Virus protection.

There are many kinds of viruses, and many ways that viruses may infect your computer system, including installing software or booting your computer from floppy disks or CD-ROMs, however the most likely cause now is virus infection via your Internet connection, specifically from email, browsing the web, and downloading software from the Internet. There are some simple rules to follow which will minimise the possibility of being caught out.

1. Never open a file attachment sent to you from an unknown source. In most cases, the safest thing to do is delete them as soon as you see them in your mailbox.

2. Understand that patches and updates for programs are rarely distributed by email. (Microsoft and other reputable companies use other means, which are more secure.)

3. Never open a file unless you know what it is. If you've received it from someone you know, ask him or her about it. (They may have a virus infection that is mailing out copies of itself without their knowledge.)

4. Files containing virus content are always sent disguised in some way. For example, the message may say a screensaver, bill or invoice is attached.

5. Users of Outlook and Outlook Express should disable the Preview Pane. A recent virus was thought (but not proven) to infect simply by being displayed in Outlook Express. It is be safer to avoid any risk!

6. Always use Windows Update to ensure that the latest security patches from Microsoft are installed on your system. If you don't do that then make regular visits to Microsoft's web site to check for update patch availability. (Go to www.microsoft.com and select Windows Update from the left side menu.

7. Last, and most important, every computer must have anti-virus software installed and running whenever the computer is switched on - and without fail, the virus definition programs should be kept up to date each and every week. Some programs such as McAfee AntiVirus or AVG can be configured to automatically check for updates several times a day while some programs require manual updating by connecting to the product update site. If you have not updated your viral signatures recently then go to the program supplier's web site and download any updates now!

As a precautionary tale, several large scale computer virus outbreaks have demonstrated how quickly a virus can spread, with the result that thousands of computers became infected before the users had time to get the latest anti-virus update.

Since most viruses arrive by email, either within the mail body or as an attachment, there are additional screening steps that can be put in place. There is a program which pre-screens emails for malicious code and for viral patterns before they actually reach your computer. The program is called called Benign - for information click here. There is excellent on-line help and support from the Benign programmers, should you decide to give it a try.

A useful and free for personal use anti-virus program is AVG available by from Grisoft . Although very good for personal use by those with a good working knowledge of computer security, this program is not licensed for business use, has a basic interface and has no technical support.

Keep in mind "The First Law of Computer Virus Complaints":

"Just because your computer is acting strangely or one of your programs doesn't work right, this does NOT mean that your computer has a virus."

Many problems blamed on viruses are actually caused by software configuration errors or other problems that have nothing to do with a virus, such as a hardware fault!

If you do get a virus?

Don't panic! In almost all cases there are simple programs you can run that will remove the virus from your computer. For example McAfee have a program called Stinger available for free download from their web site which is a stand-alone utility used to detect and remove specific viruses. This program is regularly updated, but it is not a substitute for full anti-virus protection. Just remember that any backups you have may be infected, too. You do back up your data files regularly don't you?

Do you have a firewall?

All computers that connect to the internet really should have a firewall installed. A firewall is like a barrier between your computer and the world wide web and acts to prevent malicious attacks on your computer from outside, and also prevents viruses and trojans that may infect your computer from spreading themselves from your machine to all those friends and contacts in your email address book! Windows XP and Vista has a basic firewall program built in, however the most popular firewall used on computers is in the form of software called ZoneAlarm. This is available as a free or 'Professional' version. For almost all users the free version is more than adequate.

Programs on your computer which access the internet, such as Outlook Express or Internet Explorer are granted permission by ZoneAlarm, and any other program which needs access, such as Windows Media Player will make a request to ZoneAlarm. You can give that program access permission or stop it connecting - it takes longer to type than to do! And any attempt from the www to access your computer will be shown in the form of a warning from ZoneAlarm - which will block that access, You will soon turn the warnings off, and just trust ZoneAlarm to look after things! I suggest you do register the program (it does this automatically) as then you will receive a message when there is an important update to the program available for download.

To read about elimination of spam mail click here.