

You’ll also find security suites that shore up protection in various ways, and programs specific to a task such as ransomware protection. But never fear there are plenty of ways to fight back against the scourge of malware.Īt a minimum, installing a simple antivirus utility should keep most threats at bay. Keyloggers capture your login passwords along with everything else you do at your computer. Ransomware encrypts your essential documents and demands a no-trace payout to restore them. Trojan horse programs masquerade as useful tools, hiding activities such as tapping your online bank transactions. But there’s a shadier ‘ware lurking, one we call malware. Some go so far as to use “wetware” to name the brain that uses the software. The apps and programs that run on your hardware, they’re called software. The computer, smartphone, or table you use every day is an example of hardware.

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