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in emails and on Web pages apply to
ransomware as well!
3. Make sure that you keep your operating
system and all application software up-to
-date! This minimizes opportunities for
the bad guys to exploit vulnerabilities in
your software. (There is a free program
called Secunia PSI, which will do this for
you. It will notify you whenever if it finds
that one of your programs is out-of-date,
and it can be set to automatically update Access to the Internet is required for accessing
out-of-date programs if you wish.) the Store.
4. When choosing internet security soft- You access the store app by clicking on the
ware, try to find a version that may offer tile/icon.
some protection against ransomware. (I When the app opens you have quite a few op-
use Webroot Secure Anywhere soft- tions to search for items of interest.
ware, in part because it differs in its ap- Once you find an app of interest, just click on it
proach from most other security suites and on the page that opens you will find infor-
and I believe that this gives it an ad- mation about the app such as number of down-
vantage in blocking new or unusual loads, reviews with rating and a description of
threats.) the app. The app might be free, might have a
5. Back up your computer files! However, price or it can be downloaded for trial.
there is a twist to this recommendation.
It is not enough to back up to an external Usually a Microsoft account is required. To in-
hard drive, permanently-installed remov- stall the app, just click on the Install button.
able storage device or cloud-based stor-
age account. This is because the peo- Maintaining Apps
ple behind ransomware are becoming Periodically, there are updates for apps to ei-
increasingly sophisticated and have ther enhance them or fix some problem.
found ways to encrypt not only the files To check for updates go to the Store app.
found ON your computer, but also the
files connected TO your computer. For On the upper right side of the screen, if there
better protection, I am now seeing rec- are updates available for any of the apps, you
ommendations to use two external hard will see a link in green
drives or other storage devices for back-
up, one at a time. This way, one hard
drive or other device will always be dis-
connected from your computer and your
network – and invisible to the bad guys. In this case there are updates available for 3 of
Even if they’re able to encrypt all files on my installed apps (not distributed with the sys-
your computer and connected to your tem.
computer, they can’t reach that discon-
nected hard drive. Clicking on this link displays the 3 apps that
are scheduled for an update.
If you have additional information or ideas
about how to protect against ransomware,
please send it/them to Mike McEnery to include
in future newsletters or share with members at
our monthly meetings. Thanks!

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