5 Things You Can Do to Secure Your Windows PC

Backups

“A backup is a process that copies all your files, data, and information to effectively create two versions – one on your original devices and one backup. It is designed to protect all your important files and pictures, even the ones you save to an external hard drive.”

Windows Machines (https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/back-up-and-restore-your-pc-ac359b36-7015-4694-de9a-c5eac1ce9d9c)

  1. Select the Start button, then select Control Panel > System and Maintenance > Backup and Restore.
  2. Do one of the following:
  • If you’ve never used Windows Backup before, or recently upgraded your version of Windows, select Set up backup, and then follow the steps in the wizard.
  • If you’ve created a backup before, you can wait for your regularly scheduled backup to occur, or you can manually create a new backup by selecting Back up now.
  • If you’ve created a backup before, but want to make a new, full backup rather than updating the old one, select Create new, full backup, and then follow the steps in the wizard

Firewalls

“A firewall is a security device — computer hardware or software — that can help protect your network by filtering traffic and blocking outsiders from gaining unauthorized access to the private data on your computer.”

Windows Machines (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/threat-protection/windows-firewall/best-practices-configuring)

  1. To open Windows Firewall, go to the Start menu, select Run, type WF.msc, and then select OK.
  2. Once opened, ensure that all profiles (Domain, Private, and Public) are Active.

Anti-virus

“An antivirus product is a program designed to detect and remove viruses and other kinds of malicious software from your desktop or laptop.”

Windows Machines (https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/stay-protected-with-windows-security-2ae0363d-0ada-c064-8b56-6a39afb6a963)

Defender AV is natively built into all Windows Operating Systems and should be enabled by default. To check these settings:

  1. Select the Start button, then type Security.
  2. Select the Windows Security app .
  3. This will present the “Security at a Glance” feature which will offer Microsoft’s recommendations around different settings to enable to further secure your device.
  4. Please observe the different settings and if a yellow caution symbol is present, select the feature and implement the Microsoft recommendation.

Encryption

“Hard-drive encryption is a technology that encrypts the data stored on a hard drive using sophisticated mathematical functions. Data on an encrypted hard drive cannot be read by anyone who does not have access to the appropriate key or password. This can help prevent access to data by unauthorized persons and provides a layer of security against hackers and other online threats.”

Windows Machines (https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/device-encryption-in-windows-ad5dcf4b-dbe0-2331-228f-7925c2a3012d)

  1. Sign into Windows with an administrator account (you may have to sign out and back in to switch accounts). For more info, see Create a local or administrator account in Windows 10.
  2. Select the Start button, then select Settings  > Update & Security > Device encryption. If Device encryption doesn’t appear, it isn’t available. You may be able to turn on standard BitLocker encryption instead.
  3. If device encryption is turned off, select Turn on.

Auto-updates

Windows Machines (https://www.tech-recipes.com/windows/how-to-turn-on-and-off-automatic-updates-in-windows-10/)

  1. Go to the Start button, then Settings>Update & Security-> Windows Update.
  2. Choose “Check for Updates” if you want to check the updates manually.
  3. Next, select Advanced Options, and then under “Choose how updates are installed”, select Automatic (recommended).