For this new year, I suggest we get back to basics. That means making certain you’re both safe and productive. Here are some recommendations to consider.

Security first

I’ve always insisted that anti-virus/security programs are essential for any desktop or laptop computer. Past recommendations always have included a stand-alone anti-virus/malware software. This year, again, I strongly suggest that you take the time to review the security protection on your computers to see what it has and what it needs in today’s world.

Why? Things change constantly, and threats to your personal information are greater than ever. If you have a new Windows 10 machine, it comes with Windows Defender included, and that is probably all that you need unless you have special concerns or have kids using your systems. If you’re concerned about someone who might go places they shouldn’t go, even by accident, they could pick up malware or worse. In that case or if you have an older system such as Windows 7, you should consider adding or upgrading to a new security package.

Trend Micro Maximum Security (which my colleague Rob Kay uses) comes highly rated. It installs effortlessly and has all the standard online and privacy protections and some that you may not even have considered, such as anti-virus protection for cloud-based Microsoft OneDrive storage; Facebook Application Privacy Scanner, which warns you if something is posting to your wall with too wide of an audience; and malware banking protection.

Trend Micro also guards against one of the biggest threats today, “ransomware,” which usually arrives via a phishing email that fakes an official communication from your bank or someone you know. While this is helpful, please beware. The only real protection is to not get caught and have very good backups.

Getting a PDF fix

I don’t think I’d get an argument from anyone if I said the PDF (Portable Document Format) is indispensable. For years Adobe (who developed the platform) was the only source, but since 2008 you can acquire other apps that are essentially clones of the original.

One of the better alternatives (which I purchased for our Hawaii Community College staff) is Qoppa PDF Studio. PDF Studio 11 has most of the basic features of Adobe Acrobat, providing most things that an individual user might want. It has a number of other business features that compare favorably with Adobe Acrobat.

One of the extra strengths of PDF Studio is that it works across all systems from Windows and Mac to Linux. One license covers its use on all systems at a full price of $89 with support and no subscription required.

The Pro version includes important features such as Optical Character Recognition for making scanned copies searchable, batch processing of documents, precision measurement and permanent redaction. It also has full-form creation (from scratch or from existing forms). One important thing it doesn’t have (which might be an issue for some users) is the ability to make PDF files out of web pages.

If you don’t need this latter feature, PDF Studio is hard to beat.

A new tool

You may have heard or seen references to IFTTT and wondered what it was. It stands for “If This Then That,” and it is one of a range of new cloud services that help you organize your email, calendars and social media, among other things. If your boss sends you an email, do you want that to be added to your calendar tasks? If you post something to Facebook, do you want it to be posted also to your LinkedIn account? This works for almost all of your web-based services. No programming knowledge is required. IFTTT is one service, Zapier is also good and Microsoft just launched Flow. Check it out and see what these can do for you.

Mike Meyer, formerly internet general manager at Oceanic Time Warner Cable, is now chief information officer at Honolulu Community College. Reach him at mmeyer@hawaii.edu.