Anxiety from all these digital threats lurking everywhere? An antivirus program can help put your mind at ease.
A virus is malicious software that can affect pretty much any device and does so in a variety of ways. Be it your computer, your phone or your smart lightbulb - as long as there’s access to the internet, malware can get to it.
How exactly does this kind of attack manifest itself? Well, there’s a wide variety of effects ranging from mild to severe. Among other things, they depend on which type of malware attacks your device - a virus, spyware, ransomware, adware or something else.
These are some of the things you can expect to happen:
It really can be the stuff of nightmares. So, if you want to sleep peacefully knowing that your devices are completely safe, you should definitely consider getting an antivirus.
P.S. don’t let its name fool you - an antivirus does indeed protect your devices against more than just viruses.
Antivirus software is designed to help you battle and ward off malware. Basically, it scans your device to detect any suspicious activity and offers tools to get rid of the culprit.
At first, antiviruses were developed to fight against viruses only, but nowadays they cover a lot more ground. Here are some of the biggest benefits of getting yourself a powerful defender.
Look, constant ads that pop up everywhere aren’t the absolute worst thing that can happen on your computer. If anything, they are annoying, like when you’re trying to sleep but that one fly in your room just won’t stop buzzing.
Now, there’s a free, well-established solution for that - installing an ad blocker. And we’re about a hundred and ten percent sure you’ve already done that on each and every browser you use.
However, “if I can’t see it, it doesn’t exist” isn’t the most ideal approach for your online safety. Ad blockers can’t block everything and they won’t protect you from potential adware. An antivirus on the other hand offers that layer of protection against malware snuck into pop-ups and spammy websites.
Hackers don’t target government institutions only. They’ll target regular people too if they have something to gain.
There are different types of hacking, such as phishing e-mails, transmission of malicious programs, credential reuse, denial of service and more. In any case, they take control of your device and hijack your data.
The good thing is that, as threats evolve, antiviruses evolve too and there are tons of quality programs on the market that can keep you secure for an affordable price.
When malware enters your device, it can target pretty much any file and get access to any and all data.
Installing an antivirus program will make sure that every single file, new or old, is monitored at all times, warning you against threats immediately. That way, you can make sure to react before your other files become infected and data is lost or stolen.
Another great thing for data protection is that the best antivirus software normally comes with a password manager, so no one can use malware to steal your passwords.
As we already stated, malicious attacks can be performed in many ways and malware comes in in different shapes an sizes, such as:
Nowadays, antivirus software is designed to fight against all of these types. That’s why more often than not we hear the term 'antivirus' used interchangeably with 'anti-malware,' like in this article.
You can’t keep your eyes on your kid every second of the day and you can’t protect them from everything. But at least you can limit their exposure to the threats they can encounter at every corner of the digital world.
An antivirus program will block harmful or suspicious websites and ads, which is great both for you and your children. To take it a step further, though, many such programs come with special parental controls and offer monitoring as well. It’s a great solution for keeping your kids safe online without sounding like the irritating, overbearing, controlling parent who “just doesn’t get it!”
There are definitely lots of different antivirus programs out there, both free and paid. We recommend you look for a paid option, since free ones are unfortunately a lot more susceptible to being compromised through malicious attacks.
Now, there are a few factors to consider when choosing the right software. If you use your PC for basic things then a basic antivirus will suffice. However, the more complex your use and the more sensitive the data you deal with, the stronger it needs to be.
It’s also crucial that you take into account the features it includes. As we already mentioned, some programs have additional security options. For example, depending on the package you select, Bitdefender provides:
Some are included in plans and some are separate products, so make sure to check out all the offers.
And don’t worry if you have multiple PCs or you’re looking for protection for your smartphone or tablet as well; Bitdefender has suitable solutions for your needs. Of course, you can also just pick their classic antivirus software if you’re not in need of advanced protection.
Another important point is how regularly the software is updated and enhanced. The more frequent the updates the better, as bugs can make the program more vulnerable. Other things we advise you consider are user-friendliness, impact on performance, reputation (user reviews especially) and, of course, price.
Fact is: anyone can be a malware victim. Don’t let it be you.
You can’t put a price on peace and security, so don’t be reluctant to pay for yours - especially since a lot of options out there are extremely affordable. Is $159.00 a year really too much to pay for cross-platform protection for up to 10 devices? We don’t think so.
