Protecting Against Viruses - How to care for your PC - Part 3

So we are continuing our newsletter on how to care for your computer. I hope that you find the second part as useful as the first part. I'll be covering various topics focusing on protection against computer viruses, as well as how to protect your files in case your computer dies. I've also included links to some of the products that will hopefully make your browsing safer.

To see part 1 you can view it here, or visit http://www.fdwsnetworks.com for the full series.


Protecting against Viruses


Viruses are nasty computer programs written to do a number of things. Some can be harmless but most are dangerous to a computer and to you. They can damage files, send out spam, completely take over your computer, steal passwords, and even harvest your credit card/banking information. So it is always important to be on guard but even being the most cautious you can still end up with an infected computer.


Keep up to date - The people who write these viruses like to use holes in the software to attack your computer. One of the most important things you can do that will help you prevent getting infected is to make sure that the software on your computer is up to date. If you have a Windows PC then this means making sure that you have Windows updates turned on and are installing them on a regular basis. Other things to make sure that are up to date are Adobe Flash, Adobe Reader, Java, and any other popular software.

Get Firefox and download Adblock - One of the biggest programs that is often targeted is Microsoft’s Internet Explorer web browser. It usually has quite a lot of holes in it and if you haven’t updated it in a while it can be used as a means to attack your computer. Which is why I would recommend an alternative browser it is called Firefox. Firefox also has the ability to install Add-ons which allow you to increase protection to your computer. One of the easiest Add-ons you can get is one called Adblock Plus. Most websites get revenue from the Ads placed on its pages but the latest trend for infecting a computer is to put viruses in the Ads. Simply browsing to a website that includes advertisements can get you infected now.


Get avast! Professional Edition

Get an Antivirus - One of the newest offenders in this is a virus called Antivirus Live 2009, or Internet Security 2010. It will pop up a window to scare you telling you that you have a virus, but in reality it is the virus. It will download more viruses in the background and can be extremely difficult to remove. Unless you are extremely aware and know what you’re doing you’re probably going to get infected if this pops up. For this reason I recommend getting a strong Anti-Virus tool. The one that I would recommend is Avast Professional Edition. (Link to Avast Pro) it is a great anti-virus. Updates are sent out daily so it stays on top of the latest threats. It will also monitor the websites so if anything like an advertisement with a virus in it comes up it will warn you.

Stay tuned for our final entry in our series "Safeguarding your files"