Quick Protection Practices.

With the awareness of the recent Crypto virus circulating around (Wannacry and it’s variants). I thought I’d make a short, best practices for you to make sure you’re protected as best you can be from such programs.

1st, make sure you have a backup of your data, preferably, one made daily, one that is remote or offline when not in use. AKA, you’re not connected to it 24/7, otherwise it can be encrypted too. I wrote an earlier article about backups, you can read it here. https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/personal-pc-backups-ron-witty

2nd, make sure your PC is up to date with its OS patches and updates. Make sure you’re not running software that is no longer supported. Make sure you're running legitimate (legal) copies of said software, not something from a friend of a friend, etc..

3rd, have virus protection and make sure it’s active, current and up to date. A lot of times when helping someone, I see they have virus protection software on their system that expired 2+ years ago (they never paid to update it). There are free AV products you can use if you can't afford one, find one and use it.

4th, most important, scrutinize everything. Someone you do not know, sends you a link or attachment with some glorious cause, or some scary subject, or something urgent that needs immediate action…do not fall for it, do not take the bait. Do not open the attachment, do not click the link. Instead, call somebody, check this thing out. I wrote a previous article about scams, you can read it here. https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/its-trap-ron-witty

5th, even with legitimate things you’re doing and people you're working with. You have to scrutinize them as well, especially if there is money involved. Doesn't matter if it’s $50 bucks or $500,000 bucks. If you suddenly get the good news about congrats, the deal when through, we’re all good, deposit your money to xxxxxx…don’t do it without first calling someone. Additionally, they might tell you it's all but done, you just need to fill out and return the attached document, even though you've been doing business with this person, sending documents back and forth all your life, proceed with caution.

Lastly, if your computer gets hijacked by something, shut it off immediately, do not bother to try to click start and say shutdown, pull the plug, power off the strip, push and hold the power button until it shuts off...then contact your IT support, whoever that is and tell them what happened.

Questions, comments, please share, I welcome all. Thanks for reading, have a great day and enjoy the rest of your week.