How to Secure Windows 10 in 9 Steps
Windows 10 is an operating system very popular in PCs but … the growing diffusion of this OS has certainly not coincided with the awareness of how important it is to secure and protect your PC from hackers on Windows 10 and, consequently, data archived inside.
You should never stop at the simple “first installation”.
Configuring ad-hoc and securing Windows 10 in the long term will reward you, and how it will do it! Trust us and spend this time that you have decided to dedicate to this guide to follow our precious advice. You will not regret!
Precisely for this reason, also taking a cue from the personal experience of many customers who shared with us their problems related to the security of the Windows 10 operating system, the continuous cyber-attacks by hackers or viruses and much more, we have summarized below the 9 steps that will allow you to secure and better protect your PC!
Let’s see them together, one by one, in the following list …
[1] Automatic login
First of all, your user account, your digital profile.
We all need to set at least one on first startup or following a computer format. What perhaps not everyone knows is that the user account in Windows 10 is traditionally set to start automatically (automatic login without password).
Of course, if you are the only person who accesses the PC and uses it mainly at home, this will not be a big problem for you. Indeed, a real convenience! The automatic start of Windows 10 will greatly simplify your daily life considering that you will never have to enter any access code or password.
However, if you use your desktop or laptop even at work or in an environment where other people could get their hands on your operating system, it is certainly better to protect your profile in Windows 10 with a password.
Doing so is very simple so don’t worry. But first it is good to understand and decide what type of account you are using or you will decide to set up. The first time you start Windows, access (therefore login) to the desktop can be via a Microsoft account or via a local account (limited experience) and the procedure for being able to put a password on Windows 10 depends on this distinction.
Let’s try to see together your current profile which of the two categories it belongs to …
- Press on the keyboard the key with the Windows logo and the letter “I” at the same time (alternatively, if you do not want to use this shortcut, open the Windows Settings )
- Now click on Account and take a look at the Your Info window
- If you find “Manage your Microsoft account” it means – in fact – that you are already using a Microsoft account (basically your email and a password of your choice)
- If instead under your name you find Local account and a little under the clickable item “Log in with a Microsoft account” it means that you are using a local account
Set up a Password Account in Windows 10
If you are using a Microsoft, account do the following …
- Press the Windows key and the “R” key at the same time (or, if you do not want to use shortcuts, type the word Run directly in the search and press enter)
- Then, in the Open box type “control userpasswords2” and click OK
- In the new User Account window, under User name, the list of all users of your PC will be displayed
- Click on yours and then check the box “To use this computer, the user account must enter the name and password” and press OK again. In this way, at the next startup you will be asked to enter the Microsoft password: if you want to set it from scratch, just click on “Forgot password”
If, on the other hand, your account is local, do so …
- Press Ctrl + Alt + Del on the keyboard and click on “Change password” from the menu that appears in front of you
- In the new box type the password you want to use and go ahead by pressing Enter
- A confirmation message will appear. From this moment, after restarting the PC you will have to enter the previously set password in order to have full access to the PC
Alternatively, go to Windows Settings> Accounts> Login Options> Password> Add and in the “Create password” window, in the “New password” box, select the keyword you want to use to protect Windows 10.
[2] Screensavers
How many times have you happened to move away from the PC to answer the phone or to take a breath of air but to have left it unknowingly exposed to the attention of others by not blocking it?
Well, in this case the password screensaver can certainly come to you in support!
In fact, it will be sufficient to set an access key (equal to that of the login or different, depending on your preferences) to prevent having to necessarily turn off the PC every time you want to protect it.
Again, it’s worth pointing out that setting a password for the screensaver is a really quick and easy operation.
How to set up Password Screensaver in Windows 10
All you need to do is go to Settings> Personalization> Lock screen and select Screensaver settings.
In the window that appears, you can manage different settings on the timeout and password that we recommend you enter to increase the security level of your PC.
[3] Automatic updates
The Windows 10 technical team is constantly working on making improvements to the operating system. With each release there may be improvements and greater care in the graphics, the implementation of new features but most of the time these will heal serious security holes that can compromise the operating system and your precious data.
And it is for this reason that we feel to advise you, when you receive a notice in which you are invited to download and install an update, never to ignore it, to act as soon as possible (frequently contains important security patches that must be immediately applied).
Windows 10 allows you to choose how to manage automatic updates in a few clicks.
To do this, go to Settings> Update and security> Windows Update.
From this special menu, you can check (normally they already are) if they have been set to Automatic but you can also choose to suspend updates for a certain period of time. To do this, click on Advanced Options and on the Select Date menu under Pause Updates. You can block its installation for a maximum of 30 days.
The Our suggestion , however, is still to keep the automatic updates , but if you really cannot stand that Windows 10 can take so long to catch up preventing you turn off your PC when you want, at least to set the most convenient times for scheduling updates and reboot of the computer leaving them therefore still active.
To do this, simply go to Windows Update once again and click on Schedule the restart.
[4] Backup
Not everyone knows that Windows 10 contains within its operating system, natively, an excellent backup system of the files contained in your PC. The latter allows you to create a recovery drive to save, always keep safe and restore – where necessary – the entire operating system or your precious files in case of crashes and other problems.
