Laptops are portable, meaning you can carry them almost anywhere you travel. Being compact and convenient, laptops also offer users a lot of flexibility and freedom.
Since laptops are so easy to use, they are more likely to get stolen or hacked than other computer devices.
Are you using a laptop for work, school, or personal projects? It is critical that you take precautions to protect it from any cyber attacks and physical harm.
Are you planning to buy a new laptop, or currently have one that needs updating? Here are 8 ways to secure your laptop from hackers:
If you’re going to be using your laptop frequently for work, school, or personal projects, it’s important that you take steps to secure it against potential cyber threats and physical danger.
If you’re planning on buying a laptop soon, or currently have one that needs updating, here are 10 ways to secure your laptop from hackers.
Install an Antivirus Program
The best defense against viruses is to avoid them in the first place. The best way to do this is to install an antivirus program on your laptop.
Although there are many antivirus programs available, McAfee and Kaspersky are popular ones. The best antivirus programs will offer you real-time protection:
- Actively scan for viruses as you’re using your computer
- Keep your laptop free from viruses, malware, and ransomware
- Update its virus database on a regular basis, usually weekly, to keep up with emerging threats
Depending on which antivirus program you choose, you can expect to pay anywhere from $30 to $100, or even more. You might feel this is more expensive, but you can’t put a price on securing your sensitive data.
Secure your Wi-Fi connection
Whether you’re using a public or private Wi-Fi connection, you should always make sure it’s secure for your laptop. You should use a virtual private network (VPN) app to encrypt and secure your connection.
It prevents someone from hacking into your connection and accessing your sensitive data.
When you are in a private Wi-Fi connection, such as in an office or at a coffee shop, you should still make sure it’s secured. Creating a password-protected network or disabling the option to create an open network.
If you’re using a private home Wi-Fi connection, you can also consider investing in a mesh router system.
Mesh routers will allow you to create many secure networks. Each device connected to your internet will only be able to access the network it’s meant to be on.
Lock your computer with a password
The most basic thing you can do to try to secure your laptop is to lock it with a password. You can do this by:
Going into your settings menu
choosing which account you want to lock with a password
Once you have done this, you’ll have to enter your password every time you start your laptop. It will be harder for someone to access your computer if they’re trying to steal it.
Windows 10 users can use Windows Hello to unlock their computer with their face or fingerprint. Mac users can consider using Touch ID to lock their computers.
This is a secure way to lock your computer, so long as you use a trusted device to scan your face or finger.
Don’t use the same password for everything
It may seem like an efficient idea to use the same password for everything, but it’s a very unsafe practice.
It’s best to have different passwords for each of your accounts, especially your social media profiles and sensitive accounts, like your email, bank accounts, and work accounts.
If someone gets access to your email account, they could potentially hack into all of your other accounts by resetting your passwords.
If you use the same password for everything, it’s likely that someone could hack into one of your accounts and gain access to many of your other accounts as well.
To try to avoid this, you can use a password management program to help you organize and track your passwords.
Back up your data
While you are taking steps to secure your laptop, it’s also important to back up your data. You never know when something might happen to your computer, whether it’s an accident like a spill or a more malicious act.
It’s best to be prepared for these scenarios by backing up your data so that you won’t lose everything if something happens to your laptop.
There are several ways to back up your data, including using an external hard drive or online storage services, like Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive.
You can also use a cloud-based data storage service, such as Dropbox or Amazon Cloud Drive, to back up your files and photos.
It’s important to regularly back up your data to prevent data loss. Even if you have antivirus software installed, you never know when your computer might become infected with malware or a virus and start deleting your data.
Use encryption to protect your files
If you’re sharing sensitive data with colleagues or clients, such as in a work environment, it’s best to use encryption to protect your files.
Encryption is a secure way to protect your data so that only those who have the correct encryption key can decrypt and read your files.
You can encrypt your data on your laptop by downloading an encryption program, such as Gnu Privacy Guard (GPG), and installing it on your computer.
After you’ve installed the program on your computer, you can use it to encrypt files or emails so that they’re protected with an encryption key.
If you’re sharing data with clients or colleagues, you can also use the encryption program to create a public encryption key.
This will allow anyone with the key to decrypt your files, but they’ll be unable to read the contents of the files without the decryption key.
Get a dark keyboard and bright screen
When you’re not actively using your laptop, it’s best to power it off. However, if you regularly work out of coffee shops or other public places, you may not want to be constantly turning your computer off and on again.
Another option is to get a dark keyboard and a bright screen, so others can’t see what you’re typing or see the screen when you have your laptop open.
You can find keyboards and screens that are designed to be dark, including products from companies like Flux and Fluxion, as well as Logitech and Microsoft.
These products will help shield your computer from prying eyes, making it more secure and preventing people from accessing your sensitive data or overhearing your conversations.
Install Windows 10 Professional
If you’re using Windows 10 on your laptop, you can use Windows Defender, Microsoft’s built-in antivirus program, to protect your computer from viruses, malware, and ransomware.
However, Defender is not as robust as some third-party antivirus software, so you may want to consider upgrading to Windows 10 Professional.
With Windows 10 Professional, you can use Defender to protect your computer just like you would with another antivirus program.
In addition to offering protection against viruses and malware, professional also allows you to create and manage multiple user accounts on your laptop.
Defender is an excellent antivirus program that comes pre-installed on Windows 10, so you can use it right now to protect your computer.
However, if you want to fully secure your laptop, you may want to consider upgrading to Windows 10 Professional.
Conclusion
Laptops are convenient devices, but they’re also easily stolen and hacked, so it’s important to take steps to secure your laptop from hackers.
You can do this by installing an antivirus program, locking your computer with a password, and backing up your data.
You can also use encryption to protect your files and get a dark keyboard and bright screen to prevent others from seeing what you are.
If you feel there is more to add to securing and protecting your laptop from hackers, please share your valuable thoughts in the comment section or you can also contact us.
