Sunday, 14 December 2014

Safety First: How To Know What You Can Download

By Frankline Bell


There are many great products available for purchase and download these days for our personal computers. These include music, audiobooks, creative fonts, games and a variety of software. However, before you download something onto your computer, you need to make sure that the download won't infect your computer with a virus or malware. Here are some easy tips that can help keep you safe and secure.

It is important, first of all, to never download anything unless you trust the source. For some items, such as music from iTunes or downloads from companies such as Microsoft, you are probably very secure. However, other websites are less well known and possibly less secure. If the site is unknown to you, do some research and see if other people have downloaded items safely from this source.

Every file that you download has a file extension at the end, such as .jpeg or .gif. Looking at the file extension before you download can be a good idea because many extensions tend to be used specifically for malware. Be wary of extensions like pif, doc, exe, scr and bat, but truly any file can be corrupted with a virus or other malicious programs, so scan it first before you download.

You might not realize it, but when you receive links in emails from friends or associates, these could potentially contain a virus or other malware. Often they are disguised as links to a funny video or an outrageous news story. It might appear to come from a trustworthy source, such as major news organization. However, if you hover over the link (without clicking on it) and look at the bottom of your browser screen, you will see its true location. What looks like it came from CNN or YouTube might come from a malicious site that is trying to hack into your PC.

If something has a copyright on it, such as book, a song or a movie, you have to buy it from a legitimate source that is licensed to sell the product. However, often you can find "free" downloads of songs or movies that are pirated. Downloading pirated material is a bad idea for two reasons. For one, it is illegal and you can be subject to prosecution. Secondly, often these sites are simply download malware onto your system and you aren't getting anything for free except for the headache of computer problems or a huge security breach.

Of course, even if you are careful, malware can happen and removing it is definitely time-consuming. It's typically much easier to just call a company such as GeeksAKnockin' and have them scan your computer and remove any malware or viruses. If you need Portland computer repair, Gresham computer repair or Hillsboro computer repair, give them a call and they can remove the malware, improve your overall security and even speed up your PC.




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