🤔 How dangerous is adware?

There are many different types of adware — some of them are completely harmless, and some of them are very dangerous. Adware can infect your browser, inserting new icons into your toolbar which redirect you to sites that try to steal your information or sell you products. It can also infect your search bar, inserting suggested products into your searches and manipulating you into visiting potentially dangerous sites. Adware can also infect your computer, notifying you that your security specs are out of date and convincing you to pay for an upgrade to a product you may never have installed! Adware removal tools are designed to detect suspicious behavior and flag any potentially unwanted programs (PUPs) on your system. The best tools, like Norton 360 , don’t just remove existing adware but also scan your downloads to ensure that you aren’t getting any new adware infections.

🤔 Are adware removal tools and antivirus software the same thing?

No. Many antivirus scanners don’t consider adware to be a serious threat. That said, the adware removal tools found in the antiviruses on this list are the best on the market. These products protect you against all types of adware and also against a wide range of other threats. And they also include excellent internet security protections like anti-phishing protection, a firewall, and a VPN to ensure you stay secure and fully protected online.

🤔 Do I really need adware protection?

Yes, you do. Good adware tools actively scan your system for all suspicious behavior — if any process tries to make changes on your system, open a pop-up window, or communicate to an outside server, that action is blocked and you get a notification, asking if you want to grant permission to the file in question. Adware removal tools also scan new downloads to ensure that you aren’t getting new pieces of adware online. All of the top 5 products on this list provide active scanning, so every single file you download is analyzed using advanced detection tools to ensure you don’t get any adware on your system in the first place.

🤔 How do I know if an adware removal tool is legit?

You should only install reputable internet security programs, and you should only get them directly from the developer’s website. Because cybersecurity software is given access to your system files, there are tons of deceptive sites out there hoping that you’ll download a fake security program and give it permission to infect your system with malware. I’ve provided links to all of the home pages for the adware removal tools on my list , so you can download any of these products with 100% certainty that you’re actually getting the tools that you need.

🤔 Doesn’t my device/browser already have a free password manager?

Browsers like Chrome and Firefox as well as mobile operating systems like Android and iOS have free built-in password managers, but they just aren’t as useful as third-party password managers. All third-party password managers provide better features and security than the ones already built into Chrome, iOS, and Android. Free third-party password managers include a variety of unique features that aren’t on built-in password managers, like: Password auditing. If your passwords are simple and repetitive, it’s super easy for a hacker to crack your logins. Password auditing scans your entire vault for simple and repeated passwords, and LastPass and Dashlane even offer to automatically replace some of them. Two-factor authentication (2FA). Many password managers, like NordPass and Bitwarden , are compatible with third-party authenticators which use a one-time password to verify your identity. This means that your password vault stays secure, even if your Master Password gets stolen. Secure encryption. Password managers use 256-bit AES encryption, which is the same encryption used by banks and militaries around the world. Many built-in password managers don’t have as good encryption. Built-in authenticator. Products like RememBear include a built-in authenticator, saving time when trying to log into 2FA-enabled websites.

🤔 Are free password managers good enough?

Free password managers have a lot of great features — LastPass and Bitwarden both cover an unlimited number of passwords on an unlimited number of devices for free. However, every free password manager has some limitations that will affect your user experience and security. For example, LastPass Free doesn’t include emergency access, which means that no one else can access your account in the event of a crisis. And Bitwarden’s free version doesn’t include password auditing or encrypted data storage. Paid password managers aren’t very expensive, and the best ones include dark web monitoring, encrypted chat and storage, unlimited password sharing, and emergency access in case you’re unable to access your account. Dashlane Premium even provides a surprisingly fast VPN! Free password managers may be good enough for some people, but I still recommend paying a few bucks a month for a high-quality premium password manager.

🤔 Are third-party password managers safe?

Password managers are designed to protect all of your passwords, as well as credit card information and private notes. It can be scary to trust all of this sensitive information to one program, but the best password managers actually make you safer online. Here’s how: Secure encryption. Most password managers store your vault on their servers, which makes it easy to sync between devices. Before your data leaves your device, it’s encrypted using end-to-end 256-bit AES encryption, which scrambles your data so thoroughly that it’s impossible to decipher. Zero-knowledge architecture. End-to-end encryption means that only the device which generated the encryption can read the encrypted data — no one but you knows what your password are. Even in the case of a data breach or government subpoena, there’s no way to decrypt your data on the password manager’s servers. Auto-fill. Hackers often steal user passwords using screen logging and keylogging spyware — this dangerous malware can record what’s happening on your screen, as well as every keystroke on your keyboard. By auto-filling your passwords, password managers keep your login data from being seen on your screen or entered into your keyboard. Password generators. If you aren’t using a password manager, then your passwords are probably easy for you to remember and easy for a hacker to crack . Password generators are built into every password manager, and they create completely random and complex passwords with tons of symbols, numbers, and letters that your password manager can easily remember, but which are super difficult to crack. Password managers increase your security by protecting you from screen loggers, generating hyper-complex passwords, and protecting your data behind secure encryption. It’s much safer to use one of these password managers than to try and juggle all of your passwords on your own.

🤔 How do accounts get breached?

Password breaches most frequently happen because of user error. Passwords can be stolen using keylogging malware or cracked through brute force attacks — which throws thousands of passwords in the login field until one of them clicks. LastPass allows you to protect your password vault using authenticator apps like Authy, which generate a temporary one-time password — you need both the one-time password and your Master Password to log into LastPass. This means that anybody using your Master Password to hack your vault remotely can’t do it without also having your physical device with the authenticator app on it. Large websites can also succumb to data breaches — hackers will break into a company’s servers and release all of their users’ login information to the dark web. Hackers can then access your account on the breached site and use the information from your account to crack into more and more of your accounts. This is why it’s so important to use a password manager that provides breach notifications — like Dashlane and LastPass .

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