Protecting your computer from viruses is getting more and |more difficult each day. While it may sound a little paranoid, it is true that you cannot let your defense down for one moment. Even corporate giant Microsoft has found its own computers compromised on more than one occasion.

Do you remember the ‘good old days’, before the advent of the Internet and downloadable programs? Life was simple then in terms of computer viruses. The primary way to catch a virus then was via floppy disks. By today’s standards, it used to take quite a while before a virus was able to infect a computer and slow down the system. The antivirus software of that time was usually able to identify and eradicate viruses before they caused too much harm. Additionally, computer users were fairly savvy about how to defend themselves by scanning all floppy disks before using them.

The Internet changed all that. The Internet provided a conduit by which viruses could travel from host to host with blinding speed. A computer user had to begin to think about email, email attachments, peer-to-peer file sharing, instant messaging, and software downloads as virus entry points. Today’s viruses can strike through multiple entry points, spread without human intervention, and take full advantage of weaknesses within a system or program. With technology advancing everyday, and the union of computers with other mobile devices, the potential for new kinds of threats also increases.

Fortunately, the development of antivirus software has kept pace with the virus threats. Antivirus software is indispensable to a computer’s ability to ward off viruses and other malicious programs. These software products are designed to guard against the ability of a virus to enter a computer through email, web browsers, file servers and desktops. Moreover, these programs offer a control feature that handles deployment, configuration and updating. A computer user should remain diligent and follow a couple of simple steps to guard against the threat of a virus:

You should appraise your current computer security system. With the danger of a new generation of viruses being able to attack in a multitude of ways, the approach of having just one sort of antivirus software has become outdated. You have to be certain that you have protected all aspects of your computer system from the desktop to the network, and from the gateway to the server. Think about a more comprehensive security system which encompasses several features including antivirus, firewall, content filtering, and intrusion detection. This type of system will make it more difficult for the virus to infiltrate your system.

You should install antivirus software developed by a well-known, highly regarded company, because new viruses come out daily, so it is important that you update your antivirus software daily. Become familiar with the software’s real-time scan feature and configure it to start automatically each time you boot your computer. This will protect your system by automatically checking your computer each time it is powered up.

Set your antivirus software to scan all new programs or files no matter from where they come from and apply caution when opening binary, Word, or Excel documents of unknown origin particularly if they were received during an online chat or as an attachment to an email.

Make sure you perform regular backups in case your system is corrupted. It could be the only way to retrieve your data if you computer becomes infected.

There are numerous applications available to consumers, so with a little research, you should be able to choose the program that is right for you. Many programs provide a trial version which permits you to download the program and test its capabilities. However, be aware that some anti-virus programs can be difficult to uninstall, so as a precaution make sure you set up a System Restore point and take back-ups before installing it.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with the cheap antivirus software. If you have an interest in such software, please go over to our website now at Computer Antivirus Software

Most computer users in the United States have heard of the foremost American antivirus vendors. Producers such as Symantec, McAfee, Computer Associates, and Trend Micro. These companies have a market leading presence in the United States. Microsoft, too, has plans to become a key player in this enormous growth industry.

In fact, Microsoft acquired intellectual property and technology rights from GeCad software in 2003, a company based in Bucharest, Romania. They also purchased Pelican Software, which had a behaviour orientated security product, as well as the Giant Company Software for spyware and Sybari Software, which managed virus, spam, and phishing filtering.

A great deal of discussion concentrated on whether Microsoft would end up in a dominant place in the antivirus market by simply bundling its newly acquired software technologies up with its Windows operating systems at no cost. This is a similar technique that has been used in other markets such as word processing and Internet browsers. In fact, this is exactly what did happen. Microsoft has come out with a free product called Microsoft Security Essentials.

It is too soon for me to advise whether MS Security Essentials is a world-class antivirus product, but it is not free to everyone. Microsoft has been battling Windows piracy for a while now with its Windows Genuine Advantage sneaky download and sure enough, this new product from Microsoft will only work on Windows systems and even then, only with operating systems that pass the Windows Genuine Advantage test. (Please click the link at the bottom the page to find out more).

There is nothing wrong with that per se, but it does mean that scarcely anyone in the Third World will be able to make use of it, because a pirated operating system comes bundled with every computer that I have ever seen in Asia and probably elsewhere too. People save for years in order to be able to buy a computer and the last thing they care about when they plug it in is whether the operating system is genuine or not.

Of course there is a number of other antivirus manufacturers prominent in this market. There are many companies with great market presence in other countries that are beginning to become more widely recognized. These vendors include GriSoft from the Czech Republic, Sophos from the United Kingdom, Panda Software from Spain, Kaspersky from Russia, SoftWin from Romania, F-Secure from Finland, Norman from Norway, Arcabit from Poland, VirusBuster from Hungary, Nod from Thailand and AhnLab from South Korea.

It is not yet apparent where the industry is heading and everyone in this market is confronted by a swiftly changing landscape. The amount of effort necessary to discover and deliver updates for new viruses is quite staggering. Malicious programs are getting more and more complex and the quantity of them is increasing.

Many companies may find themselves without the resources to equal the hard work of those truly bent on creating chaos. The antivirus companies are receiving hundreds of new examples of viruses a day! What is more, the new viruses are getting “cleverer” in that they propagate themselves quickly and they often hide themselves too. Some are even smart enough to move around in a system by renaming themselves in an effort to make it hard to remove them.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with researching the Microsoft antivirus software. If you have an interest in such software, please go over to our website now at Computer Antivirus Software

New computer viruses are being created, exposed and fought every day. These computer viruses are created often just to annoy us and to wreak mayhem in our computer systems. Below, I have described ten viruses currently cited as being the most widespread and being potentially able to cause the most damage. However, new viruses are being created daily, so this list is by no means complete. The only thing you can do is stay alert, keep your anti-virus software updated, and stay aware of the current computer virus threats.

