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I am frequently contacted by clients whose computer is running much more slowly than normal. My first thoughts are always is their anti-virus software up to date and are they using effective antispy software? Malware ( a generic term referring to pretty much anything that shouldn't be on your computer) is being written at about the rate of 1000 items a month. If you don't have effective and up to date antivirus and antispyware programs on your computer it can quickly become overwhelmed by infection. Even if the individual infections are low risk, infection by a large number of items of malware can slow your computer to a crawl.

Even now I still come across clients who have no or very out of date anti-virus software. Your antivirus and antispy software aremonly as good as the last time they were updated. If your subscription ran out 3 months ago then you are potentially open to infection by approximately 3000 pieces of malware. The time, frustration and financial cost of sorting out an infected computer will far outweigh the small price of purchasing effective computer security.

Consider buying a full internet security suite. Not only will have you gain effective protection against a whole range of malware, but you will also have a firewall. An effective firewall serves two purposes. Its main purpose is to prevent outside computers from accessing your computer. Once your computer is connected to the internet it is potentially open to being accessed by any other computer on the internet. That's how the internet works. All those webpages you view are simply stored on computers that allow outside access. An effective firewall prevents external access to your and so protects you from hackers who may try to gain access to and control of your computer. The second function of an effective firewall is to flag up a warning each time something new on your computer tries to access the internet for the first time. This will usually be innocent activity, but it can be a first warning that malware has been installed and is trying to access the internet.

Once you have antivirus and antispy software installed it is vital to ensure that your computer is scanned regularly. Many of these programs are proactive and will run a daily scan automatically. If your software is not proactive it is worth considering replacing them with software that is. It is easy to forget to run manual scans and leaves your computer vulnerable to infection.

If you computer becomes infected you might also

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