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How
many of you have had your computers crash because of a malicious virus? I
see a lot of you out there raising your hands in agreement. Computer
virus’s are a fact of life and are something than can be dealt with
effectively if only a few basic rules are followed. Lets move on then and
see what virus’s are and what are the preventive measures you can take to
keep your computer in the pink of health.
Is
it "Virus" or "Anti-Virus" software? It's software that
protects your programs and data from the invasion of a computer virus so
it's "Anti-Virus" software. What exactly is a computer virus? It's
simply a computer program written by a human being.
First
the basics. Let's just call it a virus and assume we're talking about the
kind that can invade your computer. A virus is simply a program that
attaches itself to some other program or data file. It hides and waits for
that program or data file to get sent to another computer. Once it arrives,
it executes its programmed instructions. It may be programmed to do great
harm to it's new computer host or it may be programmed to provide a silly
message that pops up on your screen or anything in between. At the least it
can be irritating, at the worst it can completely disable your computer.
You
‘catch’ a virus by loading a program or a data file onto your computer
from an external source - usually either from a floppy disk or from the
Internet. Once it's on your computer it may not be apparent at first and it
may copy itself and then transfer to other computers when you send programs
or data to someone else.
There
are thousands of known viruses and more are being programmed every day. It
is a crime to release a computer virus but in the computer industry as in
any other industry, there are criminals. You probably lock the doors to your
house at night and you should be locking down your computer to the possible
invasion of computer viruses. To do this you need some software that
examines every program and data file stored on your computer. Most
anti-virus software also examines each program and data file that comes into
your computer from external sources. If a virus is found, the software
disables it and notifies you that it was found. Do not use any file that
your anti-virus software says is either infected or suspected of being
infected.
Anti-virus
software ranges in price from free to a few thousand rupees. Most new
computers are sold with some sort of virus protection software. Anti-virus
software can only protect against viruses that it knows about though. The
better anti-virus software will include an update feature where you can go
to an Internet site and download the latest information about new viruses
directly into your anti-virus software.
These
are the more expensive versions of the software and you will have to
determine how much protection you need. It's a lot like insurance, how much
is enough? If you never accept data or programs from friends or
acquaintances and you don't use the Internet then you don't need any
protection. But if you're like most of us, you often receive
"cute" little programs by email and spend a lot of time
"surfing" the Internet.
In
that case I recommend that you buy and install an anti-virus program that
gets updates from its parent site on a monthly basis. The software can be
configured and run automatically on a daily or weekly basis to examine every
program and data file on your hard disk. This is the best possible
protection against viruses.
Coming
now to the companies that develop anti-virus software. I would recommend
going in for one of the heavy weights like Symantec Corp. which develops and
markets the popular Norton Anti-Virus range of software and Network
Associates Inc which develops and markets the popular McAfee Anti-Virus
range of software.
Norton
AntiVirus 2002 from Symantec is the latest in a line of complete anti-virus
solutions. Attractive and easy to use, it protects you both at home and on
the Internet. It removes viruses automatically and alerts you when it
discovers viruses in files you download -- as you download them. For a
complete list of all features and free demos do visit their web-site at http://www.norton.com
McAfee
Virus Scan For Windows 95/98 is another popular product and you can check it
out in more detail by visiting http://www.mcafee.com
on the world wide web.
Finally
to sum it all up I would strongly urge you to pay heed to the following:
"Don't
open attachments!"
One of the best ways to prevent virus infections is not to open attachments,
especially when dangerous viruses are being actively circulated. Even if the
e-mail is from a known source, be careful. A few viruses take the mailing
lists from an infected computer and send out new messages with its
destructive payload attached. Always scan the attached files first for
viruses. Unless it's a file or an image you are expecting, delete it. If you
are not sure about the contents of the attachment e-mail the sender back to
confirm.
There
is a lot more to computer security, but for the home user protecting the
computer from viruses is the core issue. We will examine some more security
issues in the future but for now please install that anti-virus software if
you haven’t already, and if you have please update it regularly and scan
your computer at frequent intervals. I am sure you will never experience
computer downtime because of a virus attack again!
Well, that's all for this week but do send in your suggestions and comments, and log in at the same time, same place, next week.
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