A computer virus is a small program that is injected into your computer when you open or run an infected file. It is important to protect your computer from viruses as they can crash your computer, prevent your computer from booting up and in the worst cases can delete critical system files from Windows.
Symptoms of a Virus Infection:
When computers become infected by a virus they exhibit common symptoms much like a high-tech version if a runny nose or fever. They can give you the same headaches as the seasonal flu with all the frustration you experience trying to work on virus damaged computer.
Signs that your computer is infected by a virus include:
-Crashing. This could take many forms such as “fatal error” messages; “illegal operation” messages; the computer shutting down unexpectedly; or being unable to start Windows.
-Freezing. Your computer suddenly enters a state of suspended animation in which everything on screen freezes (or perhaps you can move your mouse around the screen but you are unable to click on anything.)
-Going sooooo slow. Your computer is slower than normal. Windows takes longer to start up or shut down. Your programs and Internet take much longer to load or use. Your mouse cursor has a delayed response when you move it. Your digital music or video files do not play normally. When using a word-processing program, there is a noticeable lag in the words you type appearing onscreen. Or it may also take an unusual amount of time to open a folder or window.
How do Viruses Infect a Computer?
Viruses can hide inside some of these methods:
-E-mail attachments.
-Files that you download from seedy Web sites or from the file-sharing programs used to trade pirated songs or videos.
-The code of a Web page.
-The text of an e-mail.
Methods to Protect Your Computer from Viruses
Viruses are highly intelligent and sound very difficult to avoid but there are steps you can take to protect your computer against them:
-Install trusted, respected antivirus software and keep it updated constantly.
-Do not open e-mail attachments that have a file extension of .exe, .scr, or .vbs, or a double file extension such as .txt or .vbs
-Be wary of opening any e-mail attachments or instant-message attachments sent from people that you don’t know – even if those attachments do not have a dangerous file extension.
-Do not open spam e-mail (selling products, offering free videos, pictures, or songs; and so on).
-Perform a virus scan on files before downloading or opening them.
- Perform a virus scan on e-mail attachments that you think are safe to open.
-Do not install pirated software because it often contains viruses.
-Do not download pirated music files or videos because they too contain viruses.
-Do not click links sent to you in instant messaging.
Antivirus Software
If your computer isn’t experiencing symptoms, don’t assume its safe. It could be infected by a Trojan horse that operates silently behind the scenes gathering data from your system and transmitting it to criminal via the Internet. A trusted antivirus program is your best bet to keep your computer in the best possible health. Some trusted antivirus programs include:
-Norton Antivirus (www.symantec.com)
-McAfee Virus Scan (www.mcafee.com)
-eTrust EZ Antivirus (www.ca.com)
-PC-cillin (www.trendmicro.com)
-AVG Anti-Virus (www.grisoft.com)
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