Preventing Virus Infection

A computer virus is a program (or script) that is designed to replicate itself by copying itself into the other programs stored in a computer. It may be benign or have a negative effect, such as causing a program to operate incorrectly or corrupting a computer's memory.

A small minority of annoying computer geeks still insist on trying to screw the world over and release viruses to make our life difficult. Happily, most viruses can be avoided with some diligent thinking and installing a virus checker. Generally, the most important actions that you should take to avoid the scourge of computer viruses are:

1. Install the current version of an anti-virus software program and keep the virus information file up to date so that the software can recognize new viruses as they appear. Usually, you can automate the process of updating the virus information so that your anti-virus software will maintain itself once you install and configure it properly. I recommend AVG ANTIVIRUS as the corporate version is very thorough and the free version is a great way for home users to try it out.
2. Switch on your Firewall. If you are using a Router then this can be at the Router point – or be safe and activate it on your PC as well. Firewall software comes free with Windows XP and above.
3. Keep up with your Operating System Updates. For Windows users this means doing your Windows Updates. For Macintosh users, this means checking your Software Updater. Some viruses come in through security holes or vulnerabilities in your Operating System. The makers of the OS (e.g. Microsoft) are always finding new holes that need to be plugged up. By keeping up with your updates, you are severely limiting the number of viruses that can even make it to your computer, much less do any harm. Almost all of the infected computers that come by the PC Workshop are not current with their updates. Protect yourself, do your updates.
4. Exercise reasonable caution when opening e-mail attachments, even if they seem to come from a friend of yours - in fact, especially if they seem to come from a friend, since most recent viruses have exploited the power of some e-mail programs by sending themselves to everyone in an infected machine's address book. If you're not expecting to receive an attachment from someone or if the nature of the message seems odd (the dean will not be sending you her favourite list of jokes), then don't open the attachment until you have confirmed that it is legitimate.
   
5. Turn off File Sharing. If you don't need to have file sharing turned on, turn it off. As long as your computer has file and printer sharing enabled, it is more vulnerable to various kinds of intrusion over the network, including virus infection.

You need all of these actions to protect yourself fully. The software will fend off most viruses, including those arriving in a downloaded program, by email, on a friend's diskette or USB stick, or even (as has happened a few times) on an installation CD for commercial software. But it can't protect you against a new virus that spreads fast (as some of the email-borne or network-aware viruses do) and reaches you before your virus information file is updated to include the new virus. That's when your instinct for self-preservation must kick in to prevent you from opening an unexpected or suspicious attachment without first checking its origin.

It requires more effort on your part than the two crucial actions listed above, but it has the advantage of protecting you not only in the event of a virus attack, but also from hardware failures, badly written software, theft, fire, flood, spilled soft drinks, and your own crazed actions after a sleepless night spent writing a paper ahead of a looming deadline. This remarkable panacea is the regular creation and safe storage of backups of your critical files.

You can use specialized backup software like the backup program that comes with Windows or Retrospect for the Macintosh or you can just copy the files you need to a diskette, Zip disk, or writeable CD. But at least every week, create a backup and store it in a safe place away from your computer (so that the plumbing failure that soaks your computer won't also wash away your backups). The question to ask yourself is whether you'd rather take a few minutes to create the backup or spend the time required to recreate the work if some disaster struck your computer or the files you need.