What is the best way to protect my laptop?

Hi Aradhana, there are several steps you can take to protect your laptop. I do all of these.

1. Make sure you lock your laptop when you're not using it. If you're in a public place, ask someone to keep an eye on your laptop if you need to step away from it, or take your laptop with you.
2. <span style="color: rgb(93, 103, 106);">Use a strong password to protect your laptop. You can generate a random password and use a tool like </span>LastPass<span style="color: rgb(93, 103, 106);"> to remember your password for you (so you don't have to). </span>
3. Put stickers on your laptop -- this makes it unique to you, and makes it easier to identify if someone takes it.

Use a password manager and strong passwords generated and stored therein.

Setup two factor authentication for your most important accounts.

• Make sure to lock your laptop with a password
• Try to avoid public network/wifi
• Protect your laptop with an anti-virus software

This is an excellent question since a laptop is important investment in your education.

1. You MUST download an anti-virus program. There are a lot of different companies out there so take the time to do some research to see which are the best. Note: It isn't always necessary to pay a lot of money for good virus or malware protection. Some programs work great and are completely free.
2. Periodically, whether you use Apple or Windows, you'll receive notification of an update to the system that needs to be downloaded. Do not ignore these notifications! These updated usually contain patches that will protect your computer from malware attacks.
3. Keep the receipt! It sounds like a no-brainer but you have to remember that most laptops come with a one-year manufacturer's warranty that protects you in case something goes wrong with computer that is not a result of something you did like physical damage. For example, I bought my daughter a laptop in April 2018 and in early March 2019 the motherboard stopped working. Because I had my receipt and it was still covered under the one-year warranty, the manufacturer repaired it for free.
4. Purchase a good briefcase cover for your laptop. This will protect it from some physical damage.
5. And the obvious: Create a very strong password that no one could easily guess. It should be a combination of upper case, lowercase, numbers and symbols.