You live in the 21st century — not under a rock — so you understand the importance of installing high-quality cybersecurity on all your connected devices. The internet is a dangerous and unpredictable place, and even with perfect cyber hygiene, the likelihood that your device will encounter some kind of malware is exceedingly high. So, you happily pay for reputable security software and go about your day feeling fully protected from various cyber threats.

Unfortunately, merely installing security tools might not be enough to keep you safe. If you aren’t taking the precautions outlined below, you aren’t making the most of the protections your security software can offer you.

Updating Your Security Software

Like all other software on your device, your security solution benefits from regular updates. Updates help close vulnerabilities in the programming that open up over time when the software comes into contact with an evolving operating system and other shifting components of the system. Updates also tend to add to a security program’s existing catalogue of malware signatures, so the software can be more adept at identifying and eliminating the latest threats. If you perpetually forget to update your security tools — or get in the habit of continually deferring updates — you should allow your security solution to update automatically to ensure you are always adequately protected.

Testing Your Security Software

It will come as a surprise to many device users, but there are a variety of tools available online that help you test whether your security software is working properly. The most common tool is the EICAR test file, which contains strings of code that are not malicious but that should trigger antivirus programs into action. If you download the EICAR test file and your security software doesn’t immediately alert you to danger and quarantine the file, you might look into whether your security tools are properly installed an enabled.

Analyzing Your Passwords

Your security software almost certainly came with a password manager, which should track the login credentials you use across applications and websites. Password managers make it easier to maintain different passwords for each login, which helps to keep your accounts secure in the case of a data leak or breach. Still, a password manager works best when the passwords it is managing are strong. You might sort through your passwords and improve the ones that are old or exposed with new passwords that are 14 characters long and a mixture of upper- and lower-case letters, symbols and numbers.

Using a Virtual Private Network

The internet is an exchange of information between other devices and yours, so whenever you visit a website, your browser sends a request for information along with your IP address, so the website can send bac the requested data and you can enjoy the content on the site. However, your IP address is a unique code that identifies you and your device, and cyber attackers can make good use of that information once they have it. Therefore, you should seriously consider hiding your IP address by using your security suite’s virtual private network (VPN). A VPN sends your request for information through proxies that hide your IP address, making it safer for you to use the web — and potentially giving you access to region-locked content, to boot.

Extending Security to Mobile Devices

Many security suites today come with protection not just for a single traditional computer but for a number of devices within a home network. This is to account for the fact that mobile browsing has far surpassed the traffic from more traditional laptops and desktops and to ensure that your devices won’t be compromised by other, unprotected devices that share the same network. You should look into how many and what type of devices are covered by your current security plan and consider expanding your plan if necessary to protect all of your mobile devices from malware and cyber attack.

Merely having a security program on your device might not be enough to keep you safe. You should spend some time reviewing the features and settings available from your security software, so you can know for certain that you are protected from the most significant threats lurking on the web.