Don't give out personal information like a name, address, phone number, etc. on an online forum, discussion group, or social media site. While you can use your name on social media sites like Facebook or LinkedIn, definitely use a pseudonym on other online forums where strangers abound. Never, ever put your phone number or home address here, though. It makes it much easier for people to use your PII (personally identifiable information) for identity theft.

Never download a file from a site you don't trust. You’re inviting trouble this way. Viruses can be hidden in anything: cute desktop wallpapers, PDF cookbooks, and even those annoying Minion memes on Facebook.

Don't allow a stranger to screen connect with you. You’d be handing control over your computer to a random person, and potentially losing all of your data forever. This is especially relevant for Microsoft spam calls or emails. Hackers pretend to be Microsoft support staff in order to get access to your files. Do not give a stranger over the phone or the Internet access to your computer for any reason.

Don't use public wifi when banking. Really, using public WiFi is never great, but we get it. Sometimes boredom overtakes our common sense. But, don’t use WiFi when banking or shopping. You could be broadcasting your checking account for the entire Starbucks to see.

Keep your mobile device with you. Your kid maybe takes this too far - you don’t need it with you at the dinner table or in the bathroom, but when you’re outside of your home, keep your phone on your person. Don’t lose it! If you’re like most of the world, your phone knows your home address, your most used debit, and credit cards, and your bank account information. Plus, you probably don’t want a stranger to see all those practice selfies you took.

Don't open weird emails. Go through your email with a finger on the delete button. Junk mail and spam are abundant in your inbox, and a lot of it could infect your computer. While your office email should (hopefully) have a decent spam filter, your personal email probably doesn’t. Never open an email unless you’re expecting it. So if you haven’t ordered something through Amazon, don’t click on a tracking link from Amazon. Hint: it’s not really from Amazon.

 Save your files. Computers are not always reliable, especially ones you’ve had for a while. Laptops over three years old start to deteriorate in speed and functionality. Therefore, save your work and your files often. Create backups, too. You never know when your old laptop will decide to kick the bucket.

Email is not secure. Really. Don’t send anything private or sensitive through email. This mostly includes things like your credit card information or social security number. Honestly, you shouldn’t even text this stuff. Phones are hackable, too.

Don't use Internet Explorer. The only time you should use this browser is to install another browser like Google Chrome or Firefox. It’s outdated, it’s slow, and it’s much less secure. Unfortunately, some web applications only play nice with Internet Explorer (I’m looking at you, Adobe Spark), but avoid it whenever you can.