There
area unit some
straightforward steps
you want to desire avoid
changing into a victim of
pc viruses and
additionally stop from spreading viruses to others. Here
area unit some things
that you just will and will do.
Email Issues to watch
Never open an E-mail with an attachment you were not expecting.
The latest batch of virus programs are often spread by E-mail. Even if
your anti-virus program does not warn you about the attached file and
even if the eMail appears to come from someone you know, do not open it
if you were not expecting it, and if you were expecting it, only open it
AFTER scanning it with your up-to-date virus software.
Scan ALL incoming email attachments (regardless of who sent it).
Be sure to run each attachment you plan to open through the anti-virus
check. Do this even if you recognize and trust the sender; malicious
code, like Trojan horses, can slip into your system by appearing to be
from a friendly source.
Turn off the ‘automatic preview’ in your email program.
Automatically previewing an email message has the exact same effect as
opening and reading an email. My of the newest internet worms, trojans,
and viruses simply need to have an email message read in order for them
to be activated. Turning off the preview feature allows you to scan any
email BEFORE you actually read it.
Disk Issues to watch
Don’t boot from a floppy disk.
Floppies are one of the most common ways viruses are transmitted. If you
are using a floppy while working on your computer, remove it when you
shut the machine off or the computer will automatically try to boot from
the floppy, perhaps launching any viruses on the disk.
Web Based Issues
Keep your web browser set to its highest security level.
Its a pain to get the warning messages on every other web page you
visit, but its the best way to protect yourself – especially if you use
Microsoft Internet Explorer and Outlook.
Don’t download programs from the Web.
Unreliable sources such as Internet newsgroups or Web sites that you
haven’t heard of may be willing providers of viruses for your computer.
Avoid downloading files you can’t be sure are safe. This includes
freeware, screensavers, games, and any other executable program – any
files with an “.exe” or “.com” extension, such as “coolgame.exe.” Check
to see if the site has anti-virus software running on their side. If you
do have to download from the Internet, be sure to scan each program
before running it. Save all downloads to one folder, then run virus
checks on everything in the folder before using it. Regardless of where
you download from, ALWAYS scan downloaded software.
Routine Maintenance
Make regular back ups of important data
Make it a habit to back up all of your most important files at least once a month. Store the back up discs in a safe place.
Clean any virus/worm/trojan off your computer
Details: http://www.antivirus-report.com/trojan-horse-removal.html
Using your antivirus software, perform a full system scan of your PC,
hopefully it will detect and remove the virus. If a virus was detected,
restart your computer and run the full scan again. Sometime the virus
will keep reappearing, due to the evolving nature of viruses. Symantec
is particularly fast at providing removal tools should you ever get a
virus or worm infesting your computer.
What is a removal tool? Well simply put it is a simple software that
will scan your computer for infections, and then remove them from your
machine. You most often need this if your machine got infected BEFORE
you installed antivirus software.
Top Considerations for PC Protection
And the final and most important two things to do to keep your computer
clean and make sure it does not spread viruses to other computers…
Install a Firewall
If you use a broadband/high-speed method to access the internet, you
need to get a firewall. A firewall is a program that defends your
computer from hackers who attempt to gain direct access to your computer
over the Internet. There is a very good firewall program called
ZoneAlarm that will do the trick if you use Windows.
Install and use a high-quality anti-virus program.
This is the key to protecting your computer. Buy one of the major
anti-virus programs – Norton Anti-Virus, PC-Cillin, or McAfee
Anti-Virus. The primary benefit of the commercial packages is the
frequency and ease of updating the virus definition files that these
programs use to detect viruses. With new viruses popping up all the
time, unless your protection software is kept updated, you start to
become ever more vulnerable to infection.
Get immediate protection.
Configure your anti-virus software to launch automatically on start-up
and run at all times. This will provide you back-up protection in case
you forget to scan an attachment, or decide not to. And in case you
forget to load up your anti-virus software, configuring it to start by
itself will ensure you get immediate protection anyway. The top
antivirus software programs all do this (but only if you have one
installed on your computer). You do have current antivirus software
installed right? If not, you can go to this page for more information on
why you need antivirus software and how easy it is to use.
