Originally Feb 2017, edited August 26
One of the best ways you can improve the security of a system is not running a day-to-day account as an administrator.
Admins have rights to change the system and install programs. These rights can be passed on to applications that run from the internet, allowing things to install in the background. This is how lots of viruses, spyware and other useless apps get on your machine, slowing it down or damaging it.
Windows by default sets people up as admins, so you need to add another user to run as a non-admin, usually after everything is all set up.
First, you make a new admin user with a password, log off your usual account and log in as this new user (to make sure it all works and finish its set up), then restrict your usual user login to a “normal” or non-admin user from this newly created admin account.
Log off and log back in as normal with your usual account which will now be a non-admin.
Day to day, you will be much more secure. If you need to install software or do anything else that needs admin rights, your PC will pop up with a box asking for the admin user’s password, and you can always log in as the admin account if stuff won’t install via this pop-up.
Now, if you see this pop-up when on the web, be very wary; something is probably trying to install. You get the chance to cancel this, so if you are careful, you won’t get things messing with your system.
Now Windows shows a similar pop-up if you don’t run as a non-admin, but as it’s a simple button (with no password or thinking involved), you can easily press it automatically. The thought process of having to type the password in is what is making you safe.
If this all sounds a bit complicated, you can always drop your machine in to us for a service, where we can set this all up for you to keep you safer in the future.