Top Tips for Selecting Antivirus for PC Security

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The importance of your Internet Security: 

The internet has re-invented the whole way in which we interact with each other; the world has shrunk into a global village thanks to the internet and now people sitting in distant countries can share stuff with each other simultaneously. But with all this access, there also comes the potential for abuse.

The internet makes you incredibly vulnerable to external threats and exposes you to the risk of losing your personal information like credit card and banking data. Hackers can gain excess to your most intimate personal information by tricking you to click on certain links that take you to fake websites or initiate the download of dangerous viruses, thus the purpose of antivirus software at its most basic; implies the following three steps:

Software Terrorists: Scams and Viruses

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We've all been there. Emails saying you've already won money, pop-up ads that want you to click and claim a free prize. Online scams and viruses can not only put your computer at risk, but also your privacy, identity, and money. Each year, the number of trojans, worms and viruses steadily increases to a point where we can hardly feel safe while logging on. Here is the plain and ugly truth about this epidemic of computer threats. 

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Computer Invaders: 25 Infamous Viruses Over the Last 25 Years

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A computer virus is a computer program that can replicate itself and spread from one computer to another. The term "virus" is also commonly, but erroneously, used to refer to other types of malware, including but not limited to adware and spyware programs that do not have a reproductive ability.

Malware includes computer viruses, computer worms, Trojan horses, most rootkits, spyware, dishonest adware and other malicious or unwanted software, including true viruses. Viruses are sometimes confused with worms and Trojan horses, which are technically different. A worm can exploit security vulnerabilities to spread itself automatically to other computers through networks, while a Trojan horse is a program that appears harmless but hides malicious functions. Worms and Trojan horses, like viruses, may harm a computer system's data or performance. Some viruses and other malware have symptoms noticeable to the computer user, but many are surreptitious or simply do nothing to call attention to themselves. Some viruses do nothing beyond reproducing themselves.

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Keep Your Computer Healthy: How to Avoid Contracting a Virus

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What do you do to keep yourself healthy? Perhaps you stay active, take vitamin supplements, eat fruits and vegetables and get lots of sleep to keep your immune system strong? If you feel a little run down, you go to bed early and give your body the rest that it needs to fight off an impending illness. However, although you take care of yourself to prevent illness, do you take the time to protect one of your most important possessions; your computer?

Your computer is just like you; if it gets exposed to viruses and it’s immune system is lowered then it is at risk of coming down with an illness. However, rather than causing stomach flu, headache or sore throat, a virus in your computer can compromise your personal information and even destroy the computer completely. Even though viruses have a devastating effect on your device, many people pay very little attention to the health of their personal computer until it is too late.

However, there are many ways that you can keep your computer healthy and ensure that it has a great “immune system” for fighting off potential viruses. Here are a few ideas of what you can do to stay one step ahead of computer viruses and keep your device safe:

Vaccinate with an Anti-Virus Program

When it comes to computers, an anti-virus program is like a vaccination, it allows your computer’s immune system to recognize any invading viruses and stop them before they cause infection. You should always have a quality, trusted anti-virus software installed on your computer from the very first day that you use it. Every time you surf the internet you are exposed to countless malware, viruses and spyware so it is crucial to be protected.

Keep Your Immune System Strong

Every now and then, your anti-virus software will ask you to do an update. You should always click “yes” because this is very important to the strength of your computer immune system. Internet hackers keep coming up with new viruses and so your anti-virus software needs to keep updating itself so that it stays one step ahead of infection. If you miss this step, your computer could be infected by a virus that your anti-virus software doesn’t recognize yet.

Avoid Possibly Infectious Websites

You wouldn’t lick the handrail on the subway, or share a straw with someone in an infectious disease ward, so why would you hang around suspicious websites which could harm your computer? If you have a good virus protection program it will warn you whenever you are visiting a website that will put your computer at risk. Whenever you get this warning, close the browser window or navigate away from the website; it’s not worth the risk.

Be Careful What You Download

If you are like most internet users, you will probably download music, movies and other fun things. However, these downloads could be hiding a virus. Make sure that you only accept them from websites that you trust and that you scan them before you open them.

Know the Symptoms

Sometimes your computer can be ill for a while before you even notice, because you don’t know what symptoms to look for. You should have an idea of what normal pop-up windows on your computer look like and be able to spot the tell-tale signs that your machine is coming down with something. This will help you catch virus risks right away and fix them before they cause too much harm.

These are just a few ways that you can keep your computer strong and healthy and avoid a virus which will erase all of your important data. Your computer is important to you, so take the time to look after its health and it will run smoothly for a long time.

