Keeping Your Accounts Safe

"Having your first name as your password is not a good idea—just getting it out of the way. Words that are in your email address aren't a lot better. Having security questions that tons of people know the answer to is another no-no."
When we hear the word "hacking," most of us picture this hacker in his underground workstation with dozens of computers "hacking" away with their superawesomehackingtools that can rip the space-time continuum and *poof*! Your World of Warcraft account has been hacked.
Now, riddle me this. Why would someone like that be interested in something as trivial as your Facebook account? More often than not, in cases where email or social media accounts get hacked, it's mostly because of something stupid you did. Not unticking the "Remember Me" option before logging in, for instance. But I'll assume you have the sense to not do that. The internet can be a scary place. Would it freak you out if I told you that a lot of computers in the US are zombie botnets? It means thatthey are used by hackers to perform certain actions without their users being any wiser. It's very difficult to do anything about it, really. But they probably aren't after your Candy Crush progress.
A lesser, more relevant hacker may trick you into installing malwares. Viruses, spywares, worms etc. This is why you need to keep your firewall up. And you need an antivirus program. Avoid pirated software. Look for free alternatives that are reliable and safe if you don't want to pay for your software. Be careful when you use torrents and other P2P software.
There are these little programs called Keyloggers. This is the easiest way to get your username and password and pretty much monitor all your computer activities and it's very hard to detect. They record your keystrokes and save them in a file and then they can send it to the evil Hacker-man. It is better not to use random computers you are not very familiar with. Someone might have installed a keylogger there to steal your password when you log in from there.
Another popular way of losing your account credentials is by falling victim to phishing attempts. Untrusted sites often ask for your credentials—your bank account information, credit card info or username and passwords. There are scammers and phishers in online-games, in forums, in social media etc. They will trick you into giving them your passwords and PIN numbers. Under no circumstances should you disclose confidential information in such places. Have you ever had a window pop up asking you to log into your Facebook account but the address bar in the browser says something like "http://fraudphishscamloser?" Look out for phishing sites. Many antivirus programs will detect unreliable sites and warn you.
So how do you keep yourself safe from these malicious programs? A little caution can go a long way. Don't install programs you don't have to or don't need. Remove suspicious programs. A good antivirus is a must. There are plenty of decent free antiviruses out there. My favourite is Avast, but any will do. Malwarebytes is very good at cleaning lesser malwares as well as the big viruses but it is not completely free. If you suspect your computer is infected and your antivirus isn't doing the job, get the free version of Malwarebytes and kill them malwares.
Lastly, if your account does get hacked, make sure you have your phone number added to your account. This way, you can ask for a password reset and the link to reset will be sent to your phone. No matter how badly you've been jacked, the chances are quite low that both your computer and your phone will get jacked by the same person.