THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING UPDATED

Hackers are always looking for weak spots to exploit, and often find them in the underlying code that makes up Windows and all the programs (and associated extras, such as browser add-ons) on your PC. When vulnerabilities are found, hackers use “zeroday exploits” to take advantage of them.

Most good anti-malware software has built-in behavioral protection against these exploits—it works by monitoring your PC’s processes for suspicious behavior that could point toward a zero-day attack, and takes steps to block it. It’s not foolproof, though— some false positives can be found, and other exploits can go unnoticed.

As always, the best form of protection is prevention, and that means keeping your system up to date. It’s one of the reasons why Windows 10 now forces its updates down your throat, and most good software automatically checks for new versions when it’s first launched—never skip this, particularly if its changelog refers to security updates. Most browser add-ons should update automatically, too, but Flash is one you should keep an eye on – it’s more vulnerable than most to zero-day exploits, and given the rise in support for native HTML5 video streaming, you might want to experiment with disabling it altogether. (In Firefox, go to “about: addons,” select “Plugins,” and set Shockwave Flash to “Ask to Activate”—that way, you’re alerted when a site needs it, enabling you to make an informed decision on whether to run it.)

If you’re struggling to keep your programs updated, use a free tool called Personal Software Inspector ( http://bit.ly/ soft-inspector), which carries a database of thousands of supported apps, and tells you exactly which ones need updating at any given time—in many cases, it can even do the updating for you.