Virus: Trojan.Lodear: A Trojan (from Trojan Horse) that tries to download files from a remote source. It will introduce a .dll file into the EXPLORER.EXE process causing system instability.

Virus: W32.Beagle.CO@mm: A mass-mailing worm that reduces security settings. It can delete security-related registry sub keys and may block access to security-related websites.

Virus: Backdoor.Zagaban: A Trojan that permits the infected computer to be used as a covert proxy and which may degrade network performance.

Virus: W32/Netsky-P: A mass-mailing worm which propagates by emailing itself to addresses harvested from files on the local drives.

Virus: W32/Mytob-GH: A mass-mailing worm and IRC backdoor Trojan for the Windows platform. Messages sent by this worm will have the subject chosen randomly from a list including titles such as: Notice of account limitation, Email Account Suspension, Security measures, Members Support, Important Notification.

Virus: W32/Mytob-EX: A mass-mailing worm and IRC backdoor Trojan similar in nature to W32-Mytob-GH. W32/Mytob- EX runs constantly in the background, providing a backdoor server which allows a remote hacker to gain admittance and control over your computer via IRC channels. This virus spreads by sending itself to email attachments gleaned from your email address book.

Virus: W32/Mytob-AS, Mytob-BE, Mytob-C, and Mytob-ER: This family of worm variations has similar characteristics in terms of what they can do. They are mass-mailing worms with backdoor functionality that can be controlled through the Internet Relay Chat (IRC) network. Furthermore, they can propagate themselves through email and through various operating system vulnerabilities such as the LSASS (MS04-011).

Virus: Zafi-D: A mass-mailing worm and a peer-to-peer worm which copies itself to the Windows system folder with the filename Norton Update.exe. It can then create a number of files in the Windows system folder with filenames consisting of 8 random characters and a DLL extension. W32/Zafi-D replicates itself to folders with names containing words like ’share’, ‘upload’, or ‘music’ as ‘ICQ 2005a new!.exe’ or ‘winamp 5.7 new!.exe’. W32/Zafi-D will also display a fake error message box with the caption “CRC: 04F6Bh” and the text “Error in packed file!”.

Virus: W32/Netsky-D: A mass-mailing worm with IRC backdoor functionality which can also infect computers vulnerable to the LSASS (MS04-011) exploit.

Virus: W32/Zafi-B: A peer-to-peer (P2P) and email worm that will reproduce itself to the Windows system folder as a randomly named EXE file. This worm will test for the presence of an Internet connection by attempting to connect to google.com or microsoft.com. A bilingual, worm with an attached Hungarian political text message box which translates to ?We demand that the government accommodates the homeless, tightens up the penal code and VOTES FOR THE DEATH PENALTY to cut down the increasing crime. Jun. 2004, P?cs (SNAF Team)?

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with the network antivirus software. If you have an interest in such software, please go over to our website now at Computer Antivirus Software

Adware, spyware and anti-virus software share some similarities, one of which is that all three are major nuisances for computer users. Let’s differentiate between the three.

Spyware is software that does not necessarily harm your computer. What it does is build pathways whereby someone else apart from the computer owner can communicate from that computer. Normally spyware records the different kinds of web sites you visit and sends that information to web advertisers, who then later send you unsolicited emails and pop-ups.

Which is why spyware is unpopular and avoided. It is more intrusive than adware. Spyware has its own separate executable programs, which allow it to record your keystrokes, scan files on your hard disks and look at other applications that you use, including but not limited to chat programs, cookies and Web browser settings.

Spyware then sends the data that it had gathered to the spyware author. The author will then use this data for advertising and marketing purposes. They also sell the information to advertisers and other parties.

Adware, on the other hand, is a more legitimate type of software.. It is similar to spyware but adware is advertising spyware which is bundled into free software or a free program and is installed automatically once that particular program or software is loaded into your computer system.

Some types of adware, on the other hand, download advertising content when a particular application is being run. Some adware acts like spyware in that it tracks and reports user information to the program’s authors.

The signs of spyware infection include pop-up ads that seem to be unrelated to the site you are looking at. Sometimes spyware pop-ups are advertisements about adult contents. Furthermore, if you become aware of your computer slowing down, there is a big chance that spyware and its components have found their way into your operating system. If Windows desktop takes a long time to load, it is best to scan your computer for spyware infections.

Viruses, on the other hand, are a destructive kind of software. They were designed and created for one reason alone and that is to cause chaos on your computer. They may destroy whatever data they come in contact with, can initiate self replication and then infect as many components of the computer’s operating system or network as possible.

These days, a lot of anti-virus software also offers spyware and adware scanning and removal utilities. They then remove it as well as its components located in the system registry and other places on your computer. It is therefore, good practice to regularly update your anti-virus and anti-spyware scanner to ensure that your computer is protected from the thousands of spyware and viruses in the Internet. Beware of free add-ons or free anything really.

Adware might be spyware in disguise and could be just waiting to be deployed for its writers to gather your data. Learn how to set up a firewall and pop-up blocker in order to minimize the risk of computer infection and ensure the security of all your computer records.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with researching the best virus protection software. If you have an interest in such software, please go over to our website now at Computer Antivirus Software