by Jeanesse Whyte

Created on: October 10, 2008   Last Updated: April 27, 2011

Computer virus is a software program that secretly insert into a computer a piece of executable code that produces many copies of itself. It produces damages and destroy information in the computers. Some ways that your computer can get infected by viruses are: through attachments in e-mails, downloading files from the Internet, exchanging information via CD's, memory, e-mails and so on. Here are some tips to avoid virus attacks your computer:

ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE

The most important thing to protect the security of your computer is to have a good anti-virus. Use known and reliable anti-virus, such as Norton, McAfee or Panda. Be careful about free anti-virus programs. Security of your computer has no price. Set your anti-virus program to check automatically your computer once a week and the virus definition every day. If you see something working strange on your computer. Update your anti-virus immediately, and do a complete scan of your computer.

USE A FIREWALL

Using a firewall you can avoid that malicious codes, like pop-up viruses attacks your computer.

EMAIL ATTACHMENTS

Do not allow that e-mail attachments open automatically. Use e-mail services which allow you to automatically set up, check for viruses in attachments. There are free e-mail services, like Yahoo and Hotmail that scan file attachments, before download them to your computer and if an attachment is infected them do not allow download it. In addition, use a browser likes Firefox, which scan file before download.

DOWNLOADING SOFTWARE PROGRAMS

Do not download software programs from any unknown website. If you need to download any file from the Web, find information on this site in the Internet.
FLOPPY DISKS, CD'S, MEMORY STICKS, IPODS, ETC.

Do not turn on your computer with external storage devices inside or connected. When you use any of these devices, scan it with your computer anti-virus before to use. Be careful when you use these devices in the Internet cafes. The Internet cafes are good sources of viruses.

SHARING

Viruses, Trojans and worms spread easily by sharing files on the network using peer to peer model (P2P). Do not download digital information from unknown sources.

Following these recommendations, you can keep your computer healthy.

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