The firewall protects your computer against certain types of attack, but not against involuntarily downloaded viruses. In this chapter, you’ll learn more about the Windows 10 in-built antivirus software, Windows Security. With this antivirus, your company’s employees will be able to surf the web as safely as possible.
Make Sure Your PC is Healthy
To see the status of Windows Security, go to “Windows Security” by clicking on the icon at the bottom right of your desktop.
Then click on “Virus & threat protection”:
In this section, you can see your computer’s protection history (viruses and threats detected). Here you can also launch a scan, which searches for potential viruses and threats on your computer.
Scan your whole computer
You can click on "Scan Options" and then "Full scan" to carry out a scan of all your computer’s files. You can also choose "Custom scan" to target a directory you think may be infected.
Configuration
Click on "Virus and threat protection" and then "Manage Settings" to configure your antivirus settings. Check that real-time protection, cloud-delivered protection, and automatic sample submission are all turned on.
Manage what is included in the scan
Sometimes, when business apps specific to a company are installed, Windows Security sees them as threats. To be able to use them, they may need to be excluded from scans. To do this, click on "Add or remove exclusions" and add the application file path so that Windows Security won’t include them in its scan.
Protect your computer from ransomware
One of the most common threats in recent years has been ransomware.
What solutions are there for this problem?
The first solution remains simply to not open the malicious file, which is often sent as an email attachment. Bear in mind that most antivirus software is not very good at detecting these types of attacks as they are unable to scan the contents of the attached file.
The second solution would be to pay the hackers to get the key. However, there is no guarantee that your files will be decrypted after you’ve paid, and you could lose your money.
The last two solutions are services provided by Windows 10. Let’s take an in-depth look at them.
Prevent alteration of your folders and files
If you click on “Ransomware protection”, you can enable a program that will stop your user folders (files under C:/User/YourName and C:/User/Public) from being encrypted or altered.
As well as your personal files, Windows system files and any other folder or directory you decide to add will be protected.
Store your work directories in the cloud
As I’ve already mentioned, the cloud is currently the easiest and most reliable place to store your work directories, especially for small organizations such as start-ups or SMEs.
In addition to making sure all staff members are warned about ransomware and protecting folders using Windows 10 tools, you can store your work folders and files in the cloud to avoid any serious mishaps.
You’re now ready to tackle the biggest threat on the web: theft and loss of your data. Don’t forget to make sure your antivirus is always up to date to protect against new viruses.
You’ll learn in the next chapter how to encrypt your hard drive to stop data from being stolen from it.
Your Turn!
🎯 Today's mission at CleanFuture: CleanFuture’s custom business application CleanAccounting comes with detailed installation instructions.
Your line manager has highlighted the following line:
The application will be installed to C:\TEMP
She would like to make sure the application is not incorrectly marked as a threat by Windows Security.
⚙️ The actions you need to take:
Configure Windows Security on your own computer to exclude the application from all future scans.
✅ Double-check your work: You’ll know you’ve succeeded when the list of Exclusions in Windows Security contains the correct folder path - C:\TEMP.
Let's Recap!
Viruses represent a major threat to your computer.
To configure Windows Security, go to Windows Security Centre > Virus & threat protection.
In this menu, you can scan your whole computer for viruses and threats.
You can configure your antivirus to monitor your computer in real-time.
Finally, you can protect your folders and files from alterations made by malicious software such as ransomware.
Don’t forget that storing your work folders and files in the cloud is a good way of protecting them from attacks
Keeping your computers protected from malicious threats is an ever more complex task. Hopefully, after this chapter, you have a better understanding of how you can use Windows 10 to keep your computers secure using Windows Security. Next, we’ll look at another way of keeping your data secure - encrypting your hard drives.
