Category Archives: Security

4 Reasons to Avoid a Free VPN for Gaming

There are two pretty common questions we get asked with regards to VPNs and their usage while gaming. First, many people wonder if they should use a VPN for gaming at all. Second, the question of whether or not to use a free VPN for gaming comes up. In this post, we look at why you should avoid using a free VPN for gaming and either opt for a solid paid VPN or no VPN at all.

Free VPNs May Contain Malware or Spyware

One of the issues with free VPN in general is that it is tough to find one that is 100% safe to use. A recent study found that almost a third of free VPNs contained some type of malware or virus. Quite frankly, that is more of a risk than I am willing to take. I would prefer to use no VPN at all than to take the risk of getting malware. Obviously, if you use a free VPN that gives you malware, it is going to ruin your gaming experience. read more

5 Tips To Never Get a Virus Again

Being a software engineer, I get called quite often by friends or family to help them with a virus problem. In these instances, we usually can get the virus removed. However, removing a virus can be a real time waster, even for tech experts. One of odd things about this is that I rarely, if ever, have to remove viruses from any of my personal computers. I think that their are some distinct reasons why I am able to avoid getting a computer virus. In this post, I am going to give you some of my personal tips so you never get a virus again.

Install a Good Antivirus Software and Keep it Up to Date

If you don’t have antivirus software installed, then you need to get on this right away. I personally prefer to use a free antivirus. I believe many of the free anti-virus software packages are pretty good. If you want to stick with a free anti-virus, I would recommend Windows Defender. The second part of this is that you need to keep this software up to date. Most good antivirus software will automatically update itself. However, it is a good idea to check that this is happening. When it comes to scanning, it is a good idea to scan every week or so. I recommend setting up your antivirus to run on a schedule. That way you won’t forget to scan. By keeping your virus protection software up to date and by scanning often, you can make sure you catch any threats before they can wreak havoc on your PC.

Be Careful When Opening and Clicking Links Within Emails

Opening a bad attachment or directly clicking on a virus in an email are two really common ways to get a virus. There are quite a few ways to avoid this. First, be really careful opening emails that have attachments from people you don’t know. Second, if you open an email, you don’t recognize the sender, and the email itself doesn’t make any sense, don’t click on any of the links in the email. In this case, it is best to just delete the email and move on. Last, if you are not with a solid email provider like GMail, Yahoo Mail, etc, then you may want to think about switching. These services do a great job of filtering out any viruses before they even get to your inbox. One last tip is if you do click a link and your browser gives you a big warning about the page you are about to visit not being secure, don’t continue, and close out of the browser immediately.

Be Careful When Browsing the Internet

Another really common place to get a virus is from a bad website. We have all been there, we have clicked on a link or a result in Google search and we end up at a website that just doesn’t look trustworthy. These bad sites will often have a number of popups, try to get you to download files, and won’t even let you click the back button. In most cases, you are still OK. However, what you do next may determine if you get a virus or not.

First, see if you can go back or even see if you can close out the browser window. If it doesn’t let you, you can try to close any popups or notifications using the “X” or the cancel button. If you still can’t get away from the bad site, you can use the task manager by pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL to manually close your browser task. The big key here is that you don’t download and install anything. Most browsers today will ask if you are sure that you want to continue with a download. This is where you make your last stand against the virus.

Next, it is best to avoid certain types of sites. First of all, it is recommended that you avoid public torrent sites. These are well-known virus farms. You also want to be careful around any type of adult sites or any low quality streaming sites. I am not talking about YouTube. I am talking about sites that stream a specific TV show or channel illegally. These types of sites can contain malware as well.

One last thing to look out for when browsing is fake “download”, “play now”, “play”, etc buttons. (Image courtesy of PCWorld)

Be really careful around these. Keep an eye out for these on sites that you particularly don’t trust. Also, while on the topic, don’t fall for the “Your computer is infected” ads or popups. These are usually a trick to get you to download a virus. If you see one of these and you are unsure, close it, then open up your virus protection software and run a scan. This will tell you if you are truly infected or not.

Be Careful When Downloading Programs or Files

There are many times when you really just need to download a program or file from the Internet. If you do this correctly, then there is no issue. However, the key here is that when you download something, make sure it is from a trusted source. Downloading software directly from the software developers website is one good tip. For example, if you need to download iTunes, download it from Apple itself, not some third party distributor. The only time you should download from a third party site is when the site itself links to the third party site for the download.

