What is the best way to keep my Mac secure and safe from hackers?

Duncan Mitchell
2019-03-19 13:56

Until recently Mac's were relatively secure.  However, due to the recent popularity of Macs, they are now being targeted by hackers.   As with PCs it is recommended that an anti-virus is installed and they are backed-up regularly. Fortunately there is some excellent software to do both of these tasks free of charge.

 

To back up your Mac there is a piece of software called 'Time Machine'.  This is installed as standard and just needs activating and then you need an external hard drive for it to work. This will back up your files and the operating system and protect against accidental deletion and failure of the hard drive. Unfortunately it will not protect against fire, flood and theft of both units. If you require a greater reliability there are many online backup systems these usually do have a monthly cost but for home users this is usually not too high.

 

Antivirus: this has become a necessity for all computers as viruses and spyware are now a major issue especially with the advent of ransomware.  Luckily there is an excellent free antivirus for anyone to use called Avast,  this can be obtained from https://www.avast.com/en-gb/free-mac-security the only downside with Avast for Mac is the advertising but if you can ignore this it is an excellent piece of software.

 As well as antivirus there is also anti-malware.  A good source for this is Malwarebytes that have a free download for Macs at https://www.malwarebytes.com/mwb-download/ this is free for home use only and not commercial use.

One of the last and probably the most important piece of advice with a Mac is to ensure that it is kept up to date. Apple release a new version of their operating system every year and this includes many improvements and security updates and is high recommended as without them your computer is not classed as secure.

Tags: anti-virus, Avast, hackers, Mac, malware, security, viruses
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