Tis the Season for Preventive Medicine

Did you get a flu shot this year? Are you downing the echinacea? Or are you more of a Vitamin C addict?  Well, don’t forget to take similar care of your computer. 

With computer viruses, as in traditional human healthcare, an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.  The ideal way to protect your system is to purchase and install a virus monitor and scanner. Virus monitors constantly scan for suspicious content in incoming data sources.  These sources may include email, digital photos, download files and web pages.  These monitors load with Windows and, therefore, use valuable system RAM (Random Access Memory) to do their job.  Virus scanners allow the user to scan the entire computer for suspicious content.

Both virus monitors and scanners must have their virus definitions updated on a regular basis due to the ever-increasing quantity of viruses being created.  The web is full of bugs!! Once a virus monitor is up and running and a virus, worm or trojan is detected, a warning will be displayed identifying the type of virus present.  The user will then be presented with many, often confusing, disinfection options. 

This is where you must be cautious and the quality of your detectors will make a difference.  The most important thing is to have a clear plan of attack before beginning.  It may not be time to fly solo, call a PC doctor or such.  But we will save some ideas of how to review the problem for  another blog.  This one is prevention.