Dealing with Viruses

Introduction

You may notice that your computer suddenly begins to behave sluggishly or in unexpected ways such as your settings have been automatically changed. These are signs that your computer may have been infected with a virus.  There is much talk about viruses in the computer world. But what really is a virus?


What is a virus?

Basically, when speaking about living things, a virus is genetic material that can replicate itself in living organisms which may result in illness and or the eventual death of the organism. Viruses are the smallest living organisms. We know about the influenza virus and the virus HIV. The idea of a computer virus is much the same. Hence the word "virus" is a fitting name for the reality of computer viruses. A computer virus is a tiny program that can enter a computer system and damage it.  So like a real virus, a computer virus is tiny, can replicate itself and can harm the system.

Use Protection Always!

Viruses can enter a system through a connection to a network, the biggest network being the internet, or through an infected medium such as a floppy, flash drive or CD/DVD. There are a number of safety practices that must be followed to reduce the risk of your computer becoming infected with a virus. Firstly, as mentioned in my previous post, your system should be up to date by using Automatic Updates. Secondly, you should install an anti-virus program. There are so many. Perhaps "Norton Anti-virus" is the most popular. You can google sites for reviews on the best anti-virus available on the market. There are also free anti-virus. My personal best, and some reviews agree with me, are "Avast" and "Avira AntiVir". There is no reason why you can't run both of them simultaneously. In fact, many people recommend this. So what one anti virus misses, the other may pick up. I have both running on my system which do a fantastic job together. By the way there are also paid versions which offer even more protection. Next, you must scan everything. If you place any removable medium into your drive, you should run a scan for viruses. Email attachments, even those sent from trusted friends, should be scanned. You never know if your friends' systems have been compromised without their knowledge which may result in you receiving emails that are infected with viruses. Software downloaded off the internet in particular must be scanned. Finally, periodically scan your system for viruses.