Here's How to Secure Personal Data On Your Laptop

A laptop contains personal and sensitive information of the owner, making it a treasure trove for thieves or hackers. This goes from the owner's address, financial records, plans, photos and videos, sales reports to countless data that are not supposed to be shared with anyone else without consent.

Fortunately, Windows and macOS have their own security features to avoid unwanted guests from getting personal and sensitive files from the laptop. But here are some tips to protect yourself.

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Here's How to Secure Personal Data On the Laptop

Set-up Your Personal User Account

Make sure to have your personal user account on your laptop even though you are the only one using it. This method does not only prevent the kids from messing up the browser bookmarks when they play games but also it will prevent anyone from accessing it.

With a password on the account, the thief cannot do much beyond resetting it and wiping the data when it gets stolen.

Microsoft and Apple have this type of security on their laptops to avoid sharing accounts with other people and leaving the personal and sensitive information unprotected. For added security, Windows and macOS now support biometric authentication, either fingerprint or facial recognition. To protect your privacy, you need to purchase a laptop with fingerprint reader and other advanced security features.

Enable System-Wide Encryption

Encryption is usually enabled in both Windows and macOS laptops, although it might not be in the older laptops.

It will make the hard drive data appear scrambled if the laptop is not logged into the usual way, making it harder for others to access the disk drive on the computer. For MacBooks, encryption is applied automatically upon setting them up for the first time.

The owner can install a third-party encryption tool as well for an extra level of protection for specific files. This is proven useful for locking down data that were stored in external hard drives. One example of a third-party encryption tool is the VeraCrypt, which can be used in either Microsoft or macOS for free.

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Use Application-Specific Protection

If someone has guessed your password and got access to our laptop, the additional security measure by application-specific protection will be useful during these times. As its name suggests, these various protections are available for specific applications.

In Microsoft Office applications, the user may add password protection to the documents, spreadsheets, or presentations. To do this, click File, Info, Protect Document and Encrypt with Password. For macOS, the user may click Review, Protect, and then Protect Document.

Moreover, a similar option also applies to macOS' Pages, Numbers, and Keynotes. Putting passwords in place in any of these programs encrypts the file so no one can access the data inside them.

Allow 'Find My Laptop' to Locate a Lost Device

In case the laptop is stolen, both windows and macOS has tools that will help you locate your lost device and lock it remotely. However, pursuing the thief is not recommended without the help of authorities. Remotely locking the device and erasing any sensitive information is a good idea.

For Windows, they do not have the application to clear it remotely, but at least it can be lock so no one can access it without the password. But for macOS, its feature called "Find My" can lock the device remotely or entirely erase everything on it.