While I've Got You On The Phone...
I was speaking with my friend Matt today. As anyone who’s in the computer industry knows, conversations with friends generally drift into the “How do I do something on my computer…” mode. This was no exception. Mind you, I’m not complaining. What better way to discover the types of information people are looking for than to have the questions posed by good friends? Anyway, Matt was concerned about the steps he should take to defend his PC from viruses. Typically, he’d been using a computer for a few years and for the first time had just updated the virus protection that came with it. This article, then, is for all the Matts, and Kareys, and anyone else who wants to know how to better protect their system.
Antivirus Software
If you don’t have antivirus software installed, get it. See Free Protection for a list of vendors providing totally free or evaluation copies of their scanning software. To help you decide which one to choose, check out the article, How to Compute Safely and the antivirus software reviews. Once you have it installed, keep it updated. I recommend a minimum of every two weeks. Once a week is even better. Most products have either an update feature that can be scheduled to run automatically or a simple one-click mechanism to download and install the needed files.
Keep Informed
Subscribe to a mailing list to keep abreast of virus outbreaks that may necessitate updating immediately. The Antivirus.About.com newsletter is published weekly and contains up-to-date information on current threats. Most antivirus vendors have security mailing lists you can subscribe to as well.
Stealth that PC
Trojans are increasingly problematic. The best defense is a good personal firewall. I recommend ZoneAlarm. Free for personal use and moderately priced for the enterprise, it puts your PC in complete stealth mode. Unlike some firewall products, ZoneAlarm blocks both incoming and outgoing unauthorized transmissions. This means that if a remote access or password stealing Trojan should infect your system, ZoneAlarm will prevent it from contacting the hacker’s server portion. For more information about Trojans, see the article Is Your PC a Zombie.
Think Security
Microsoft releases close to a hundred security patches in a year. Of course, no all of these apply to your system. If you’re using Windows 2000 or NT, a great way to discover whether your system might require updating is to visit Shavlik Technologies Free online QuickInspector for the Web. This nifty little tool checks W2k and NT systems for a variety of vulnerabilities. For Windows 95 and 98 users, check out ZDNet’s MyUpdates.com to receive a complete listing of software that needs updating and links to do so.
And finally,
Practice Safe Hex
When it comes to viruses, email attachments pose the greatest threat to security. Unfortunately, attachments are like Pandora’s Box and many cannot resist the temptation to open them. Please, don’t open email attachments that arrive unexpectedly – even if from someone you know. Refer to the Tips for Safety for more advice on keeping your system secure.
