Page 7 - 2101

15 Common Computer Mistakes You Should

Have Stopped Making by Now

Lauren Cahn

Your computer's supposed to make your life easier, but too often it's slow or—worse— compromised by
hackers. Tech-savvy experts warn against these 15 habits.

Downloading “free” stuff without making sure challenged.”
it’s legit
Not downloading operating system updates
The thing about “free software” is that typically it is-
n’t free, tech expert Kevin Boissonneault tells Read- When your operating system offers an update, do it.
er’s Digest. There’s a price to pay alright, and that’s “Yes, it can be annoying,” concedes Boissonneault,
often the integrity of your computer. “When you “because they always seem to want you to restart
download supposedly free software, you’re often your computer right while you’re right in the middle of
allowing the software to install something called something.” But foregoing system updates
malware onto your computer.” Malware is software “introduces a level of potential instability, and can
that you didn’t intend to install that can damage or leave your computer open and vulnerable to attack
disable your computer so that you have to buy more from a hacker or from malware. And that can lead to
software to fix it. Be suspicious of any free software serious damage to your data and potential for identity
offers. Here’s the time of year when malware infec- theft.” Don’t miss these cyber security secrets
tions spike. hackers don’t want you to know

Believing that person calling you is from Mi- Downloading “updates” without verifying
crosoft or Apple
As with free software, check to ensure that the
Neither Microsoft nor Apple will ever call you to in- “update” is legit. Don’t download anything unless you
form you your computer’s not working properly, can confirm it is from the operating system you use.
Boissoneault advises us. If you ever get one of Don’t rely on emails to do updates—Apple and Win-
those calls, do not give the person on the other end dows updates will come through the operating system
remote access to your computer. In fact, don’t give itself. Here are the signs that a shopping site may
them anything. Just hang up. Here are some other be fraudulent.
phone scams that could be trying to steal your mon-
ey. Opening email attachments without verifying the
source
Not taking the easy route
“Never download a file or an attachment from a
For most computers (as well as smartphones and source that you don’t know and trust,” says Emil
tablets), if you’re having problems, you’ll be able to Hozan, Junior Threat Analyst at WatchGuard Tech-
resolve them simply by restarting the machine, ac- nologies, to Reader’s Digest. “You’ll avoid a lot of vi-
cording to the tech consultants at Outsourced. In ruses and malware that way.”
fact, adds Boissonneault, not rebooting may only
make the situation worse. Keeping too many tabs or windows open

Being impatient after a reboot Keeping tabs and windows open that you’re not actu-
ally using can really bog down computer perfor-
“Wait a few moments when restarting/rebooting be- mance, Boissonneault tells us. “I had a user that
fore jumping into tasks,” according to Outsourced. would call typically once a month regarding the need
“Many times applications and services are still ini- for a new computer because hers was so slow. Then
tializing in the background and do not necessarily it would turn out she had literally hundreds of win-
mean that your computer is slow or performance- dows open!” Closing out windows and tabs is just one
way to speed up a slow computer. Here are some

January 2021 7