How to protect against malware?

When it comes to malware, prevention is better than a cure. Fortunately, there are some common sense, easy behaviors that minimize your chances of running into any nasty software.

• Don’t trust strangers online! “Social engineering”, which can include strange emails, abrupt alerts, fake profiles, and curiosity-tickling offers, is the #1 method of delivering malware. If you don’t know exactly what it is, don’t click on it.

• Double-check your downloads! From pirating sites to official storefronts, malware is often lurking just around the corner. So before downloading, always double-check that the provider is trustworthy by carefully reading reviews and comments.

• Get an ad-blocker! Malvertising – where hackers use infected banners or pop-up ads to infect your device – is on the rise. You can’t know which ads are bad: so it’s safer to just block them all with a reliable ad-blocker.

• Careful where you browse! Malware can be found anywhere, but it’s most common in websites with poor backend security, like small, local websites. If you stick to large, reputable sites, you severely reduce your risk of encountering malware.

Unfortunately, even if you follow the above advice to the letter, you might still get infected with the malware: hackers have found ways to sneak their viruses into every corner of the web. For real security, you need to combine healthy online habits with powerful and reliable anti-malware software, like AVG AntiVirus Subscription FREE, which detects and stops malware before it infects your PC, Mac, or mobile device.