It’s really pretty simple… read this article to see how to avoid becoming the victim of the next cyber attack!

With a little knowledge and some common sense, along with a bit maintenance from time to time, you will be taking significant precautions to keep your Mac or PC safe from attack.

So if you’re feeling pretty good, because you recently installed AV (antivirus) software to protect your Mac or PC from threats… always remember it needs to be updated – or its not protecting you!

So, when was the last time you actually checked to make sure it was updated and or the subscription was active?

Your antivirus software may come with a pop-up on your screen to notify you that it needs to be updated, and some AV programs can even “auto-magically” update themselves on their own, provided of course you have a persistent internet connection.

If you have been failing to regularly check the update status your antivirus software, you may not be protected from new internet risks.

Without updates, your AV software will leave your computer venerable to new threats because, without the updates, its not aware of thousands of new viruses that have impacted the internet. In order to keep your computer safe you need to do more than simply install an AV program, it must be up to date.

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  6 reasons why updates are so important:

• Thousands, no, make that 10s of thousands of new threats emerge every day.

• The bad guys never sleep! They are always on the prowl to find a new way to get into your nickers.

• Cyber criminals are always looking for holes and vulnerabilities that they can exploit to create new and more powerful viruses.

• If your antivirus software is not updated against the most current viruses that have been created, you are leaving yourself wide open for attack.

• Remember that your antivirus protection becomes outdated as soon as a new virus is released, and that happens thousands of times A DAY – EVERY DAY!

• It is critical to keep it as current as possible.

Virus Protection is crucial for protecting your priceless data: documents, resumes, pictures, tax returns, videos, music, etc.
If you have any sort of sensitive, valuable or private information on your computer (which most people do) it is absolutely vital to make sure that you are protected against the most recent viruses.

Did you know that some viruses and spyware can actually hack into your system and delete or corrupt the data on your computer?

Have you ever heard the term “ransomware?”

This evil virus will lock up all your data files with a password that you didn’t ask for and don’t know!

And as you may have guessed, they will charge you a very pretty penny to hand over that password.

You should know a hacker or virus could turn off your AV updates or even shut it down.

Yes, there is such a thing as a virus that deactivate Antivirus software, or disabled the “real-time” monitoring feature which automatically downloads updates. Then it’s party time inside your Mac or PC  for the bad guys.

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 which leads you to believe that you are protected when you are not.

Make sure that you check to verify that your computer has the latest software and that it has been updating with the latest virus information.
If your computer contracts a virus, it could affect not only your own hard drive but it could also pass itself along to other computers by email, USB flash drive or network links.
This means that your family & friend’s computers or all of the other computers at the office could be infected just because you didn’t update your virus protection.

Imagine having to explain that to the boss!

These are just SOME 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.
Virus protection is not something you should set and forget about.

Protecting your computer and your personal files from virus threats is an on-going activity that you need to keep vigilant about.
Frequently updating your antivirus software will ensure that you are always armed and well prepared in the war against viruses, malware, spyware and other harmful computer invaders.

So, when was the last time you checked your antivirus software??

Questions? Stop by or give us a call (734) 971 – 6900

Your Computer Guys,
A2 Computers