10 Ways To Protect Yourself From Computer Viruses.
849 views
Unless you’re completely new to owning a PC, you will know how important it is to protect your self from computer viruses. Back when people first started using the home computer and the Internet as we know it today, protecting your self from computer viruses wasn’t too important. Unless you were visiting dubious websites or the like then finding a virus was nowhere near as common as it is today. In fact, you may remember that if a widespread virus was discovered it would be newsworthy and you would probably find out about it on your TV before your computer.
As more and more people are becoming comfortable using their computers at school, home or in the office its only a matter of time before they encounter a computer virus. Here are our top 10 steps to protect you from computer viruses.
- Use a high quality anti-virus program. There are many different anti-virus computers programs on the market some of them are better than others. Look to reputable computer magazines or websites for ratings to help you find the one that matches your needs.
- Always use your anti-virus software. Make sure your anti-virus software is always turned on and scanning, incoming and outgoing email messages, and any software programs you run.
- Keep your antivirus programs up to date. Most programs come with a yearly subscription make sure you take advantage of the updates. More advanced programs allow you to schedule updates or full system scans for off hours like 2AM when you arent likely to be using your computer.
- Keep your computer up to date. From time to time operating systems fall victim to security holes or issue updates. Make sure you check periodically to make sure you are running stable up to date versions of your software.
- Backup your data regularly. Most windows computer users keep their documents in the My documents folder. This makes it easy to back up all of your important documents. Make weekly or monthly copies to CD or USB drives.
- If you use floppy disks or USB drives on public computers like your school computer lab, Kinkos, or even digital photo printing store make sure you scan them for viruses. Public computers are notorious for not being up to date and properly protected.
- Be wary of email attachments. Treat any email attachment as potentially dangerous. Never open attachments from people you werent expecting. Also be careful of attachments from people you know but werent expecting. Many computer viruses replicate themselves by reading the contacts from an infected computer.
- Use text email if possible. While HTML email is prettier and allows you more control over formatting it also can carry computer viruses. If you use text based email the only way to get a virus is by opening an attachment.
- Use downloaded freeware and shareware files or software with caution. Try to download them from popular reputable sources that scan the programs before they are uploaded. To make sure you are safe scan the program before you install it on your computer.
- Be wary of links in IM or instant messaging software. Dont accept invitations from people you dont know and never click a link from someone you dont trust, they can easily redirect you to another website that will try to install a virus on your computer system.
But, back then we used the internet far, far less and the technology available today simply wasn’t around to the general consumer. Therefore you really didn’t think to protect your self from computer viruses. As broadband connections weren’t even thought we were forced to use a dial-up connection, or if we were very lucky we had an ISDN line. The point is that when you have to wait minutes for each page to load and pictures took forever, the interest in browsing the internet was really only for the Die-hard PC users.
Fast-Forward a few years and we can safely assume that around 80% of us use a computer every single day. I personally use my PC for around 4-5 hours a day, (yes it’s a little more than average considering I have a full-time job that doesn’t involve a PC). So, now we have broadband and most of us have an “Always On” connection. It only costs a small amount however much time we spend on the internet.
The problem is that this gives all the Scammers, Crooks, Virus Creators, Phishing experts, (the list goes on ) an enourmous target to aim for. For example, a scammer can very easily send out a million emails with a virus attached to them.
If you have no means to protect your self from computer viruses then this could not only infect your system, but obtain passwords or even worse, your bank details. The trouble is you wouldn’t even know until it was too late.
As long as you are sensible it is not difficult to protect your self from computer viruses. There are many free Anti Virus Programs available and depending on the level of protection you need there are some excellent paid choices. The most common advantage with paid virus protection software is the fact that it will have an auto-update feature, (if it’s a good one). This means that every time you connect to the internet your Virus Software Program will automatically connect to the company website and download all the latest updates. This means that as long as you keep paying your subscription you will always have the highest level of protection available.
You can protect your self from computer viruses with free software as mentioned above. But, if you do this you will need to make sure that you regularly update your software to stay protected. You will also need to be prepared that you will probably lack in some features. Or, your virus protection software maybe AD-supported, (i.e - display advertisements when you use the program)… [read more]
Source: computers.6ln.com
If you liked this tutorial, add us to:
Digg.com | Netscape.com | Del.icio.us | Reddit.com | Stumbleupon.com | Google.com | Yahoo.com
Related posts:
- No related posts found.