Taking care of your computer’s health such as by installing a program like&McAfee antivirus , will help prevent the loss of your valuable information.

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How to Secure Your Computer System

As we use the internet more and more for work or other things, the threat of online attacks seems to have increased more. Particularly vulnerable are computer which is least protected from the most common attacks by malware and viruses. Today, more and more people are using their computers for everything from communication to online banking and investing to shopping.   

As we do these things on a more regular basis, we open ourselves up to potential hackers, attackers and crackers.  While some may be looking to phish your personal information and identity for resale, others simply just want to use your computer as a platform from which to attack other unknowing targets.  

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Below are a few easy, cost-effective steps you can take to make your computer more secure.

1.              Always make backups of important information and store in a safe place separate from your computer.

2.              Update and patch your operating system, web browser and software frequently.  If you have a Windows operating system, start by going to www.windowsupdate.microsoft.com and running the update wizard.  This program will help you find the latest patches for your Windows computer.  Also go to www.officeupdate.microsoft.com to locate possible patches for your Office programs.

3.           Install a firewall.  Without a good firewall, viruses, worms, Trojans, malware and adware can all easily access your computer from the Internet.  Consideration should be given to the benefits and differences between hardware and software based firewall programs.

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4.            Review your browser and email settings for optimum security.  Why should you do this?  Active-X and JavaScript are often used by hackers to plant malicious programs into your computers.  While cookies are relatively harmless in terms of security concerns, they do still track your movements on the Internet to build a profile of you.  At a minimum set your security setting for the “internet zone” to High, and your “trusted sites zone” to Medium Low.

5.                Install antivirus software and set for automatic updates so that you receive the most current versions.

6.               Do not open unknown email attachments.  It is simply not enough that you may recognize the address from which it originates because many viruses can spread from a familiar address.    

7.               Do not run programs from unknown origins.  Also, do not send these types of programs to friends and coworkers because they contain funny or amusing stories or jokes.  They may contain a Trojans horse waiting to infect a computer.

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8.              Disable hidden filename extensions.  By default, the Windows operating system is set to “hide file extensions for known file types”.  Disable this option so that file extensions display in Windows.  Some file extensions will, by default, continue to remain hidden, but you are more likely to see any unusual file extensions that do not belong.   

9.               Turn off your computer and disconnect from the network when not using the computer.  A hacker can not attack your computer when you are disconnected from the network or the computer is off.

10.     Consider making a boot disk on a floppy disk in case your computer is damaged or compromised by a malicious program.  Obviously, you need to take this step before you experience a hostile breach of your system. 

As more people uses the internet to access more information the threats of attacks also increases. We must always be vigilant and alert every time we access information in the web.  Instead of getting the correct information sometimes things that we get from the web also have a of other issues that is connected with them, so we must be very careful in what we download into our computer.

How to Protect you Computer from Computer Viruses

Computer virus is just like its human counterpart where it infects quickly to a unprotected person. Computer virus has become synonymous with computer that no matter who you talk to, everyone has either had a computer virus or knows of someone who has gone through the agony of trying to get rid of the problem. Computer viruses are a topic that seems to affect everyone who owns a computer system, whether at work or at home. The companies that produce software programs that catch and delete these computer viruses are constantly updating their databases for virus types and definitions so that they can better protect your system against all the newest viruses. Creating virus protection programs is a multi-billion dollar business that is growing more and more everyday. The number of viruses being created and uploaded to the Internet is growing at an astounding rate of a new one every eighteen seconds! This definitely keeps the virus protection companies on their toes with research and development. 

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Because these viruses copy themselves to any computer system they come in contact with, the spread of viruses throughout a computer network or the Internet is a very fast and deadly thing to happen to your computer. Because computer viruses are a hot topic, they routinely are the subject of magazine articles and forum topics online. While some viruses do nothing more than frustrate you with pop-up ads or other messages, others are completely malicious and set out from the start to destroy the files and operating systems of your computer. 

Of the 53,000 viruses that have been identified and classed, more than 80 percent of them have been classed as malicious and capable of harming your computer system or data files. These computer viruses behave in much the same way as biological viruses by contaminating any computer systems they come in contact with. These self-executing programs are generally very small and work at damaging the way your computer works or by damaging or completely removing key system files. 

Computer Virus (Photo credit: willandbeyond)

As more and more people find out about the destructive power of these programs. They look for ways to educate themselves. In this way a great many people find out about virus protection programs and rush out to get the newest protection programs or they ensure that their computer virus protection is up to date. Many magazine and news articles about computer viruses have the effect of sometimes panicking people into believing that their computers are at risk. Having a good anti-virus program and current updates is one of the best ways to protect your computer system against virus attacks. 

