Protect your PC against ransomware and prevent them from deleting your files

Ransomware is a type of malware that prevents users from accessing their personal files unless they pay a ransom to hackers who infect their computers (which is not always a guarantee to fix the problem). Thus, it becomes extremely relevant to take care of your computer's protection so that this malware does not delete important documents or photographic records.

Read more: Meet the malware responsible for cleaning your cell phone data and resetting your bank account

Step by step on how to protect PC against ransomware in Windows

1. Search “Windows Security” from the Start menu or go to “Settings” > “Privacy and Security” > “Windows Security”.
2. click in “Virus and Threat Protection” in the sidebar on the left, and then “Manage ransomware protection”.
3. Activate the option “Access Controlled Folders”. This will make disallowed apps unable to make any changes to documents, videos, photos or folders.

Then, when you activate this mechanism, you will be able to see three choices: “Block history”, “Protected folders” and “Allow an app through access to controlled folders”. Thus, only applications allowed by Microsoft can modify files saved in the folders: Documents, Images, Videos and Music. Check out what each of these three options mean for how to protect your PC against ransomware in Windows below:

blocking history

If there are any unknown errors that appear after allowing controlled access to folders (such as “This file cannot be found” when trying to save a file), it is necessary to access the “Block History” and check if Windows is not blocking the apps.

Thus, by clicking on the lock history screen, the applications that tried to record data in the protected folders will be shown. In this way, to unlock an application, you must click on “Actions” and then “Allow on device”.

protected folders

To protect other folders on your computer against ransomware, you must access the “Protected folders” sector and then click on the “Add a protected folder” option. This way, you can go to the folder that needs security and click the “Select Folder” button to add it.

Allow an app to access your protected folders

Having problems using an app and if you want to add it to the list of apps that are allowed, return to the “Ransomware Protection” page and click on “Allow an app through folder access controlled”.

1. Click on “Add an allowed app”, then “Recently blocked apps”. You'll see a list of apps that have already tried to write information to protected folders;
2. Then add (on the “+” button) next to your name to unlock it.

The bad news is that if something goes wrong, you'll have to manually go through the same process once for each app.