How to keep my phone and laptop safe? In the last article, we discussed in detail about passwords and related concepts.
Today, we want to take care of the devices that you use to access the internet. Most of us have two devices that we use to access the internet, first and foremost, our smartphones (either Android of Apple’s iOS devices) and second, our laptop. Let us tackle security of these devices one by one.
First, smartphones running on Android.
Go to settings > Apps and notifications > Advanced setting and then head over to permission.
Now start looking for apps that have access to various hardware and software aspects of your phone and disallow whatever seems suspicious.
For example: If you see a collage maker app asking or having permission to access your call records, revoke the permission, because for an app to make collages of pictures, there is no need to access the call log, these kinds of apps are a potential threat to your data.
Also, if you have apps that are downloaded from sources other than the Google Play store, uninstall these immediately. Why? Google’s Play store has a very apt and strong mechanism to keep an eye on applications that may have security loopholes and malwares. When you choose to install an app outside this mechanism, you make your data and device vulnerable.
Moving towards iOS based devices. Again, move to the app permissions part in the settings menu and revoke all the unnecessary permissions. For example, No cloud drive requires access to your GPS location to function, deny access and proceed safely.
Now, moving to the laptops! Unlike our smartphones, we cannot see all the applications or softwares installed on our laptops unless we manually take efforts to move to the control panel and check those softwares out.
Let us take that effort today and make sure our laptops are safe.
Start > Control Panels > Add or remove programs
At this stage, go through the programs, pay special attention to the Publisher, the moment you see a publisher that you don’t remember installing a software from, proceed to uninstall immediately. These softwares that may seem to appear out of nowhere but that is not the case.
There are several instances where one keeps clicking on “Next” while installing softwares downloaded from the internet, sometimes there are steps that sneakily suggest installing some web toolbar or something else that is neither requested by you nor needed and at the same time very risky!
The gist is, while downloading and installing third party softwares,be it mobile or PC, keep a keen eye on it and be very vigilant at the same time. Also, try to restrict downloading all the applications from very reliable sources, with high credibility.
StackMantle Public Service Announcement: The best possible way to protect yourself is clean your hands and arms frequently and avoid touching your eyes, mouth and nose. Also, in cases where hand washing is not possible, use of an alcohol based hand sanitizer is also prescribed.
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