August 23, 2026
How Not To Get Hacked
Securing Your Computer Part 1
By Red
4 min read
Whether you're 80 years old, 30 years old, or a high school student, understanding how vulnerable your devices can be is the first step to actually protecting yourself. This isn't just for tech people — this is for everyone. Every device you own is an attack point, and every device can have multiple attack points. In security, we call that an attack surface. The bigger your attack surface, the more opportunities a threat actor has to get into your stuff — your files, your passwords, your bank account, etc.
If you'd like to follow what I did via video, feel free to check it out on YouTube below:
1. Patches and Updates
This one sounds boring but it's one of the most important things you can do. Microsoft releases patches on a regular basis — typically every Tuesday. These updates include bug fixes, performance improvements, and most importantly, security updates.
Here's why security updates matter: security researchers and professionals are constantly finding vulnerabilities in operating systems. When a vulnerability is discovered, Microsoft (or whoever makes the software) patches it as quickly as possible. If you haven't installed that patch, that vulnerability is still wide open on your machine and attackers can exploit it.
To check for updates on Windows 11, just type "update" in the search bar at the bottom of your screen and select Check for Updates. If updates are available, install them.
One important note: restarting is not the same as shutting down. Once updates are installed, you need to restart your computer to actually apply them. A shutdown doesn't do that. Make it a habit — every Friday, for example, open Windows Update and click "Check For Updates". It checks for Windows updates as well as hardware updates like BIOS patches.
2. Encryption
Encryption ensures that even if someone gets onto your computer and steals your files, they cannot read what's in them. It protects your data at rest.
On Windows, you have a couple of options:
Device Encryption — Go into Settings and search for "encryption." You'll see a Device Encryption option. Turn it on if it isn't already.
BitLocker — BitLocker is Microsoft's full drive encryption tool and it's the preferred option for whole-drive encryption. It runs natively on Windows, which means it's optimized for the environment and won't slow your machine down. The catch: BitLocker requires Windows 11 Professional. The Pro upgrade costs around $99-$100 — a one-time purchase that gets you BitLocker and a handful of other features worth having.
VeraCrypt — If you don't want to spend the money, VeraCrypt is a free, open-source encryption tool that can encrypt your entire hard drive or create encrypted volumes for storing sensitive data. It works, but in practice it tends to slow performance down more than BitLocker does. If budget is the constraint, it's a solid option. Just know the trade-off.
The bottom line: get your device encrypted. If someone physically steals your computer, pulls out your hard drive, or exfiltrates files, encryption is what stops them from reading everything on it.
3. Unused Applications
Open Settings, go to Apps, and click Installed Apps. You'll see everything that's installed on your machine — including things that came pre-installed that you've never touched.
Go through that list. If there's an application you don't recognize or don't use, look it up before you do anything. Search the application name and the publisher in Google to find out what it does. GOOGLE IS YOUR BEST FRIEND! Some things that look unfamiliar are actually important system components. Others might genuinely be unnecessary and can be safely removed. And occasionally — this has happened — you might find an application from a company you've never heard of that has no business being on your machine. That can be a sign of malware or a pre-installed application that's doing things you don't want it to do.
The rule is: research before you delete.
4. Open Ports
Your computer has ports — over 65,000 of them — that listen for network connections. Services and applications run on specific ports, and sometimes ports get left open that you don't need open. An open port is a potential entry point for an attacker.
To see what's open on your machine, use Zenmap — the graphical version of Nmap that runs on Windows and Mac. Nmap is one of the most widely used network scanning tools in security. Zenmap makes it accessible without needing a terminal. You can checkout the video below to learn more about Zenmap.
Open Zenmap, set the target to localhost (your own computer), and use the following flags:
-T4 -sV -p--T4 -sV -p--T4sets the scan speed (4 is faster)-sVdetects the service and version running on each open port-p-scans all 65,000+ ports, not just the default top 1,000
This scan will take a while. When it's done, you'll have a full list of every open port on your machine along with what's running on each one.
Before closing anything, research each port. Look up the port number and the service name to understand what it does. Some open ports are necessary for your system to function. Closing the wrong one can break things. GOOGLE IS YOUR FRIEND HERE.
If you do find a port you want to close, you can do it through the Windows Command Prompt (run as Administrator). First, find the process ID associated with that port:
netstat -o | findstr <port number>netstat -o | findstr <port number>Then kill the process:
taskkill /PID <process ID> /Ftaskkill /PID <process ID> /FThis closes the port by stopping the process running on it. Again — don't just start doing this on every open port. Research first, act second. GOOGLE IS YOUR FRIEND HERE.
Going through this checklist will make your computer more secure. But don't rush through it and start changing things without understanding what you're changing. Did I mention Google is your friend? Research the services running on your machine. Research the applications you find. Understand what a patch does before you install it.
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