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People have been asking about computer viruses since they were first discovered in the 70s. However it was not until the PC in the 80s that people started creating malicious code to deliberately bring down another person's computer or a business's network. What began with a few hundred computer viruses in 1987 has mushroomed to hundreds of thousands in 2005.

All computers need up to date anti virus software. There are differences between personal and corporate versions. The home user needs something simple easy to use and inexpensive. Corporate and government users require sophisticated and expensive programs that can trap viruses instantly.
Anti virus programs are at best hours away from adding patches to their programs. Some are better than others. The number one program is Norton by Symantec followed by McAfee. Virus hackers hit these programs first as their code structure is better known. In this regard it has taken Norton and McAfee longer to solve virus attacks, especially at the corporate level.
Lesser known and equal if not more effective are programs such as AVG by Grisoft, PC Cillin by Trend Micro, Active Scan by Panda Software, and F-Prot by Frisk International, to name but a few, have developed their own code structures and are not the usual targets of virus hackers. These companies have quick updates and have corporate versions for multiple platforms.
Regardless of what antivirus program is on the computer viruses can still sneak in. To prevent such sneak attacks perform online virus scanning. Trend Micro and Panda Software offer such services. If there is any suspicious code perform the scans from both companies as they will search differently and may find something the other did not.
Both companies will download software to your computer that allows them to check your system. It is best to turn off the antivirus program plus any other software. After the file download is done the drives will need to be selected for scanning. In Trend Micro it just click the box but at Panda it is best to choose the 'other media' option. Both programs will do a deep system scan that will take time to perform, possibly a couple hours.
The only difficulty with online scanning is the availability of the servers. Trend Micro's House Call has at times been overloaded with requests. It also requires a Java component for the Internet. Panda Software requires a valid email address before testing and afterwards sends email notices. If these are not of interest then have the emails sent to a junk account for easier deletion.
Overall computer viruses will grow in complexity and seriousness that will affect homes, businesses, and governments around the world. The only computer we can control is the one we own at home. Use antivirus programs keep them updated and do online scans.

Learn more about this author, David Briant.
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