Explore your options and protect your files and data before it’s too late.
MyScrapNook is a browser extension for Google Chrome that allows users to easily find scrapbook templates, layouts, and graphics. This extension requires the use of Adobe Flash Player and does not work with Chrome’s built-in flash player.
When installed MyScrapNook will change your home page and default search engine to MyWebSearch.com. It will also inject unwanted ads and sponsored links into your search queries. This extension has been marked as a Browser Hijacker by several anti-virus applications and is recommended to remove it from your PC.
From the Author:
FREE scrapbooking templates, layouts, and graphics! Get creative with tons of FREE scrapbooking features. With MyScrapNook, you can make beautiful, custom scrapbooks — with just a few clicks. Let us help you capture the memories with FREE scrapbook templates. The MyScrapNook extension offers convenient web search and features from the Chrome New Tab page.
Many are upgrading their OS to Windows 10, however, it’s not always smooth sailing because users have been reportedly experiencing different bugs including Black Screen after a successful update.
One common issue in installing Windows 10 is the appearance of a black screen after installation. This usually occurs when the user restarts the computer. Initially, there will be a black screen only appearing on the monitor. There are also cases where a mouse cursor is present, while some cases have no cursor at all.
Not only that, it seemed that you’ve lost all your desktop icons when experiencing this bug.
Just like the other bugs experienced by Windows 10 users, booting to a black screen has reasons. Before you even try to look for the solution, you first have to determine the cause of the error, in this case, the error would be black screen when booting.
Before you even think of upgrading your OS to Windows 10, you need to know that there are specific system requirements and specifications to be able to successfully update your operating system.
There are more system requirements in order to use other certain Windows 10 features, but we’ll focus on solving your black screen problem in this article.
IMPORTANT NOTE: While it’s possible that you’ll be able to find the solution for your black screen during Windows 10 update, contacting the service of a professional technician or using an automated tool is advisable if you’re not confident in performing the methods to be discussed.
There’s a chance that you’ll get an error prompt saying, “installation cannot be completed in safe mode.” If this happens, simply press Shift + F10. This command will redirect you to the Command Prompt. You just open Device Manager by keying in devmgmt.msc then disable the display adapters, now check if you’ll be able to successfully boot in normal mode.
This process will normally allow you to complete the Windows 10 installation, if that’s the case you can just update the display adapter drivers from the manufacturer’s website. Restart your computer and see if this solves the problem.
Do take note, however, that the Roll Back Driver option is not available if there was no previous version installed.
Since one common cause of black screen during a Windows 10 update is the external devices you use in your computer, you might want to consider these steps as well.
Some Windows 10 users had success in solving their black screen problem by disabling the fast startup.
TelevisionFanatic is a potentially unwanted browser hijacking extension developed by Mindspark Interactive Network. It is marketed to enjoy one-click access to local TV listings, watch recently-aired episodes of your favorite shows and viral web videos, plus TV news and show recaps. However, all of these services require registration and sensitive personal data, that is later sold/forwarded to serve ads.
Upon installation, this extension adds registry entries that allow it to run each time the computer is started. It also changed your default search engine to MyWebSearch and hijacks your default new tab behavior opening MyWebSearch instead. These search results display unwanted ads, and clutter pages with sponsored links that negatively affect your browsing experience. Multiple anti-virus scanners have detected TelevisionFanatic as a browser hijacker, and therefore it is flagged for optional removal.
“We’re not sure what happened, but we’re unable to run this tool on your PC. If you continue experiencing problems, reference the error code when contacting customer support – Error code: 0x80072F76 – 0x20016.”This kind of error in the Media Creation tool could be due to an interrupted download or unstable internet connection, and many more. To fix it, you can run the Windows Update troubleshooter or try using another browser to download the tool to another location. You can also try changing the DNS or the ISP connection or use the Windows 10 Update Assistant as well as delete the $Windows.~BT & $Windows.~WS folders. Check out the given suggestions below to fix the Media Creation Tool Error code 0x80072F76 – 0x20016 in your Windows 10 computer.
Installation Error: Call to Driver Package Install returned error 1627 for package C:ProgramFilersHPHP deskjet 2510 seriesDriver storePipelinehpvplog.inf
‘Error Message: Error 118 (net::ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT): The operation timed out.’