“TheInternetcanseemlikea scaryplace,butwiththerightcombinationof
settingsandapps,youcancutrightthroughtheonlinemire”o believesomesectionsofthe
presstoday,it’simpossibletogo
ontheInternetwithouthaving
yourcomputertakenoverbyhackers,who
willuseit tominepornographyusing
somethingcalleda “blockchain”,stealing
your creditcarddetails,andthoseofyour
94-year-oldgrandmotherwho’snever
beenonline,intheprocess.
Thingsmightnotbethatbad,butthe
threatofmalware,unwantedappsthatcan
hijackyourPCorholdit toransom,is real.
There’splentyyoucandotoprotect
yourself,andyourgrandmother,however.Someofit involvesaddingadditional
programstoyourPC,buttherearesteps
youcantakethatneednothingmorethan
a webbrowserandyouroperatingsystem.
We’llalsotouchonbothadandcookie
blocking,andonmakingsurfingtheweb
a nicerexperience./Hʋʢɚ Kʝɦ Wɛ
Surf more safely
T
Step-by-step Surfthewebsafely
1 Keepyourbrowseruptodate
Whicheverbrowseryouuse,makesureyouhavethelatest
version, asthey’reconstantlybeingpatched.Edgereceivesits
updates viaWindowsUpdate.Chromegetsthemautomatically
- click theellipsis(...)toseeif there’soneavailable,otherwiseit
will be installednexttimeyourestarttheapp.Firefoxdoesthis
too – go toHelp> AboutFirefoxtoseeif there’sonepending.
2 Usemultiplebrowsers
Thetheoryhereis that,if onebrowserknowsyourFacebook
account,anotheryourbankaccount,andanotheryourAmazon
account,anythingnastythatcomesyourwayviaFacebookwon’t
beabletohoptoAmazon.It’sanold-fashionedidea,andrelieson
yourememberingwhichbrowserdoeswhat,butit’seffective
especiallyif youpokeaboutinunsavourycornersoftheweb.3 KeepWindowsuptodate
Here’ssomethingelsethatshouldhappenautomatically,
but whichis worthcheckinguponeverynowandthen.Opening
Settings >Update& Securitywilltellyouif you’reuptodate,but
click the ‘Checkforupdates’buttontoseeif there’ssomething
ready to download.Windowsis muchbetteraboutrestarts,too,
enablingyoutodeferthemuntilyou’reready.
4 MasterWindowsSecurity
Windows10’ssecuritycentrehasa lotofoptions.If you’re
notusinga separateanti-virusapp,keepRealTimeProtection
turnedonin‘Virus& threatprotection’.Andevenif youareusing
anotherprovider,useWindows’built-intoolsfora quickscan.
Under‘App& browsercontrol’,turnSmartScreenontoprevent,
oratleastwarnabout,unwantedfilesfromexecutingprograms.<ʝʦɠʔʦLȫɏ,ʋɚ(ɃʑQȫʑɚVʋ\ɡExplore
Surf more safely
June 2019 | |^27