1. Anti-Virus Software
The first thing you can easily do is install a Anti-Virus Software. You might decide between commercial ware or free ware. Both of them can help you to protect your system and prevent any attack from outside. The commercial software usually comes with more features and more protection, but if you don't want to spend money for that, you easily can install free ware to protect your files. You can read more on that by using google.
2. Do frequently backups
An other thing helping you not to safe you from a attack, but to get a smaller amount of lost files is to frequently making backups. There are many guides on the Internet and even more ways to do that, either on a separate hdd or ssd or on servers etc. It might be a little bit annoying to do that, but it really can help you to safe you stuff and don't get lost of important files.
3. Use your Brain
Last, but most important thing is to use your brain, when you are on the internet. Don't be stupid and click on every popup or link on the web. In worst case you're downloading something accidentally and whooups the malware has a chance to do what ever it wants on your computer. An other thing is: don't open every attached file to an email. A special when you get mails from unknown senders or spam mails, don't open them. There might be any kind of virus attached and perhaps you can get a virus.
Of course it isn't as that extreme, but you're, the one sitting behind the screen might make the most mistakes and be the biggest danger.
So think about twice opening files or downloading programs. It might be your last click.....
Hello my friend Post wonderful hope for the follow-up Happy Days
Great advice! For many things :D
Don't visit weird/suspicious sites is a good protection aswell.