7 Suggestions for Protecting Your Computer Against a Virus

1. Subscribe to an ezine list, such as the ones listed
below, where the owner provides readers with an added value
in the form of emails that alert subscribers to
important Internet virus warnings.

Elevating Your Business Ezine: http://www.CoachMaria.com
Web Chamber http://www.webchamber.com

2. Most new computers come with 30- or 90-day trial of an
installed antivirus program. But the program's data files
(for dat files) are out of date by the time you receive
your computer. If you've purchased a new computer recently,
locate its antivirus program, get on the Internet and
download the latest dat or zip files (large group of files
compressed so they download quickly). Ensure that your
computer's files are up-to-date. Also, start looking around
for an antivirus program you're willing to purchase and
keep updated yearly.

3. If you don't have an antivirus program, test drive one
of the many programs available on the different
antivirus-protection web sites. Most offer a 30-day trial
and you can see if it's a program that's easy for you to
use. I recommend purchasing a program that offers an
automatic scheduler feature, and set the system to update
files once a week. The oldest antivirus programs are those by McAfee and Norton. When you purchase a PC or laptop, these are the
trials you're likely to find on your computer. However,
many other programs are available.


http://www.trendmicro.com Trend Micro
http://www.kaspersky.com Kaspersky Lab
http://bitdefender.com Softwin SRL
http://symantec.com Symantec Norton
http://avast.com Alwil Avast!
http://us.mcafee.com McAfee ViruScan
http://windowsonecare.com) MS OneCare
http://pandasoftware.com Panda Sofware
http://www.etruststore.com/etrust-ez-antivirus.html
Computer Associates

4. Add "yearly update of my antivirus program" to your
business or personal budget. And if you use the Outlook
calendar, include a reminder to purchase the program a year
from now.

5. Put aside 30 minutes to read the directions of your new
antivirus program so that you know everything it can do. If
you're updating a previous version, the "read me" text file
usually contains information on what's been updated or
added since the last version.

6. Know that if you have email programs other than
Microsoft, you can still end up with a virus. Antivirus
programs are designed to destroy files and cause fear.
Viruses have been targeted at Adobe PDF, ICQ, and other
Microsoft files!

And if you have a Mac, don't think you'll be spared! Many
Mac users are carriers of viruses. I've received MS Word
documents from a Mac and my antivirus program found a
virus. While Mac users can't get the virus, their computers
can carry it and send it along to other computers.

7. Microsoft provides updates for programs on their
website. Security updates may include fixes for a virus and
are called critical files. Visit the sites below once a
month to update all critical files.


MS Main Program Updates http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/

MS Office Updates
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdate/default.aspx