This must also be coupled with good file habits such as scanning all downloaded files with the anti-virus program before opening them. It is always a good idea to take the time to ensure that the file you thought you were downloading is indeed the file you have. For instance, a file that labels itself as a movie file and is less than one megabyte in size is not a movie file. Movie files are generally nearly a thousand times that size and therefore, the file you have downloaded is most likely not a movie file and may in fact be a computer virus.

Computer viruses become a problem at the office when a virus attack manages to get past protection protocols put in place by the network administrators. All it takes is one person allowing some executable files they have been sent to open and start replicating itself through the network of computers to make life Hell for that company. Virus attacks can cripple office systems very quickly resulting in lost revenue and consumer confidence which can affect the way that stocks in that company are traded resulting in even further financial losses. That is why it is so important for larger businesses to have comprehensive computer virus protection programs in place. 

Computer Virus (Photo credit: willandbeyond)

These virus programs are much more detailed and powerful than the anti-virus programs that many consumers have protecting their computer systems. Because the fallout from a virus attack is much more financially damaging to a large corporation, the virus protection program needs to be much more robust and capable of protecting multiple systems within the corporation. Computer viruses are a hot topic among businesses simply because of the way that they can affect the company financially.

Computer 101: Automated USB Virus Scanner

Virus sources comes in many form, one major sources of virus that infect your computer, laptop or tablet is through the use of  Universal Serial Bus based drive or commonly called flash drive, flash disk among other terms used to describe a small rectangular stick of a memory house in plastic or metal that be used to plug in to almost any computer related devices. There are two reasons why the flash drive has become very useful in today activity. One it is very small and since it is small it is very easy to carry, it can be placed on almost any type of pocket in your jeans and bag or you could choose to it as a necklace around your neck as you move around. Another reason is that it can contain a lot of files like documents, mp3, video, and picture because of it's design capacity into it. From 1 gigabytes to 8 gigabytes or more, they sure come in handy. Also another that makes this device very attractive to use is it price. Depending on what currency your using almost all cost is very low compare to the benefits that it can bring.

Imagine carrying a thousand song in a very small device and that device can be plug-in to a player that automatically plays the song inside it without having to press any button or just pressing a single button for manual play. Now where do viruses come here? The very characteristic of the flash drive that can be plug in to all computers is the same usefulness that the virus uses to spread itself from computer to another computer. Let's say we have a clean flash drive and we plug it in on an infected computer without knowing that the computer is infected with a virus. It is then detected by the computer and is added to its system. Then once we transfer a file which is infected to the flash drive then we also create a scenario for that virus to infect our file once we activate the file that is infected. Another way of infecting a flash drive is as soon as the auto-run of the computer open the flash drive the virus immediately copies itself into the auto run files of the flash drive thereby spreading itself faster when we plug our infected flash drive into other computer or laptop. Remember not all anti-virus software can detect harmful scripts is a flash drive or from the internet. 

The best way to solve this problem is to install a USB port virus scanner. The function of this flash drive virus scanner it to scan automatically all flash being detected by the computer. If a computer has ten USB port it will be scan as soon as a flash drive has been detected on one of those USB port. USB virus scanner is very easy to install and requires small amount of memory to function. Once it is installed into the system of the computer it will always be active and on guard. We can verify this by expanding your task to see the icon of the installed USB port scanner. Remember folks this is an added layer protection for your main computer or laptop where we keep most of our original files and important documents. Together with the anti-virus installed in your computer the USB port scanner main task is to check every device that your attach to your computer especially flash drive. Having them installed is more safer than just relying on your trusted anti-virus software. We do not need to buy them there free USB port scanner available in the internet just search in the web to your favorite search engine and they appear instantaneously. Remember it better to safe than sorry.

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Computer 101: Computer Acronym for Newbie

1. VIRUS         -           Vital Information Resource Under Siege

                                   

            A computer virus is pattern after the real life virus that affect living organism. Just like its organic counterpart, the computer virus spread itself from one infected file to another by making copies of itself and attaching that copy to the file or infecting a file. If let alone inside a computer system, a virus can have very serious consequences result from lost of data, performance slowdown and  to a less harmful display of characters to your screen,.

