• Home
  • Products
  • Purchase
  • Support
  • Company

CompuClever Blog

How to Protect Your Computer from Ransomware

April 29, 2016 by Charles Edward

Ransomware is the latest threat to afflict millions of computer users worldwide. What’s really startling is that even police departments are being affected. Let’s take a look at what ransomware is, and how you can protect yourself against it.

Cyber-criminals have so far collected more than $200 million in the first three months of 2016, and are on track to steal $1 billion by the end of the year.

How?

By tricking regular people, as well as businesses and institutions, to download “ransomware” that takes control of computers and servers. If you want to unlock your computer data, you have to pay the crooks.

It’s a lucrative scam and no one is safe: hospitals, school boards and even police departments have all been blackmailed by ransomware criminals so far this year.

You Don’t Even Have to Download Ransomware to Infect Your Computer

Most recently, Game of Thrones fans were targeted by ransomware just by visiting the Pirate Bay video downloading site.

What’s most frightening about this example is that the visitors to the Pirate Bay didn’t actually download any malicious files.

Instead, all they did was get secretly redirected to a webpage that exploited common security holes in their Internet browser. Ransomware was “injected” into their computer before they knew what was happening.

What is “Ransomware”?

Ransomware is a type of malware—a malicious software program—that, once installed, takes over your computer. Ransomware may prevent your computer from working properly. It can also encrypt or lock away important data, including photos and music files.

The only way to regain control of your computer is to pay off the ransomers, usually by wire transfer or some other untraceable payment method.

How Does Ransomware Get Installed In the First Place?

Sometimes ransomware is downloaded and opened by accident. You may think you are downloading a video file or a useful software program, but in reality you are installing ransomware on your computer.

Sometimes people claiming to be “MS tech support” call you up, and persuade you to download what they claim is some sort of computer utility program.

They walk you through the process, step-by-step, over the phone, to download the ransomware.

Still, what is the most common ransomware “exploit”?

Your Internet browser. Thanks to weak coding, Internet browser security vulnerabilities are being found by cyber-crooks all the time. Visit the wrong web page by mistake and ransomware is downloaded automatically onto your computer.

Once downloaded, a common ruse to complete installation of the ransomware is for a pop-up screen with an “FBI warning” to appear on your computer. Push any button on the popup and the ransomware installation process gets finished, and your computer is hijacked.

Police departments and other government agencies can’t provide much help—they are overwhelmed by other problems and simply cannot track down the cyber-criminals.

So, to get rid of the ransomware and regain control of your computer, the only thing you can do is pay off your hijacker.

Or, you can take steps to avoid downloading the ransomware in the first place.

How to Protect Your Computer from Ransomware

1) Make sure you have antivirus installed

Make sure you have a current, legitimate antivirus program installed on your computer. Antivirus continuously scans for Internet attacks and malicious web pages that try to download ransomware without you knowing it.

Did you know CompuClever offers a comprehensive Internet security solution that continuously blocks Internet attacks and malicious web pages that try to download ransomware without you knowing it?

Check out CompuClever Antivirus PLUS, an innovative security software. CompuClever Antivirus PLUS has received a full mark with a rating of “SOLID” from the prestigious VB100 antivirus testing lab.

2) Hang up the phone on “Microsoft tech support”

Microsoft or any other software company never, ever phones (or emails), offering to help fix a problem they have identified on your computer. If someone claiming to be from tech support phones you up, hang up the phone immediately.

3) Backup your files on an external disk

Make sure important such as photos, music and videos are stored on an external backup drive. Backing up data is easy to do, thanks to cheap USB drives that now have more storage space than some laptops.

If you do download ransomware, before paying the cyber-crooks a single cent, ask a computer-savvy friend for help or obtain professional tech support.

There are many reputable programs and utilities that can help you gain control of your computer.

Have a request for Tech Corner? Email me at newsletter@compuclever.com.

Filed Under: Blog, online security Tagged With: computer scam, hacking, how to, malware, online identity, pc tips

Protect your online identity

December 12, 2011 by Charles Edward

protect your online identityIt’s the Christmas season, and more and more people are doing shopping online in order to save time and to stick to a budget. If you’re doing a lot of online holiday shopping, are you taking basic steps to protect your online identity?

You might be surprised by the amount of personal information that is stored on your computer – everything from passwords to, in some cases, banking and credit card information.

If you happen to download malware such as a Trojan or a virus, it may be possible for someone to learn and use your personal information – after you’ve been using your credit card to buy Christmas presents, for example – which can become a nightmare to fix.

So, to save you some worry, here are 2 tips for protecting your privacy online:

1. Scan your computer for cookies, passwords, chat email history, web search term history

Every time you use the internet, your browser stores “cookies” that remember personal information about the websites you’ve visited – personal information such as passwords for your online banking, your birthday, or even your mother’s maiden name, for example.

Your internet browser also saves the specific search terms you’ve been using to find things on the internet. Your internet chat program is also storing the records of every hat you’ve ever had.

Add these three different kinds of personal information together, and it’s possible to learn a lot about your private information, which can have serious consequences if the wrong person has the chance to snoop through your computer.

So, one way to protect your privacy online is to scan your computer for cookies, passwords, chat email history, and web search term history, and delete unneeded information.

2. Delete temporary files

Your web browser regularly creates temporary or “temp” files of the websites you visit to help speed up the browsing process. This means anyone with access to your computer can see any web page you’ve ever visited.

So, if you’re worried about online privacy, it’s always a good idea to periodically remove temp files. As an added bonus, removing temp files can sometimes speed up your computer.

More next time

That’s all for now. If you’re interested in using a powerful tool that will help improve computer performance, why not give PC Tuneup Maestro a try? PC Clean Maestro can help you easily remove speed up Windows.

 

Filed Under: Blog, computer fixes Tagged With: hacking, malware, online identity

Don't miss out

Get a copy of "5 Tips for a Fast PC" when you sign up for our free "PC Tips" newsletter.

Subscribe Now
Archive Newsletter

Recent Posts

  • Ultra File Opener 5.7 Release Note

    Ultra File Opener 5.7 Release Note

    July 24, 2018
  • How Blue Light Affects Your Health and What to Do About It

    How Blue Light Affects Your Health and What to Do About It

    May 11, 2018
  • How to Protect Your Privacy & Identity on Facebook – Part 2

    How to Protect Your Privacy & Identity on Facebook – Part 2

    April 18, 2018
  • Facing the Truth – Facebook & Privacy

    Facing the Truth – Facebook & Privacy

    April 7, 2018
  • Spectre and Meltdown:  Massive Security Holes Impacting All Mac and PC devices

    Spectre and Meltdown: Massive Security Holes Impacting All Mac and PC devices

    January 12, 2018
  • How to Fix Computer Sound Problems

    How to Fix Computer Sound Problems

    December 19, 2017
  • Correct Ergonomics Sitting at a Computer Desk

    Correct Ergonomics Sitting at a Computer Desk

    November 17, 2017
  • Five Useful Tips and Tricks for Windows 10

    Five Useful Tips and Tricks for Windows 10

    August 27, 2017
  • Going Incognito – Browse Web in Privacy Mode

    Going Incognito – Browse Web in Privacy Mode

    August 4, 2017
  • Don’t be Held at Ransomeware

    Don’t be Held at Ransomeware

    July 14, 2017
Contact Us | Privacy Statement | Terms of Use | EULA | Partner With Us | Uninstall | Blog
CompuClever© Systems Inc. 2023 All rights reserved.
Microsoft is a trademark of the Microsoft group of companies. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.