Keep Your Computer Virus-free!
Somewhere out there in cyberspace are malicious vandals hard at work
dreaming up new computer viruses. Eugene Kaspersky, (of Kaspersky Lab
Virus Research), in a November 23, 2005 article posted in Security
News, said, "The number of new viruses and Trojans is now increasing
every day by a few hundred. (Our) virus lab receives between 200 and
300 new samples a day." That is Not a misprint. He said 200-300 per DAY!
The worst ones we hear about. The large majority are quiet and
anonymous like termites, often doing much damage before they are
detected. Like human viruses, their effects run the spectrum from
mostly benign to potentially fatal to their unwilling and unwitting
hosts. Also as in human viruses, there are two different approaches to
dealing with them: Prevention and Cure.
Preventing virus infection begins with guarding the portals of contact.
Do not open suspicious e-mails or attachments without scanning them
first. Most anti-virus programs have a right-click option to scan a
selected file for viruses, which makes scanning easy. Similarly, when
you download software, eBooks or whatever, always save to a file, then
scan the file before opening. If you bring in data or software by
floppy disk, CD or other portable media, the same rule applies; scan it
first!
A good firewall can help somewhat in keeping viruses at bay, but there
are too many ways to hide them in regular data or software transfers
for a firewall to catch them all. A firewall (like chicken soup for
human flu) can help, but don't rely on that alone.
As Benjamin Franklin said, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of
cure." However, sooner or later, some viruses are going to get through
your defenses somehow, and you will need to turn to cures.
If you should get hit by a really bad virus, you could lose most of
your files before you know that there is a problem! The first step to
enable cures is to prepare well in advance, positioning and backing up
your files for easy recovery. Set up your computer with a small hard
drive (4-10giga) for your C: drive and a much larger hard drive for all
your data. Use your C: drive for programs only. Keep copies of your
software purchase receipts, registration and activation codes and setup
info in a file on your data drive. You can always download them again,
if you can give the seller your purchase info to show that you already
bought.
Almost all virus infections will be in the program section of the C:
drive, so scan it daily. This won't take much time since you have
arranged for it to be relatively small. Then scan your (larger)data
drive once or twice a month.
You should still back up your data files frequently. If you cannot
backup everything, at least backup the crucial information that would
be difficult or impossible to replace. CD and DVD burners are a good
way to do this backup, as are removable hard drives.
Finally, you will need good anti-virus programs to go after the viruses
and either quarantine or (preferably) destroy them. There are many
anti-virus solutions being touted and hyped out there. Some are good,
most are not. Here is how to find the good ones:
1. Look for programs that offer both active and passive protection.
Active protection means that part of the program remains
memory-resident, actively watching for potential incoming viruses. When
they detect a virus they can sound an alarm and give you a series of
options for dealing with it. Passive or on-demand protection will let
you ask for a scan of specified areas when you want it, but it waits
for you to ask.
2. Select your anti-virus software based on the recommendations of
independent testing agencies. Checkmark (by westcoastlabs.org),
AV-test.org and PC World magazine are among the most respected
independent testers of anti-virus software. For ratings of anti-trojan
software, check with Anti-trojan - Forum. Use more than one anti-virus
and anti-trojan program. Very few detect all problems, but what one
program misses, another may find and defeat.
3. Keep your anti-virus programs up to date. There is a running gun
battle going on between virus writer-disseminators and virus
catch-and-destroy experts. New viruses are found; new anti-virus
program patches to find and destroy them are usually ready within hours
or days. Until your software is updated, you are still vulnerable to
the new viruses.
In addition to using anti-virus software on your personal computer,
consider using an Internet Service Provider or e-mail service that
includes server-side anti-virus and spam e-mail filtering as a third
layer of protection.
In summary, be careful, get good software, run it often and update it
frequently... and stay alert to new developments! This struggle between
new viruses and better anti-virus software is ongoing, and developing
rapidly.
