second thoughts.

Limit data passing through your ISP

Try to keep sensitive data such as those listed at the top by reverting back to hard copies or not storing or mentioning these online but storing them instead in removable external drives or burning them on CD’s. You can also opt to buy apps that can encrypt data or your ISP address, but these will often charge an annual subscription fee. Also, if you opt for using a VPN to hide your ISP address, remember that a VPN is itself an ISP so research on a VPN before committing to it.

Top Computer Security Threats that Could Dominate in 2017

If 2016 was the year of mainstream hacking, 2017 will be the year hackers will innovate. 2017 may be the year of increasingly creative hacks. In the past, cyber security was considered the realm of IT departments, but now, not anymore. As companies systematically integrate smart security into their systems, the hackers, too, evolve.

Remember that cybercriminals will always follow the money trail. Ransomware attacks will grow quickly this year because the attacks are cheap to operate, and many organizations are not yet applying the proper analysis and decision-making to appropriately defend against this threat. Simply put, cyber security threats aren’t going away any time soon. In 2017 there will be a number of them as technological development continues to advance rapidly and society becomes increasingly dependent on technology, a boon for hackers who are only becoming defter by the day.

Third Parties (Vendors, Contractors, Partners)

Third parties to companies or even just individuals like vendors and contractors pose a huge risk to anyone, and the majority has no secure system or dedicated team in place to manage these third-parties. As cyber criminals become increasingly sophisticated and cyber security threats continue to rise, organizations are becoming more and more aware of the risk third parties pose.

Cyber Espionage

Beyond hackers looking to make a profit through stealing individual and corporate data, entire nation states are now using their cyber skills to infiltrate other governments and perform attacks on critical infrastructure. Cyber-crime today is a major threat not just for the private sector and for individuals but for the government and the nation as a whole. Nation-state cyber warfare will become an equalizer, shifting the balance of power in many international relationships just as nuclear weapons did beginning in the 1950’s. Small countries will be able to build up a good cyber team to take on a larger country. In fact, cyber warfare skills have already become part of the international political toolkit, with both offensive and defensive capabilities.

Ransomware and Extortion will Increase

The days of single-target ransomware will soon be a thing of the past. Next-generation ransomware paints a pretty dark picture as the self-propagating worms of the past may return to prominence, but this time they will carry ransomware payloads capable of infecting hundreds of machines in an incredibly short time span. As more devices become Internet-enabled and accessible and the security measures in place continue to lag behind, the associated risks will steadily be on the rise. Aside from the obvious risks for attacks on consumer IoT (Internet of Things) devices, there is a growing threat against industrial and even government IoT as well.

Free Malware Removal Tools to Assist You in Removing Malware from an Infected Computer

Unfortunately for some of us (especially for those who are somewhat careless), the Internet will never be a buffet of secure open-source software and Bollywood musicals that we can all just simply download. There are individuals and even organizations who want nothing better than delight in stealing your personal data and money or hijacking your computer using malicious software. So, for your protection, let’s highlight some of the best free tools for removing malware from your PC.

Spybot Search and Destroy

Spybot Search and Destroy has made quite a name for itself over the years, earning accolades from both general and computer-focused publications. Spybot Search and Destroy is the highest ranked freeware tool at 2Spyware.com, a website that ranks malware removal tools. In addition to scanning for malware, Spybot Search and Destroy also has a variety of additional functionality, including a botnet scanner, hosts-file modification (to keep malware from calling home), a secure file shredder, and a dummy code feature, replacing malicious or questionable adware modules with inert code so the dependent program will keep functioning. As an added bonus, Spybot Search and Destroy is compatible with every version of Windows.

ComboFix

ComboFix is every bit as Spartan once you open it and see it. You download ComboFix, run it, and it takes care of the rest. The basic ComboFix process looks like this: It backs up your registry, checks to see if you have Windows Recovery Console installed, and then it does the job on your system scanning away through 40+ stages. When it’s done, ComboFix spits out a log file and lists all the malware it found, which ones it was able to remove, and which ones you’ll have to use Google to look up how to remove manually. It isn’t fancy, but it gets the job done and gives you a detailed report at the end to take to security forums for help if you need it.

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware

At least the free version, since the Anti-Malware Pro sells for $25, Malwarebytes’ flagship application Anti-Malware is a shareware malware-removal tool. The principle difference between the free and premium version of the application is real-time monitoring. If you don’t need active scanning against threats, the free version uses the same database and does an admirable job ferreting out infections. Anti-Malware was, for example, one of the few malware removal tools that could detect and remove the Antivirus XP 2008, a spyware application that masqueraded as an antivirus app. The Anti-Malware installation includes another application from Malwarebytes called FileASSASSIN, a helpful tool for deleting files locked by Windows.

There are other malware removal tools you can check out on the Internet, but just make sure to check out the reviews first before downloading anything. A few malware tools tend to be unbiased and will register even legal operating files as tampered by malware, and you may delete these by mistake. But in the end, the best malware tool is always “prevention” and to err on the side of caution and not always click on everything, especially if looking suspicious.