As a student, you’re under threat of being attacked by hackers and having your information stolen. Because students often use laptops in unsafe public internet networks, there are numerous personal security threats they have to deal with daily. Not only that but the student internet activity can often lead to them getting attacked by malware.
Getting malware on your student computer and having your identity and money stole is a matter of a few consequential security mistakes. What’s even worse is that these malware attacks can pass you by unnoticed before you can at least deactivate your bank cards and quickly change important passwords.
If you’re a college student, you want to ensure the safety of your computer against malware. You definitely don’t want to lose your almost-ready term paper or even a dissertation to malware from hackers. Additionally, if you have any credit cards connected to your student computer, you can say goodbye to them too. Money is usually what the thing that hackers who create malware are after – over 10% of all malware attacks get to the point of accessing the victim’s banking accounts.
So, how should a student protect their computer from malware attacks? There are two things you can do. The first one is acting responsibly on the internet avoiding dangerous situations and malware. The second is having appropriate software on your computer that will automatically protect your student laptop.
Having Safe Internet Browsing Habits
College students are one of the groups that spend the most time browsing the internet, which is why it’s important to develop safe browsing habits. After all, you can’t download malware by accident if you never visit dangerous websites.
Every college student can easily make their browsing much more secure and remove the possibility of a malware attack by following three simple guidelines below. Wherever you’ll find yourself, just make sure to remember these points:
Don’t Try to Download Illegal Media
Using torrents, searching for program cracks, and following download links from random people online usually leads to quite an obvious tragedy. By not being sure of what exactly you’re downloading, you’re exposing your student computer to a range of possible malware attacks. The malware can install a keylogger, which will steal your password; it can get your bank credential; it can lock your computer, and so much more.
Don’t Allow Random People Use Your Computer While Unobserved
We’re not saying that you should be paranoid and not allow even your student groupmates on your laptop. However, when allowing any person to work on your student computer, be sure to watch what they’re doing. Your student friends aren’t likely to install any malware on your laptop, but it doesn’t mean that there are no people that would do it.
Don’t Visit Untrustworthy Websites
Not downloading questionable things from the web isn’t enough to ensure the safety of your computer, you also have to avoid untrustworthy websites. If the website uses the HTTPS protocol, then it’s probably safe. For example, when getting essay help online look for a green marker next to the address field in the browser. Other websites might purposefully be unsafe and install malware on your student laptop. Also, always use safe mode when on public networks.
The Applications to Protect Your Student Laptop from Malware
Of course, following the safety guidelines will improve your chances of avoiding the situation where you get malware on your student laptop. However, safe browsing habits won’t save you when the malware has gotten into your laptop.
The other part of protecting your student laptop from malware attacks consists of installing appropriate firmware. The software below aims to protect you and information about you from any malware attack on your student laptop.
Antivirus
This software simply scans your laptop periodically looking for malware. Additionally, every newly-downloaded file is checked. Such an application can swiftly identify, contain, and mitigate dangerous files from your student laptop.
Password Manager (Encryption)
Every website on which you have an account should have a unique password. If you have one password for everything, then as soon as one account gets hacked, you can say goodbye to all of your personal information. Remembering every single unique password is unreasonable, which is why password managers were created. They use advanced encryption and can’t be accessed by malware. This way you need to only remember one password – all the others are managed by the program.
Never Stop Being Aware of the Online Dangers
You must constantly think about whether what you’re doing online currently is safe. This single process will help you avoid getting attacked by malware in many situations. Install protecting software and keep your student laptop safe.
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