{"id":63050,"date":"2020-02-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-13T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/foxtail\/2020\/02\/13\/data-detox-computer\/"},"modified":"2021-02-09T02:13:32","modified_gmt":"2021-02-09T02:13:32","slug":"data-detox-computer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/en\/privacy-security\/data-detox-computer\/","title":{"rendered":"Four things you can do today to protect your computer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>From the abacus to the iPad, computers have been a part of the human experience for longer than we think. So much so that we forget the vast amounts of personal data we share with our devices on a daily basis. On any given day we could be tackling sensitive work emails, planning our next vacation, or just booking some good ole doctor\u2019s appointments. No big deal right? Well, in the wrong hands it can become a huge deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thankfully, it\u2019s pretty easy to tighten your device security. Read on for four easy things you can do today to protect your personal info along with your devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Data Detox: Computers | Firefox\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/t_1dcIZdgTg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1. Scrub your email<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A while back you probably had to email someone a copy of your passport or your ID. If not, then you at least get a couple of bills in your inbox on a monthly basis. Unless you delete them, those emails are still buried deep in your inbox. All someone has to do is hack your account to gain access to a whole treasure chest of information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Put a stop to that by deep cleaning your email inbox once a year:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol><li>Archive all the emails you want to keep.<\/li><li>Next download it to your computer (you can save the file to an external hard drive).<\/li><li>Last step: delete your entire inbox to start fresh.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>Bonus points for spot cleaning throughout the year. You can do this by searching for information that\u2019s sitting in your inbox and deleting it periodically: bank details or your health insurance info for example. If it\u2019s something you\u2019ll need later on, you can always download it before deleting it from your email account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/278\/files\/2020\/02\/delete-email.gif\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/278\/files\/2020\/02\/delete-email.gif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3568\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2. Ditch old passwords<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>We have a love\/hate relationship with passwords. They\u2019re our first line of protection against hackers but it\u2019s hard to remember them. It usually goes something like this: you need to login to an account, you forget your password, you hit <i>\u2018forgot password\u2019<\/i>, then make a new password only for the screen to hit you with <i>\u2018new password cannot be the same as old password\u2019<\/i>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We get it. Avoid this by using a password manager like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mozilla.org\/firefox\/lockwise\/?utm_source=blog.mozilla.org&amp;utm_campaign=firefox_frontier&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=data-detox\">Firefox Lockwise<\/a>. It\u2019s a digital vault that stores all your passwords and generates new complicated ones that are harder to hack. Once you have a password manager, go through all of your accounts (i.e. music services, ride-sharing apps, airline accounts, etc.) and update your passwords.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Strong passwords should be:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol><li>Long: passwords should be a minimum of eight characters. Even better? 16-20 characters<\/li><li>Unique: each password you use \u2013 for every site \u2013 should be different<\/li><li>Random: your password shouldn\u2019t follow a logical pattern or be easy to guess. This is where a password manager is key.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/278\/files\/2020\/02\/generate-password.gif\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/278\/files\/2020\/02\/generate-password.gif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3578\"\/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3. Update your software<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Now that your accounts are secured with strong, unique passwords, it\u2019s time to update your software across the board. Updating software is rarely at the top of anyone\u2019s to-do list but it\u2019s actually one of the most important things you can do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Besides, hitting \u201cremind me tomorrow\u201d won\u2019t make the annoying pop ups go away (you know who you are). Make sure you\u2019re updating your:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol><li>Software<\/li><li>Operating System<\/li><li>Browser<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>Updates often include the latest security fixes to guard your system against malicious attacks by viruses and malware. Pro tip: avoid the annoying pop ups and keep your software fresh by enabling automatic updates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/278\/files\/2020\/02\/updates.gif\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/278\/files\/2020\/02\/updates.gif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3588\"\/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">4. Upgrade your browser<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>We don\u2019t like to brag but if you\u2019re looking for the ultimate private browsing experience, look no further than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mozilla.org\/firefox\/?utm_source=blog.mozilla.org&amp;utm_campaign=firefox_frontier&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=data-detox\">Firefox<\/a>. It\u2019s easy to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mozilla.org\/en-US\/firefox\/switch\/\">switch<\/a> and once you do you\u2019ll be protected against annoying third-party trackers, which means advertisers can\u2019t sell your personal information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Firefox browser is available on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mozilla.org\/firefox\/mobile\/?utm_source=blog.mozilla.org&amp;utm_campaign=firefox_frontier&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=data-detox\">mobile<\/a> too, so no matter where you browse, you\u2019re covered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Protecting your personal information while loving your devices doesn\u2019t have to be super hard. Let us know how your detox journey is going by tweeting us your comments <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/firefox?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor\">@Firefox<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mozilla.org\/firefox\/?utm_source=blog.mozilla.org&amp;utm_campaign=firefox_frontier&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=data-detox\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/278\/files\/2019\/10\/skyline-2000-nothing-to-see-firefox-full_EN.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2208\"\/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><i>In partnership with <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/tacticaltech.org\/#\/\"><i>Tactical Tech<\/i><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From the abacus to the iPad, computers have been a part of the human experience for longer than we think. So much so that we forget the vast amounts of personal data we share with our devices on a daily basis. On any given day we could be tackling sensitive work emails, planning our next [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1827,"featured_media":63800,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[289374],"tags":[290358],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Four things you can do today to protect your computer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"On any given day, you could be using your computer for sensitive work like sending emails, sharing documents or banking. 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