Of course, the best security can only be achieved by keeping the backup drive well separated from the rest of the system, in order to protect it from malware and attacks of various kinds. Then use external drives (large pens or external hard drives) for your backups and disconnect them whenever you have finished the backup copy!
You are probably wondering at this point how you can backup your PC to Windows 10.
How to perform a fast data backup on Windows 10
Well, just go to Settings> Update and Security> Backup> Add a drive and choose an external drive or network location as the backup destination.
At this point, when you want to restore files, just go to the taskbar and type Restore files, and then select Restore files with File history. Search for the file you need, and use the arrows to check which versions are available.
Once the desired version is found, select Restore: the file will be saved in its original location. You can also save the file in a different location, to avoid confusion, by clicking on Restore with the right mouse button and then select Restore to, thus selecting a new location.
If instead you used Backup and Restore to be able to make a backup of the files or create backups of all the image of the operating system in previous versions, then you can recover them by going to the control panel and then to System and security -> Backup and restore.
[5] Firewall
Still in the list of the main initiatives you can take to improve security in Windows 10, there is something simple and effective that you have at your fingertips (or clicks!): The firewall.
However, keep in mind that, in most cases, you won’t have to do anything at all: this feature is in fact enabled by default! But what is it about?
In summary, the Windows 10 firewall is a network security system that Microsoft has designed to prevent unauthorized users from entering your personal network. Therefore, if you recently purchased a PC with Windows 10, you don’t have to do anything. This setting will already be activated.
However, if you suspect that this option has been disabled, or want to make sure it is actually operational, then you simply need to check the Windows 10 settings and ensure that the firewall is active. Such as?
To activate (or deactivate in case of need or test) the Windows 10 firewall you must first type defender in the Windows search box. Then, click on Windows Defender Security Center. Go to the Firewall and Network Protection section, and click Activate. The User Account Control window will open: click yes. Easy, right?
[6] Remote access
Another security option that you should pay attention to is remote access to the operating system in Windows 10.
This feature allows you to regulate access (or not) to the Windows 10 system from another computer remotely via a network connection. Hackers could take advantage of this feature to access operating system data. You can well imagine what serious damage would be in terms of safety. But how can you disable it if you already know that you will never or rarely use it?
Again, it’s very simple!
Disable remote access in Windows 10
Access the Windows Start menu and then go to Settings> Control Panel – System and from here on the Remote Connection tab. Then click on Advanced and turn off Allow control of the computer from remote locations. Confirm by clicking on the OK button.
[7] Encryption
Thanks to encryption, you can take advantage of an additional security system that Windows 10 makes available to you in order to further improve your level of protection.
The system, known as BitLocker, will allow you to protect your data more effectively and, given that you can activate it in a few moments, it is worthwhile to dwell for a few moments on this kind of additional protection.
Go to the Start menu and in the search box look for BitLocker Management. Press enter and, in the management screen, click Activate BitLocker.
At this point the software will start a short initialization process and will ask you to choose one of the options available for saving the recovery key (I recommend you write it down in a safe place and always remember it!):
- Saving to the Microsoft account
- Saving to a file
- Printing the recovery key
Now click on Next and select one of the volume encryption options choosing between entire drive or space used. Choose the type of encryption to use. Click Next and then Run BitLocker System Check. Click on Continue and you’re done!
[8] Password management
Windows 10 has some useful basic features to be able to safely store passwords. However, if you want to increase the level of security, you cannot fail to deprive yourself of the use of a special password manager, certainly the best solution to organize secure access for each of the websites you visit every day (for work or for personal purposes ).
On the web there are many valid programs that can allow you, once installed, to be able to do their job: protect and manage your keywords quickly, effectively and safely! We recommend Bitwarden (free) or the well-known and really powerful arc 1Password (paid)
[9] Phishing
Finally, one last tip to further improve the effectiveness of your actions to combat any risk of “attack” on your Windows 10 operating system.
Remember that you may have adopted all the above measures but … phishing attacks come through seemingly harmless e-mails and, for this reason, not even the precautions that we shared a few points ago could be sufficient to be able to reach a ideal level of protection.
So what to do?
Simple: pay close attention to the emails you receive. The phishing email or contains malware could indeed appear as email messages with an image file-looking – in fact – harmless and with an extension .jpg, which might suggest that a picture inside.
The problem is that the computer with Windows 10 installed is set by default to hide the real file extension. Malware and viruses exploit this feature and manage to hide their real extension (usually .exe or .zip).
These files, if opened through a double-click too hastily, can in no time start and install malware, spyware, viruses and who knows what else in the operating system and also cause very heavy damage to your personal data, system files or the entire operating system.
On this point, unfortunately, there is no antivirus (Windows 10 installs and activates its excellent Windows Defender by default) or anti malware that it holds. You and only you, in the presence of an email with a dubious or strange origin, you must stop to reflect and evaluate whether it is really worth opening it or trashing it directly.
Conclusions
We are sure that thanks to these short tips and ideas about improving the general security of Windows 10, you have managed to armor your computer even more and to improve the efficiency level of your operating system against any external risk.
Do you know or have discovered new ways to protect yourself even more effectively in Windows 10? Share your experience below in the comments, we will keep updating the guide with all your valuable advice!
