5 Ways You're Screwing Up Your Computer

1.You're Not Backing Up Continuously

One big way to screw up your computer, and by extension yourself, is to back up in some way that's not continuous.

This is a LEVEL 10 SCREW UP!

Yes, you should be backing up your data continuously, as in virtually nonstop... all the time... at least once per minute. It sounds excessive, but it's true.

This is one of the biggest way you're screwing up your computer (and your smartphone, and your iPad, etc.).

Your data is the most important stuff you own. They're your irreplaceable photos and videos, your expensive music, your school paper you've invested hours and hours in, etc., etc., etc.

While it's possible to use traditional backup software to back up continuously to an external hard drive or a network drive, it's easier to get started with, and safer on several levels, to back up continuously with an online backup service.

I've reviewed dozens of these online backup services, and take a fresh look at each one again every month. All are great choices and prevent just about any chance of you losing your important stuff.

Backblaze and Carbonite are my favorites, backup non-stop, and both allow unlimited space for surprisingly affordable prices.

So stop screwing up your computer and start continuously backing up to the cloud! Most smartphones have built-in auto-backup capabilities, so be sure to turn those on too!

2.You're Not Updating Your Antivirus Software

Another "good" way to screw up your computer is to not keep updated that antivirus program you took the time to install.

This is a LEVEL 10 SCREW UP!

Those nefarious malware authors out there make new viruses every day, change how they work, and find new ways of avoiding antivirus software. In response, antivirus software has to respond just as quickly.

In other words, your antivirus software only worked 100% the day you installed it. Kind of depressing, isn't it?

Most antivirus software, even free antivirus programs (of which there are plenty), automatically update their definitions, the term used to describe the set of instructions the programs use to identify and remove viruses and other malware.

That said, there are sometimes pop-up messages that ask you to do this manually or notices that appear on screen about needing to update the core program before definition updating can continue.

Unfortunately, I see people screw up all the time by closing these... without reading them at all! A message that shows up over and over is usually a good indication that's it's important.

So stop screwing up your computer's ability to fight the bad guys and make sure your antivirus program is updated! Just open the program and look for the "update" button.

If you think you may have been running your computer with a significantly outdated antivirus program, see my How to Scan Your Computer for Malware tutorial for help making sure nothing slipped in while your computer's defenses were down.

3.You're Not Patching Software Right Away

Similar to the not-updating-your-antivirus mistake from the last slide, putting off those software updates, especially the operating system ones, is a great way to screw up your computer.

This is a LEVEL 10 SCREW UP!

(I know, three Level 10 screw ups in a row! I'm getting most of the really important stuff out of the way first.)

The majority of software patches these days, especially the ones Microsoft pushes for Windows on Patch Tuesday, correct "security" issues, meaning issues that have been discovered that could allow someone to remotely access your computer!

Once these vulnerabilities in Windows have been discovered, a patch has to be created by the developer (Microsoft) and then installed (by you) on your computer, all before the bad guys figure out how to exploit said vulnerability and start doing damage.

Microsoft's part of this process takes long enough so the worst thing you can do is extend that window of opportunity any longer by procrastinating on installing these fixes once provided.

Windows Update is probably installing these updates for you automatically but you can check for this, and change the behavior, any time you want. See How Do I Change Windows Update Settings? if you need help.

It's the exact same situation with your Mac or Linux computer, your tablet, and your smartphone... just different details. However you're notified that an update is available to iOS, your smartphone software, or your Linux kernel: promptly apply the update!

Other software and app updates are important too and for similar reasons. If your Microsoft Office software, iPad apps, Adobe programs, (etc., etc., etc.) ever ask you to update, just do it.

4.You're Not Using Strong Passwords

We all use passwords. Most of the devices and services we use require that we do.

What they don't (usually) require is that the passwords not suck. A "strong" password, in case you didn't know, is a password that doesn't suck... in some specific ways.

Hopefully you know that passwords that include your name, simple words, 1234, etc., are all "bad" passwords. Information security experts call these types of passwords weak passwords.

Weak passwords are easy to "crack" with special software. Very weak passwords are even easy enough to guess. Yikes.

This is a LEVEL 9 SCREW UP!

I've written about guessing your own simple passwords and even hacking in to your own computer, both things you may be happy to have the ability to do when needed but that every other expert computer user can also do.

See What Makes a Password Weak or Strong if you're not quite sure how great, or not-so-great, your passwords are. If they don't meet that "strong" criteria, here's How to Make a Strong Password.

5.You're Still Running Windows XP

Windows XP was probably Microsoft's most successful product of all time, certainly its most successful and popular operating system.

Unfortunately, in April of 2014, Microsoft ended pretty much all support for it, meaning that those important security holes that are patched every month on Patch Tuesday are not being created for Windows XP!

This is a LEVEL 8 SCREW UP!

If you're still using Windows XP then your computer is still vulnerable to all of the security issues that have been found, and corrected in later versions of Windows, since May of 2014!

This is a Level 8 screw up and not a Level 10 because there are a few ways you can keep yourself relatively safe and still use Windows XP.

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