92 JANUARY2020|COMPUTERSHOPPER|ISSUE383
expensive.Asahomeuser, youcansign
upforanEnterpriseaccount,butthe
hassleandexpensemeanthatit’s not
particularlyworthit.
INSTALL SECURITY SOFTWARE
YourbestlineofdefenceforWindows7
istoinstallqualitysecuritysoftware.The
latestversionofKasperskySecurityCloud
supportsWindows7computers,andthe
software typicallydoeswellinourtests.
Havingsecuritysoftware suchasthis
shouldcatchthemajorityofmalware
beforeitcangetthroughtoWindows7,
althoughthesethingsaren’tguaranteed.
There willbeapointwhereWindows7
dropsoff thesupportlist,butgivenhow
populartheoperatingsystemis,wecan’t
seethisbeingthecaseforafewyears
yet.Withsecuritysoftwareinplace,you
havethebestchanceofkeepingyour
computerassecureasitcanbe.
UPDATE SOFTWARE
Aswementioned,othersoftware that
you’rerunningcanbeasecurityissue,
soit’simportanttokeepthisup-to-date.
Youcanmanuallyupdatethesoftware
thatyouhave,andmanyapplications
comewiththeirownsoftwareupdaters.
However,youcanalsouseatoolsuch
asthefreeIOBitSoftware Updater
(tinyurl.com/383windows3)toscan
yourcomputerandletyouknow
aboutanythingthat’s outofdate.
Thepaid-forversioncanschedulescans
andupdates,butyoucanusethefree
oneforone-clickupdatesmanually.
WhereIOBit(orotherupdater
software)can’thelpisifthereare no
updatesforyoursoftware,becauseitis
outofdateorbecauseWindows7isno
longersupported.Forexample,
MicrosofthasannouncedthatOffice
365willnolongerbesupportedon
Windows7after14thJanuary2020.
Theonlyoptionsaretocontinuetorun
out-of-datesoftware ortoswitchto
alternativesthataresupported,suchas
LibreOfficeinthecaseofOffice.
UPDATE DRIVERS
Olddriverscancauseproblemsandeven
beasecurityrisk,soyouneedtoupdate
them.We recommendgoingstraightto
thesourceanddownloadingdrivers
directlyfromthemanufacturer. Ifyou
haveabig-brandPCorlaptop,suchas
Dell,you’llneedtogotothatcompany’s
supportsitetodownloadthelatest
driversforyourcomputer.
ABOVE:Make sure
your softwareiskept
up to date
BELOW:Updated
drivers can help
save you from a
security headache
