Setting Up Your AntiVirus Software
To
protect your computer from being attacked, users are recommended
to install anti virus software. This article tells you how
to select and install anti virus software.
There is far more to Anti
Virus Software than just opening the box, inserting the
CD and installing software. To be properly protected you may
actually want to do a little more than that.
You see, a good antivirus software does a lot more than you
might think. In this article we will be discussing features
of Norton Antivirus 2002, one of the best and most full featured
programs available. Similar functions exist in the other major
scanners.
The first thing you must do in this day and age is purchase
and
install antivirus software. If you don't have this installed
you
are literally living on borrowed time.
Some of the common features are described below.
Auto Protect
Perhaps the most important feature of all is auto protect.
This
feature allows the antivirus system to perform it's tasks
without manual intervention. This is critical as then you
can
relax and do what you need to do, without constantly worrying
about checking for viruses. Keep this turned on without fail.
Checking for email viruses
This is one of the most critical features of a modern antivirus
program is the ability to scan email messages as they arrive
or
are sent. Scanning of this nature is relatively new and long
overdue.
DO NOT TURN THIS FEATURE OFF.
It's very important to remember that the most destructive
viruses arriveas attachments in email messages. I know, I
know,
you would never, ever open anything that even remotely looked
like a virus, would you? But how would you know? Do you want
to
take the chance on destroying your system?
Scanning disks for viruses
Most virus scanners will occasionally scan your disks for
anything that looks like a virus. In Norton Antivirus, you
can
schedule this scan for as often as you like - in fact, many
people turn it off entirely. After all, while the scan is
running your system will be slower than normal. It can be
quite
annoying.
Turning off the automatic disks scans is, however, a big
mistake. These check your disks for any viruses which may
have
gotten through the front line defenses. How does this happen?
You could copy a virus to your hard drive from a CD ROM, a
floppy or perhaps across the network. It will be just sitting
there, waiting to explode in your face. Scanning the disks
finds
these little time bombs and eliminates them.
But wait, if you have your antivirus program running won't
it
catch and stop any viruses that you happen to open? Yes it
will,
but you could still copy it to someone else, or another person
could grab it over the network (if you are in a company, for
example). Or perhaps for some reason you turn off your antivirus
program, then you could accidentally open it up and destroy
your
system.
Scanning for viruses in scripts on web pages
Believe it or not, you can catch a virus from a web page.
All
you have to do is view the page and bang, you are infected.
There are not many of these yet, but you can bet there will
be
in the near future. These are particularly nasty because,
well,
you don't have a choice about executing the virus.
These are not like the email viruses, which require you to
actually open an attachment. They are not like other viruses,
which require you to execute a file. These simply require
you to
view them. Pretty scary, if you ask me.
Thus, as you can see, it's very important to keep this feature
enabled at all times. That way you will catch and destroy
these
things before you get hurt.
Regular updates
Be sure to subscribe to and use the regular virus updates.
You see, new viruses are found all of the time, and if you
don't update your definitions you will be vulnerable. In fact,
after a few months of no updates your antivirus software becomes
virtually worthless.
TrendMicro
is a very respectful, high quality anti virus software. It
includes anti-virus program, personal firewall, anti-spam
functions all in one box. Highly recommend you to have a look
and try it.
Conclusions
The features of your antivirus software are put there for
a
reason. My advice is to enable everything. Turn it all on.
These
days you cannot be too careful - or, if you prefer, you can
disable something and perhaps lose your data. It's your choice.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Richard Lowe Jr. is the webmaster of Internet Tips And Secrets
at http://www.internet-tips.net
- Visit our website any time to read over 1,000 complete FREE
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