The fact is, virus coders are becoming more sophisticated every
day. As computer users become more educated and anti virus
software gets more effective, virus coders are always looking
for ways to get past both internet users and anti virus software.
This means that users need to remain ever vigilant to avoid
becoming the victim of a potentially very harmful computer
virus. It is important for every computer owner to know that not
all viruses are the same. Some computer viruses are just
annoying, generating popup ads as you browse the web, or
increasing the amount of SPAM you receive.
Other types of computer virus, however, can be more dangerous.
Some computer viruses can wipe out a hard drive, or steal your
personal information and files. To make matters worse, some
computer viruses are able to hide in a computer for some time,
activating at a future date and doing their damage when
triggered by certain events or dates.
Fortunately, computer owners do not have to be at the mercy of
computer virus coders. There are a number of measures computer
users can take to protect themselves from viruses, Trojan
horses, adware, spyware and other malicious code on the
internet.
For starters, it is essential that all computer users install a
good quality anti virus software program BEFORE their computer
is connected to the internet. This is because there are programs
that constantly search the internet, looking for computers that
are unprotected by virus scanning software. A recent survey by a
security organisation found that it takes only minutes for a
computer to become infected with viruses and spyware. Installing
an anti virus software program is vital to protecting yourself
from these malicious programs.
It is also important to update that anti virus software program
on a regular basis. In the past, many computer security experts
recommended doing updates on a weekly basis, but most agree that
weekly updates are no longer sufficient. It is generally best to
update the anti virus software you install daily, and to
schedule those updates to run automatically. Running the updates
automatically will ensure you do not forget to update the
software, and running the updates daily will ensure that you are
protected against the latest threats.
Most users will want to schedule the updates to their virus
scanning software to occur during the night, when they are
asleep. Running these updates when the computer is not in use is
a good idea for a number of reasons. For one thing, updating the
anti virus software when the computer is not in use will ensure
that there are no conflicts, and that the program is able to
update itself to detect the latest computer virus. Running the
updates after hours will also prevent the updates from
interfering with web surfing or any other activity. Running a
computer virus protection update can sometimes interfere with
other software, so it is best to run it automatically, when you
do not need the computer for other things.
About the author:
Jeff Usher has written articles on various topics but his
speciality is in PC Support and Internet. For more information
on this article please visit:-
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How To Avoid A Potentially Dangerous Computer Virus
