Home computer crises may not equal “War of the Worlds” or “Men in Black” for ghastly intergalactic invasions, but they pose dangerous threats of their own.
Just ask my checkbook. Having shelled out substantial sums for file recovery and emergency hard drive clean-ups, I learned a difficult lesson about computer repairs.
It pays to self-protect.
Malware, spyware, root kits, spybots, and other bad bugs abound in cyberspace. These internet-borne invaders long to lurk behind the scenes in my computer and yours.
I’m not particularly proficient with software programming, computer construction or motherboard maintenance. But I know a crashed hard drive when I see it.
Desperation and disk-drive-driven panic has led me to try extreme measures over the years when computers have crashed. I’ve packed laptops in my freezer, toted towers to technicians’ offices and nearly lost my marbles over lost files.
I’m guarding my system against potential predators in a few simple ways.
My computer and all of its related equipment are plugged into a giant surge protector to save them from possible storm damages. (Don’t even ask.)
The desktop screen now bears five different icons for drive scanning programs. Every one of these was offered as a free download online, recommended by a skilled computer expert and family friend.
One program specifically searches for root kits. Another aims at adware. Still more seek out spyware and bandit bots. Frequently, I replace these programs with new and improved substitutes, when experts I trust recommend this.
Periodic protective computer maintenance pays off.
Once a week, I download updates for all of these protective programs. When additional upgrades appear, I grab these too. Then I run each one, including searches and immunization options.
Guess what. Every time I execute these exploratory searches, the diagnostic programs discover some form of evil, hiding behind the scenes of my computer drives.
I don’t click on unknown links or programs. I have pop-up protection on my internet search browser. I never open email attachments or Facebook videos I don’t recognize. But potentially dangerous items still somehow creep into my computer each week.
Backing up is a forward-thinking strategy for computer use.
During my weekly computer maintenance routing, I copy all of my essential computer files to an external hard drive, which is essentially a free-standing storage unit. This paperback-sized item, boasting nearly unlimited memory capacity, may be the best $100 I ever spent.
A glass jar sits on my desk, filled with zip drives. These contain additional password-protected copies of my most important documents, graphics, photos and other key files. When I travel with a laptop computer, these zip drives hang on a lanyard around my neck.
I may not carry a light saber, and I’m not likely to don a tin foil hat anytime soon. But I’m standing my own ground, so to speak, against alien invaders to my computer.
Linda Ann Nickerson brings decades of reporting and a globally minded Midwestern perspective to a host of topics, balancing human interest with history, hard facts and often humor.
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