There are several ways to make sure that every time you connect to the internet you can be sure that your device is completely safe from viruses and that your connection as well well as what you are connecting to is hidden from your internet service provider.
First of all, we have VPN software, and then secondly we have anti-virus software. But just what do these software programs achieve and why are they touted as being 100% necessary?
The only way to understand this is to break down our internet activity and then provide examples of how VPNs and anti-virus software programs help to protect our connections.
VPN Software & Privacy Protection
Every time you use the internet to connect to another device or to browse web pages on the World Wide Web, your ISP knows exactly what you are doing. It is all recorded and so for many people, their internet sessions are not private.
You may wonder why some websites are blocked, or why you could potentially get into trouble with ISP when connecting to sports or movie streams. On top of this, if you happen to be someone that likes to download torrents, this activity could easily be spotted by your ISP and possibly a block put on your ability to download torrents.
You are basically being watched every step of the way. There may not be someone physically sitting there watching your connection, but the ISP’s system is always recording your activity which could trigger a warning or alert that singles you out.
In order to make sure your connections are private so you can carry out certain activities online, you need VPN software. For example, you could use this website: https://personvernpanettet.no to look at some of the VPN options that are available to you. Some even come with anti-virus as an added extra.
Anti Virus Software
Another problem arises when you are downloading torrents or watching free sports or movie streaming websites. Both activities mean that you are putting your computer at risk.
Torrents are well known for having viruses hidden inside movie files or software installation files (if you have downloaded a crack software application).
As for the free stream websites, there are very well known for ads and pop-ups. Some of them ask you to ‘click here’ and you unwittingly kick start a software installation for something you really didn’t want. Or you are led to believe that you need a particular movie player to play the stream and you download it only for your machine to slow down.
Now one of the biggest computer hacks or viruses of today are those that steal system resources. Rather than stealing system files or personal information like most viruses, these malicious and well-hidden pieces of code use your processor and RAM for activities such as cryptocurrency mining.
Anti-virus software protects your device(s) from all the potential threats mentioned in this section. If you are a torrenter, or you like to visit dodgy websites, then before you do so make sure you have decent anti-virus protection installed.