 
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                        Computer VIRUS Explained in Wikipedia

2. RAM           -           Random Access Memory

The term use to describe the memory that is installed in our computer. The contents of this memory can be removed once the power that flow through it is turn off. This is done by shutting down the computer or by re-starting it. In a way this is very helpful to a RAM because in this way it refreshes the memory making it unload all the previous content. The SDRAM, DDR and many other type of memory fall in these categories. Also the amount of RAM in a computer varies from 1 Gigabytes up to 10 gigabytes and even more depending on the application that computer is design for.

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                                Computer RAM in Wikipedia

3. ROM           -           Read Only Memory

Unlike the RAM the ROM is smaller in size and is a permanent fixture in all computers small or large ones. Also unlike the RAM the ROM does not losses it data when power is switch off because the data that the ROM has is vital to the basic operation of the computer. The function of its peripheral’s and the interconnection of the parts inside and outside the computer and more importantly the resources and configuration of every hardware component of the computer is stored in the Read Only Memory.

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                                Computer ROM in Wikipedia

4. BIOS           -           Basic Input and Output System

A stored program inside the ROM that configured the input and output resources of a computer. It is the second code or set of instructions (before the Operating system is loaded) run by a computer when it is turn on. This code allows the computer to check whether all the hardware configurations and setting is correct before loading the software called the operating system which will control the operation of the computer in the hands of a human who will use it.

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                                Computer BIOS in Wikipedia

5. POST          -           Power-On Self-Test

This is a routine down by the computer or any electronic device before the booting process begins. The function of this code is to check whether all the required hardware is connected and is working properly. It will not load the next set of instructions if it finds any required hardware not connected or is not working properly. One clear example of this is in a computer boot up sequence when the POST detect that no keyboard is connected to the system unit, the boot up sequence will stop and it will display  a message on the screen “Keyboard Error”. The boot up sequence will be stop until the keyboard error is corrected by connecting a working keyboard and resetting the computer to do the boot up sequence again. 


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Computer POST in Wikipedia

Computer 101: Un-hiding All Hidden Files after a Virus Infection

Is your USB Flash disk ever been infected by a virus and the result is all you files and folder are gone? But wait when went to the technical support personnel in you workplace they says that it is not gone all your files and folder are still there. Feeling confused, you may say but when i check my USB flash drive i cannot see all my files and folder? But if did a deeper probe, by checking the properties of your USB flash drive, you can see that it indicates that your USB flash drive is half full or almost full depending on how many files it contains before the virus infection. Still confuse, well do not be. Here is what happens, when your flash drive got infected by the virus, it hides all your files and folder and then creates a copy of itself. But that copy of itself is not going to look like a virus, it will look like a regular folder inside your flash drive. The moment you click it, it will even more infect all the other files and folder in your flash drive. Ever seen a folder that when you tried to open it via the double click method, it did not open instead nothing happen, there is no reaction from the folder. A closer will reveal that it is not really a folder it is an application. Take a closer look at the screenshot below.

 

You can see that a folder is identified as folder and an application is identified as an application in a non-infected drive. To get this kind of view, please select the detail option when displaying the content of your flash drive. Now after the infection happened. All your folder and files is hidden not deleted or erased. You are left with an application that looks like a folder, but when you view it like this you can see that the folder has been classified as an application. When you see a folder that has been classified as an application then definitely it is a virus. Have your flash drive scan immediately to avoid the virus from infecting other places in your flash drive or drive or any type of container. DO NOT click or double click it. Now how do you recover your files if it has been hidden after a virus infection? Well first make sure that you have scanned and cleaned your flash drive. Next attach it to a clean computer, a computer that has not been infected by the same virus. After is has been recognized by the computer. Follow this step very carefully. First look for a utility or program called FOLDER OPTION. The FOLDER OPTION has three tabs they are the GENERAL, VIEW and SEARCH. Please see the screen shot below.

 

From the screen shot above the three tabs can be seen. The next step selects the VIEW tab. Please see screen shot below. This is where you're going to make the hidden files from your flash drive visible again. For the nest step please select the Show Hidden files, folders and rive option and unchecked all the check boxes for the three following option. The Hide empty drives in the computer, Hide extension for known file types and Hide protected operating system files then clicks the OK button. But wait before you go any further a word of caution, make sure to go directly to the flash drive and do not do to the main hard drive which contains the system files. The system files are hidden by default to protect against accidental erasure. Now that you un-hide it, it is now very open for such an accident. Whatever you do, go directly to the flash drive to get all your files. Now that we have cleared that the next step is to proceed to your flash drive and view it again. After editing the folder option, you can now see your folder. They are now safe to open via the double click. Do not copy the folder because they will be invisible after you redo the folder option. Open the entire folder individually and move all the files inside them to a newly created folder and all your folder will accessible to your once again. Now after recovering your files from the entire affected folder. The entire affected folder can now be deleted from your flash drive. Now for the last part go back to the FOLDER OPTION and put the check mark on all the boxes that you have unchecked earlier and select the other option to return all folder to their normal state. All system files must be hidden the same as before and press the OK button and close the FOLDER OPTION.

