Question:

How can I protect myself from viruses and Trojan horse programs?

Automating your Virus Scanning

In addition to using internet security software to scan for viruses on a regular basis, install an 'on access' scanner (included in most good internet security software packages) and configure it to start automatically each time you boot your system. This will protect the information security of your system by checking for viruses each time your computer accesses an executable file.

Tips on Ensuring the Security of Your Computer

Just because your computer is acting strangely or one of your programs doesn't work right, this does NOT mean that your computer has a virus. If you haven't used a good, up-to-date internet security software anti-virus program on your computer, do that first. Many problems blamed on viruses are actually caused by software configuration errors or other problems that have nothing to do with a virus.

Computer Viruses

Install anti-virus internet security software from a well-known, reputable company, UPDATE it regularly, and USE it regularly or it won't do your information security any good. New viruses come out every single day; an information security program that hasn't been updated for several months will not provide much protection against current viruses.

Computer Security and Trojan Horse Programs

You've probably heard of a Trojan horse, and we don't mean the large wooden horse in ancient myth. This one damages your computer security. Unlike a virus that deletes files or JavaScript that sends e-mail to everyone in your address book, think of a Trojan horse as a remote-control tool. It quietly sits in the background, waiting for you to go online, and for the hacker to load it. You can infect your system with a Trojan horse by clicking (and thereby executing) an e-mail attachment that contains the Trojan horse software.

Common Sense Computer Security

We all want easy solutions to our internet and computer security. The easiest thing you can do to ensure that you don't lose all of your precious computer data is as old as computers themselves - make a backup copy. This is just a common sense, but so few people take a few minutes each month to back up their computer. Some viruses and Trojan horse programs will erase or corrupt files on your hard drive, and a recent backup may be the only way to recover your data and ensure data security. Additionally, if you have a power failure or surge and your surge protector fails, your hard drive make be fried and everything lost. Do yourself a favor, back up those files and maintain your information security!

Avoid Automatically Executing Email Programs

Some e-mail or news software has the ability to automatically execute JavaScript, Word macros, or other executable code contained in or attached to a message. If your e-mail software does this you're looking at a potential internet security disaster. To help preserve computer security you should strongly consider disable this feature.

Virus Scanners

Make sure to use internet security software to run a Virus scan on any new programs or other files that may contain executable code before you run or open them, no matter where they come from. There have been cases of commercially distributed floppy disks and CD-ROMs spreading virus infections.

Internet Safety Frequently Asked Questions

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How can I protect myself from viruses and Trojan horse programs?

How can a firewall protect my computer?

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How can I protect myself from viruses and Trojan horse programs?

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