Virus Prevention Tips

If you were a computer user in the late 1980s, virus infections would not have been a major concern for you. However, by the mid 1990s virus infections had become common place and this trend has worsened with the arrival of always on broadband internet.

Should Viruses be removed? Absolutely, because they are installed on your computer to do a job for the virus author, and these tasks are nearly always damage the computer user in some way. Common infections today will try and con the computer user into purchasing rogue antivirus programs, will steal private information which is then used for identity fraud or will hijack your browser, serving up unwanted advertisements and slowing down your computer.

Your first consider should be strong and capable antivirus software. This will be your computers main line of defense against external attackers. Not all antivirus software is equal. Some in practise are truly appauling, letting too many infections in or slowing your system down drastically. It is essential that your do some research and find out from someone you can trust what is the best software to use. It is normally better to buy antivirus software as the free options are not all that strong. Another tip is to avoid the versions which vendors offer that attempt to combine antivirus, antispyare and a firewall all in one. Most of these are over complex and prone to a myriad of problems and are best avoided.

As well as decent antivirus software, another vital part of your security strategy should be updating. You should update not only Windows istself but also other applications that you use like Java and Flash. This is because older versions of software often contains small faults (security vulnerabilities) that can easily be exploited by virus authors and hackers. If you leave these things unpatched, you are asking for trouble so make sure you spend some time each month getting the latest versions of your software installed.

Antispyware software is ofter overlooked even though it is an extremely useful partner to your antivirus mainstay. The same principal applies here as with the antivirus. Do your research and install the strongest antispyware software you can find. This will greatly lessen the burden on your antivirus software and should leave it with less to do.

Practice safe surfing. Even if you have followed all of the other advise and installed good antivirus software, excellent antispyware and updated all of your other software, you could still get infected if you surf irresponsibly. Visiting certain types of websites (like pornography or unlicenced software sites) or engaging in particular activities like peer to peer file sharing, carries with it an extremely high risk of virus infection. These are just some general pointers and you will learn many more as you spend more time on the internet and sharing experiences with other computer users.

Follow these tips and you will be a less frequent caller at your local computer repair store.