Avoid Free VPNs

A VPN is a solid tool in your security arsenal. It won’t really protect you from getting a virus or malware, but it can protect in other ways. One thing that you will want to avoid is using a free VPN. Many free VPNs can do more harm than good. A recent study found that about a third of free VPNs contained malware. We do recommend using a VPN for the benefits they provide, however, stick with solid ones like NordVPN or IPVanish.

By following the tips and advice above, hopefully you will never get a virus again.

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3 Reasons to Use a VPN for Gaming

You may be wondering if you should use a VPN for gaming. There are definitely advantages and disadvantages to using a VPN while gaming.

Before we get into using a VPN with gaming, let’s look at what a VPN is and does. VPN stands for virtual private network. A VPN allows you to set up a private and encrypted network connection. A VPN will also hide your IP address and location. This all means that your ISP and other 3rd parties will have a lot more trouble tracking your activity online. It will also help protect you from nefarious parties looking to hack or steal your data. In general VPNs are a great tool to use, especially on a public network. read more

7 Things You Need To Do To Avoid Getting Hacked

Hackers are constantly trying to find ways to get access to your sensitive data and accounts. If they succeed, it can cause all kinds of problems. In this guide, we look at 7 things you need to be doing to avoid being hacked.

Create Good Passwords and Change Them Often

Your password can become public knowledge in a multitude of ways. It seems like data breaches are happening quite often and if this happens, a hacker could get access to your login credentials. Even worse, if you use these credentials on other sites, the hacker potentially has access to all of these accounts. read more

Step-By-Step Guide to Removing a Virus

I get called quite often by a friend or family member to help remove a virus or malware. All viruses are quite annoying and the way to remove a virus isn’t always the same. Over time, I have been able to find a pretty solid step-by-step process for removing a virus. In my process, I perform the easiest most likely to work actions first and move on to the harder steps later. In this post, I want to share my process so that it can hopefully be of some assistance if you ever need to rid your PC of a virus or malware.

1) Run a Virus Scan in Safe Mode

The first thing I always do is run a virus scan in safe mode. To access safe mode, simply restart your computer and press F8 while your PC is starting up. Most users know to run a virus scan. However, by running it in safe mode, you give your virus protection software a better chance of being able to remove the virus. This is due to the fact that parts of the virus may be inactive in safe mode. Hopefully, your virus protection software is able to find an remove the threat.

2) Run a Scan with Malwarebytes

Even if the antivirus is able to find and remove the virus, I still like to run a scan with malwarebytes as well. Malwarebytes is a free utility that does an awesome job at finding and removing viruses and malware. Many times, I find that Malwarebytes works better than many virus protection software at removing threats. Yet again, I would recommend running the scan in safe mode. As a side note, I am a user of Malwarebytes Pro and would highly recommend it to anyone. Hopefully, after Malwarebytes has done its thing, you will be malware free. If not, the process may get a bit tougher in step 3.

3) Identify the Virus and Find a Way to Manually Remove It

If you still have had no luck removing the virus, you may have to remove it manually. This can be pretty tough to do. First, you need to identify what the virus is. It is possible that your antivirus or malwarebytes has already identified it for you, but just couldn’t remove it. You may be able to use the task manager to find the virus as well. A third option is to use a program called hijackthis. Generally, with hijackthis, you may need to go a forum of experts so they can help sort through the log hijackthis produces.

After you identify the virus, you can simply run a Google search to find out how others have removed the threat. Most times someone else has been infected by the exact same virus you have and has found a way to remove the virus. Don’t get me wrong, if you need to remove it manually, it can be a pretty daunting task. You may find yourself changing the registry and deleting buried files and folders. However, if you just take your time and perform the steps as listed, you can often remove the threat successfully.

4) Reinstall Windows

Generally speaking, you should be able to solve your problem in steps 1-3. I have never absolutely needed to reinstall Windows to solve a virus issue. However, sometimes it just makes more sense. For example, if you have a PC that is very new or a PC that has very few important files or programs on it, it may make more sense to reinstall Windows. Reinstalling Windows takes about an hour. So, if you have very little on the PC, it may be more time efficient to just reinstall.

Also, if you get to the point where you are absolutely stumped on how to remove a virus, reinstalling Windows will surely get rid of the threat. If you go this route, make sure you have a copy or backup of your critical files before reinstalling.

Hopefully this guide will be useful. After you get the virus removed, you can also check out my guide on how to avoid getting a virus in the future. Also, if you think a step should be added to this guide, please feel free to let us know in the comments!

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