Virus Prevention Tips

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July 28, 2005

Virus Prevention Tips

A virus is an executable file. What this means is that in order for a virus to work it must be run. The most common means of spreading a virus is through an email attachment or an imbedded script in a file for an application such as Word or Excel. One of the easiest ways to prevent activating a virus is to simply not open email attachments. Especially emails from those you don’t know or unsolicited emails claiming to be from a business or website. Be especially wary of files ending with the extensions of: .exe, .ini, .bat, .vbs, and .vba. These are by no means a complete list, but they are the most common.

There are steps which you can take to prevent virus infection of your machine. The most important is to install good anti-virus software, keep the virus definitions up to date, and run a system scan on your computer on a regular basis. Some packages such as Norton Anti-virus can be set to automatically check for and install updates, as well as run a system scan at a regularly scheduled time. If your anti-virus software has script-blocking capabilities make sure they are enabled. This will de-activate an embedded script based virus. Microsoft Office applications such as Word and Excel also have security protections built into them which can be accessed by going to tools on the menu bar and then to macro and then to security. From there you can select the level of protection you desire.

If your computer should become infected with a virus I cannot stress how important it is to get the virus removed as quickly as possible. Some manufacturers of anti-virus software offer free resources for virus prevention, scanning and removal.

It is imperative that you have a firewall installed and running on your computer any time you are connected to the internet. Having a good, operating, firewall is your best protection against hackers. Without a firewall they have unimpeded access to your computer, and the files it contains. I would recommend never storing personal information such as social security numbers, bank account numbers, credit card numbers, or birth dates. This is not a complete list but it is a starting point. There are several good firewalls available. Some of them are free and some you must purchase. I personally use either Norton Personal Firewall or Norton Internet Security. In five years of using these products I have not been able to document a single successful intrusion, but those blocked number in the thousands. Black Ice Defender is another good firewall available as well as ZoneAlarm.

Spyware (also adware, but for this article I will refer to both as spyware) is the final thing I will discuss. You get spyware from websites you access on the internet. Not all websites engage in this activity, but there are disreputable companies and individuals out there who do. Some is quite harmless, while others can cause many problems with your computer. Some things you may notice are redirections (automatically being sent to websites other than that intended) also called browser hijacking. Spyware can result in sudden messages popping onto the screen that are advertisements for a product, or the “you are a winner” thing we have all seen. Another tells you that a problem has been detected in the Windows operating system on your computer and displays a link to a site where you can get the ‘fix’ or update that repairs this problem. I would strongly caution against getting updates for Windows from anywhere except the Microsoft Windows Update website. There are several free spyware/adware scanning and removal tools available.

I hope this article has provided useful information, and thank you for your interest.

You may freely reprint this article provided this section is retained.

Ken Houston is the owner of ibgeeky.com (http://www.ibgeeky.com) and has many years of experience in computer related fields. His business ibgeeky.com specializes in web design, internet consulting and pc repair. To inquire about our services or to view more free tips and information please visit our website.

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