Computer Health Tips

By Peter Taylor

Virus Infections have become a larger problem for computer users with the widespread adoption of fast broadband internet connections. Before this, in the early 1990's, malware infections were not a big problem for the average computer user.

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.

Now is the time to get some antivirus software. Not just any software will do nowadays, so you should do some research or get a trusted recommendation for a really effective strong antivirus program. Antivirus software will form the first line of defence against virus attacks, so choose carefully. Most of the free antivirus products are not doing a great job at preventing infection this year, so be prepared to pay for some decent software. This will be much cheaper than having your local computer shop reinstall your Operating System!

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 all of this advice and you will have a much better chance of staying virus free for longer. - 30201

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