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“Hacked” is one of the major buzzwords this election cycle. From Hillary’s emails to fears of Russia to Trump’s promise to prioritize cyber-security. Unfortunately, neither candidate has really had much of an opportunity as of yet to really dig into cyber-security threats, and even if they could, it would be a difficult thing to communicate in 30 second sound bytes for public consumption.

So… what cyber-security threats will our next president have to deal with? Here’s what we know:

• The ISIS Hacking Division

  There was a time when a group like ISIS would never have considered hacking classified documents. But these days, you can hack a server across the planet with a used eighty dollar smart phone off of eBay and a few dozen Youtube videos to teach you how to do it. Be that as it may, ISIS hackers aren’t exactly Neo and Morpheus just yet, but they are a growing threat. ISIS has already been using their hackers in order to attain sensitive information on “high-value targets,” and this is a threat that will continue to grow into the next president’s first term.

• Russian Hackers

  Recent reports suggest that American servers are under “constant attack” by Russian hackers. They only seem to slip through the cracks every now and then, so you could say that they’re using a “human wave” attack, a method that is far from elegant, but also very far from ineffective.

• Domestic Terrorism (and Trolls)

  Sometimes the greatest threat to our national security comes from within. Not all hackers even have a political agenda, some of them are just in it, “for the lolz,” as they like to say.

Both Clinton and Trump have promised to put the most recent technology to work in combating hackers, but… what does that really mean? It’s more of a canned response to assure the public not to worry, right?

They say that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and it should be self-evident to anyone with a basic working knowledge of cyber-security that our next president could actually cut down on military spending by putting more money into advancements in computer technology. The NSA, CIA and freelance tech consultants could create a security system that is, if not completely hack-proof, at least decades ahead of anything that hackers domestic or abroad have access to. Einstein said that World War 4 would be fought with sticks and stones, but maybe not, if World War 3 is fought with a suped up version of Avira Antivirus.

Having the whole office running on the same operating system makes everything run a little more smoothly. When you know that you can use the same software, there are no worries about sharing a .PSD file and hoping that they know how to adapt it for GIMP, for instance. But what operating system should you be running?

The short answer is Windows. Whatever the most current version of Windows is, that’s what you should be running in nine offices out of ten. You can find any kind of software you might need for Windows, you can get constant updates from Microsoft, and whether or not you like the smartphone-inspired interface of newer versions, it is nevertheless one of the most accessible, easy-to-use operating systems out there.

The main reason to use Mac OS is because maybe you have some kind of partnership deal with Apple, or you’re running an animation studio or something and you really love how Macs are fine-tuned to fit the needs of artists and multimedia professionals. In any event, this choice is easy, too: Just use whatever Mac released last.

The rare instance where you’re actually going to be considering using any other operating system, you’re probably going to be looking at Linux, and if you might actually need Linux, then you know the answer better than we do when it comes to the question of which OS you should be installing.

Installing Linux across the typical office is sort of like assigning an M1 Abrams tank as the company car. In the right hands, it’s immensely powerful, but it’s also a little more muscle than you need to do most work. Being open source, and free, Linux is an incredibly popular operating system for very tech-oriented users. You know all those supercomputers you read about from time to time? The ones that are measured based on how much of a football field they take up? Almost all of those machines use Linux. IT teams frequently use Linux, as do many advanced tech companies. Using Linux is not a bad idea if your entire staff is very tech-savvy, and if your particular corner of the industry is focused on advanced technology. Otherwise, it’s more muscle than you need, and more trouble than it’s worth.

In short: Most of the time you can just use whatever operating system came with your computers, whether that’s Windows or Mac OS, but a supergeek company can get a lot of mileage out of an open-source OS like Linux.

In more than a few movies, you see people contract viruses on their computers, and then it isn’t long before the computer starts emitting smoke and sparks. That doesn’t really happen in real life, but there are instances wherein a computer can be damaged by how its used. It would take a little more than most hackers are capable of doing, of course, and anyone with a little bit of know-how (or the ability to use Google) could probably reverse the problem before it causes any major physical damage. But it is, technically, possible.

Speakers and Headphones

It’s possible to damage your speakers or headphones simply by the sounds you play through them. The most harmful things for speakers and headphones would be loud music played for extended lengths of time, and loud transients, being sudden loud noises that move the magnet in the speaker too quickly, tearing the cones of the speaker. It takes a very, very loud sound to do this. If you think this may have happened, play some music and listen for rattling and humming indicating punctured or torn cones.

Screens and Monitors

Turn your screensaver off and leave it off, and you’re going to wind up with an image burned into your screen. Gaming consoles can be bad news for HDTV sets, because most of them do not use a screensaver. Turning your monitor off when screensavers aren’t an option is your best bet to avoid long term damage.

Overheating

The main problem you’re going to face with your computer being damaged is overheating. A poorly ventilated system or a system that is being overclocked can suffer serious damage if made to run high-end graphical processes for an extended length of time. Most computers these days will automatically shut themselves down if they sense overheating. It would be possible to sabotage someone’s PC by turning off the automatic shutdown system, disabling the fans, and overclocking the system, all without needing to crack open the case or play with the physical components of the system at all. But chances are you would notice that something is wrong long before it would fry your motherboard or your hard drive.

In short, computers can be damaged physically without doing anything at all to the physical components themselves, but it would take a very dedicated hacker, and a victim who is very slow to catch on.

You install a free program, and the software is fine, it does as advertised, but… you load up Google Chrome or Firefox and you see that your search bar has been changed to some engine you’ve never heard of, an engine that couldn’t snow in Siberia, and there are a dozen other doodads and widgets cluttering up your browser including MP3 converters, Youtube downloaders, shopping apps and all kinds of features you would never download and install on purpose, and will never use.

Here’s a few tips for dealing with all that bloatware:

Give Your Browser A Fresh Install

Honestly, this is often easier than sifting through your options and settings and uninstalling and deleting every single thing individually. A fresh install for your web browser lets you chunk the whole thing in the trash and start over without having to Google “How do I get rid of _____” for a dozen different things. You can save your bookmarks, and you won’t need to stress about why your browser isn’t working.

Check Your Uninstall List

If your new software installed fifty things into your browser, it may have installed other programs, as well. Find your uninstaller (“Uninstall a Program” for most Windows systems), sort by date, most recent to least recent, and look for anything that you don’t recognize.

Download From The Source When Possible

There are a lot of apps out there that aren’t available from their developer’s site anymore. But, when possible, it’s better to download from the source than to get your software through torrents or websites that share freeware. People often take freeware and shareware apps and add installers for their own adware to it before redistributing.

Uncheck All Those Installers

Sometimes, a piece of freeware with no developer support can only be attained through questionable sources. No matter where you get your software, no matter what you’re installing, pay attention to the installation process. Keep an eye out for anything you can uncheck and keep from installing.

No matter how careful you may be when downloading and installing new software, sometimes it happens, sometimes it’s unavoidable, and you wind up with a browser that only shows you about 200×1100 pixels of content with all the extra junk cluttering it up. These widgets are usually not malware, just junk. It’s unlikely that you’re infected if you find that your search engine has been changed, but it never hurts to run a virus check.