Workstation topics · Computer basics
Keep your computer healthy and safe
🏠The everyday picture
A shop stays safe with a few simple habits: locks on the doors, the register copied into a second book kept at home, leaks fixed as soon as they're found, and nobody let into the back room just because they say they're "from the bank". Computers need the same four habits.
📘What it really is
- Updates (fixing the leaks). Operating system and app updates close security holes that criminals know about. Turn on automatic updates and restart when asked.
- Backups (the second register book). Keep important files in at least two places, and one of them not in the same building or device: for example your laptop plus an online backup (OneDrive, Google Drive or iCloud) or an external drive kept somewhere else. A backup is only useful if you've checked that you can open the files in it.
- Strong sign-ins (the locks). A long password (a phrase of three or four unrelated words is strong and easy to remember), different for every important account, ideally kept in a password manager. Turn on two-step verification, so a stolen password alone isn't enough. Never share a one-time code (OTP) with anyone who calls or messages you.
- Not trusting scary messages (the fake visitor). A pop-up saying "Your computer is infected! Call this number" is a scam. Microsoft, Apple, your bank and the police don't ask you to call a number from a pop-up, install a remote- control app, or pay in gift cards.
📝A worked example
Arjun's screen suddenly fills with a red warning and a loud beeping: "VIRUS FOUND. Call Windows Support 1800-xxx".
- He doesn't call, and doesn't type anything into the page.
- He closes the browser. When the page won't close, he presses Ctrl+Shift+Esc, chooses the browser in Task Manager and clicks End task (on a Mac: Cmd+Option+Esc, then Force Quit).
- When he opens the browser again, he doesn't restore the old tabs.
- If he had already called and let someone control his computer, he would disconnect it from the internet, change his passwords from another device, call his bank using the number on his card, and report it (in India, the cybercrime helpline 1930 or cybercrime.gov.in).
🖱️Try it
A ten-minute safety check:
- Check for updates: Windows 11, Settings, then Windows Update (Windows 10: Settings, then Update & Security, then Windows Update); Mac, System Settings, then General, then Software Update; Android, Settings, then System (or Software update).
- Turn on two-step verification for your email account. Your email is the key to resetting every other password.
- Pick one important folder and check it's backed up somewhere else. Open one file from the backup to prove it works.
✅Quick check
Why does your email account need the strongest protection?
Show the answer
Because "forgot password" links for your other accounts are sent to your email. Whoever controls your email can reset almost everything else.
Your files are on your laptop and on a pen drive kept in the same bag. Is that a good backup?
Show the answer
It's better than nothing, but if the bag is lost or stolen, both copies go together. Keep one copy somewhere else, such as an online backup or a drive kept at home.
🧩Check yourself
Tap an answer to see why every option is right or wrong. There's no score and nothing is saved, so try as often as you like.