Keep your Computer Healthy

Computer Viruses are a very real threat to your computer. A virus is a program that invades your computer and replicates itself. Some viruses are fairly harmless and serve mainly to annoy, but some viruses are can wreak havoc on your pc, destroying files and data, and sometimes even damaging your hardware. They can cause your pc to behave erratically, freeze and programs not to open properly etc.

The most common transport system for viruses is via Email ,although they are also spread by downloading files etc from the internet and using disks from another persons computer, or over an office network.

Some of the better know virus protection programs are Norton Antivirus and McAfee. If you cannot afford to buy these programs then there are free antivirus programs on the internet that you can download. A good free antivirus program is AVG and can be downloaded from www.grisoft.com. Once you have installed your antivirus software you will need to update your virus definitions. This is to ensure that your virus program can disinfect all the latest viruses that come out. One can update virus definitions over the internet by downloading the update files. This should be done at least once a month to keep you computer safe.

Some viruses can be more complicated and will need you to perform certain steps in order to remove the virus. Info on the latest viruses can be found at www.symantec.com , where you can also find documents on how to remove the virus and keep your pc safe from the virus reoccurring. A good example of this is the Opaserv worm that can be difficult to remove as every time you log on to the internet the worm will download itself onto you pc again. It requires you to remove certain references to the virus from your system files. If you are not comfortable fiddling with system files then you may need to let a technician have a look.