Today, a worm or virus can arrive on anyone's machine through
e-mail. Before you lose a day's work to the latest malicious virus, follow these
precautions.
- "Don't open attachments!" One way to prevent virus infections is not
to open attachments, especially when viruses such as Melissa are being actively
circulated. Even if the e-mail is from a known source, be careful. A few viruses
take the mailing lists from an infected computer and send out new messages with
its destructive payload attached. Always scan the attached files first for
viruses. Unless it's a file or an image you are expecting, delete it.
- Stay informed. Did you know that there are virus and security alerts
almost every day? Keep up-to-date on breaking viruses and solutions by
bookmarking our Virus Warnings page.
- Get protected. If you don't already have virus protection software on
your machine, you should. If you're a home or individual user, it's as easy as
downloading any program off the net then following the installation instructions. If you're on a
network, check with your network administrator first. If you're not sure if your
existing anti-virus software is up-to-date, there are programs on the net that
allow you to scan your system.
- Scan your system regularly. If you're just loading anti-virus
software for the first time, it's a good idea to let it scan your entire system.
It's better to start your PC clean and free of virus problems. Often the
anti-virus program can be set to scan each time the computer is rebooted or on a
periodic schedule. Some will scan in the background while you are connected to
the Internet. Make it a regular habit to scan for viruses.
- Update your anti-virus software. Now that you have virus protection
software installed, make sure it's up-to-date. Some anti-virus protection
programs have a feature that will automatically link to the Internet and add new
virus detection code whenever the software vendor discovers a new threat.
|
|
