Pay attention to security with our computers and online lives.

If the last week has taught us anything, it is that we need to be smart and savvy with our computers. We need to pay attention to our operating systems, be sure to install the updates we receive, make a system restore of our computers, back up to an external drive (or two) or an external drive and the cloud, and pay attention when we open email attachments or click on links. This is a variation on the theme "buyer beware" - it is "computer user beware."

The recent ransomware hack involves computer systems that continue to operate Windows XP. Now you may have a good reason to be using XP but be aware that XP is 4 generations removed from the most recent Windows 10 (Vista, 7, 8, 8.1). There is a patch for this security flaw but we do know that Microsoft is no longer supporting XP.

Geoff Rasmussen recently shared the story of his hard drive failure (and I am sure Geoff is someone who updates his operating system regularly). He makes backups and he also uses a cloud service. As a result, he was able to be up and running rather quickly. If your hard drive crashed today OR you were the victim of rasomware attack, would you be able to be up and running with no loss of files? Of course we are not the big game that these hackers go after (hospitals, large companies, financial services, and governmental agencies are on their radar). But better to be safe than sorry.

A few months ago, I saw an unusual email attachment in a shared online folder with a group I work with. I trusted the individual and went to open the attachment. When asked how I wanted to open the file, I noticed the extension (the letters after the period in the file name). Since it was unfamiliar I Googled it to find out what the extension was - answer MALWARE. I deleted the attachment, ran my virus and spyware programs and notified everyone else in the group to do the same. We caught it but I realized how easy it is if one person in a group unwittingly puts you at risk.

Most of the time, the loss of files for genealogists and family historians will simply be the result of our failure to have a working backup if something goes wrong with our computers. Why not take a few moments away from the "hunt for ancestors" to make sure all your treasures & hard work are adequately protected. One of the best sites I have found for this is the How-To-Geek (see below). The articles are easy to understand, provide alternatives for what might work best for you and your system, and the articles are regularly updated.

Tuesday's Tip - this week is a reminder that we need to be vigilant in protecting our computers - in addition to our family history, many of us have so much on our computers - photographs, documents, correspondence, databases, finances, household records, music, etc. None of us want to lose those important things - especially in this day and age when many of us are either paperless or somewhat paperless. Legacy has offered webinar presentations and blog posts on internet security & precautions, backups and syncing of our computers, and the importance of the Rule of 3 - three backups with one kept off-site. So let's all be safe and backup!

https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/4241/how-to-create-a-system-image-in-windows-7/?utm_content=bufferc4917&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer