Viruses

Computer viruses tend to grab our attention. On the one hand, viruses show us how vulnerable we are. A properly engineered virus can have an amazing effect on the worldwide Internet. On the other hand, they show how sophisticated and interconnected human beings have become.

For example back in 2004 the MyDoom worm affect around 250,000 machines in a single day. In 1999 the Melissa virus forced Microsoft and several other big copanies to switch off their email systems until the virus could be contained.

A computer virus is a piece of software or a script deliberately designed to interfere with a computers operation, copy/corrupt/delete data, and usually spread themselves to other computers and throughout the Internet, often slowing things down and causing other problems in the process.

The most important things in preventing infection is an anti virus program, keeping your software upto date and COMMON SENSE!. By common sense I mean do not open attachments in emails unless you know who they are from, do not download strange programs etc.

Anti Virus Software

Here is a list, in no particular order, of anti virus software for Windows. The first program is totally free and powered by the Kaspersky engine. The next three are also FREE but also offer a paid for version that has extra features.

• Active Virus Shield
• Avast
• AntiVir
• AVG
• NOD32
• Norton
• McAfee
• Norman
• Kaspersky

Weird but notice how all the free ones start with the letter A and most of the paid ones start with an N?