 

Remember when ever a virus has infected your flash drive. It will try to fool you by making you think that all your files have been deleted. Do not be fooled by this kind of virus infection. Make sure that you scan your flash drive and have the virus removed and make a deeper probe to see if all your files is still there. Do not format the flash drive as soon as you see that it appears to empty. Remember you smarter than any virus. 

 

 

Computer 101: Keeping your Computer Safe from Viruses and Other Threats P-2.

On my previous post, I emphasized on the self practice of safe browsing. Meaning do not just surf anywhere but be objected, think first of what you really need to do to get before surfing the internet that way you'll be able to get the information the you want at much faster time and less hazardous to your computer. Another thing about practicing self safe browsing technique is do not just click on the link or any link, there are a lot of link out there that once click will open the box of bad news for your computer. Also email, your email is one another source of those potentially harmful threats. The safe practice for avoiding virus from email is that avoid opening email that you do not know. Meaning if an email has been sent to you and the sender is a total stranger to you. DO NOT Open or click it, for once you click it then if it contains viruses those viruses will be let loose in your computer even if you have a anti-virus. Is that possible, my computer being infected even if i have an anti-virus installed? The answer is very big yes. Not all anti-virus can detect all viruses especially those new type and variants of viruses, especially if your anti-virus database is not updated regularly. Wait what do you mean Anti-virus database? Well you see all anti-virus as a list of virus and there corresponding mark. The terms for this are virus definitions files or database. Yup each one has this list of threats and only the virus listed on that threat and all its variants is the only detectable virus for the anti-virus. You will need other type of anti-virus to detect others. But there are anti-virus who offers complete detection from regular virus to, malware, ad-ware and spyware. This anti-virus suite does not come free. You have to buy them. Most free version can only scan and protect your computer for a certain degree that why is it recommended to practice safe browsing and opening of email on a regular basis. It's better to be safe than to be sorry.

 

Another potential source of virus is the very useful USB flash drive that rights that very small but very big container that is very easy to use. You just plug it in and presto you have an additional storage space. This is also their weakness, if this Flash disk contains an infected file or itself is infected with a virus, chances are when you plug it into your computer your anti-virus will detect and remover the threat or it will do nothing and will allow the virus to load itself onto your computer's hard drive. Some virus the commonly infect this type of devices, create a replica of itself but the picture is a folder or a file. When the user click on thinking it was the file or folder, presto there goes all your files and folder. Imagine a virus that looks like a folder. You can verify this by viewing the directories in detailed mode. A folder does not have an extension name correct. In an infected folder it has a DOT EXE as an extension name and it is not a folder but an application as verified by the directories listing. What happen to the real files? Well it's there; you just can't see it because it is hidden. To view it you need to unhide all system files and hidden files using the file view option in the control panel. But this is dangerous you. All system files and protected system folder are hidden for their protection. Un-hiding the greatly exposes each item of being deleted or manipulated so be very careful. A word of CAUTION and WARNING do not do the things mentioned above if you are new or not familiar with the procedure, it may cause more harm than good to you computer system. I try to provide with a step by step procedure in how to it complete with picture on my future blog. So before you plug one of these handy devices to your computer make sure you scan them first thoroughly and properly. Also if you one of this does not just plug it anywhere and everywhere, this will minimize it from being infected by viruses. So practice self know and restrained in using these devices. And lastly but not the list make sure to update your anti-virus database or virus definition file regularly. This at least will help you in keeping the most common virus away from your computer.

Another potential source of infection is chatting; yup your computer could also be infected via this avenue if you are not careful and vigilant. What even in chatting? Yup that correct, how is this so? Well there are a lot of ways where you talk or chat with friends on the internet. Also a lot of programs that offers this kind feature and much more.. More than that in chatting sometimes you talk about a lot or you request a file to be sent to you, not via email, but who want it sent through the chatting software that you are using. If that is possible so the virus being sent thru is also possible, disguise as an important file or picture from a supposedly friend of yours, when you click on it to download it. It will immediately activate and infect your computer. So while chatting with friends practice being vigilant to avoid unnecessary problems with virus infection in you computer. Whenever your computer is connected to the internet and attaching devices to your computer, being vigilant and thorough will help keep your computer from being infected and therefore more productive time and usage from your machine.