In today’s world, we’re all getting more concerned about privacy online. With the Covid-19 pandemic, it has forced many of us to use our computers more for banking, school and other tasks than we might normally do. As a result, our concerns have grown even larger. Here are a few things you can do to help increase your security and privacy online.
- Instead of Microsoft Windows consider using a free distribution of Linux. Microsoft has often been at the center of privacy and tracking concerns. Many of our customers want to avoid this by using a different operating system (OS) altogether.
- Instead of using Google or Bing or Yahoo! use duckduckgo.com. Next to Microsoft, Google has been on the leading edge of privacy and tracking worries among customers.
- Instead of Google Chrome or Internet Explorer/Edge use Mozilla Firefox. Chrome, Google’s flagship web browser has always been controversial.
- Use a firewall. If changing your OS to Linux is just too much, you should use a third party firewall to manage your internet security. Again, Using the built in security from Microsoft is not as full-proof and may carry with it some risks of it’s own. Use something like Norton, which includes a firewall, antivirus, cleaning tools and more. The annual subscription of these services are far less expensive than virus mitigation after your PC becomes infected.
- Use a VPN (Virtual Private Network). One of your best defenses for online privacy and security is a VPN. VPN’s have gained a lot of traction recently because of their affordability and user friendliness. Use a VPN such as ExpressVPN to mask your internet address from others and keep your data private.
While I mentioned only a few solutions here, these are a solid way for the average person to begin taking their privacy and security seriously. Any one of these solutions is a great start and will reduce your risk. Combined, these are the best methods to secure yourself. As with anything online, there is no 100% solution to privacy. All traffic is being monitored, categorized and placed into databases. Reducing your risk and online signature is all we can do to protect ourselves, short of not using a computer at all.
Cardinal Computers can assist you with any of the above solutions. Be safe out their!
