Free Computer virus protection software guide

This page is dedicated to educate you about computer viruses and computer virus protection software. I will teach you how to protect your PC from viruses easily. As you can see, this is a free computer virus protection guide. But this has everything you need to know about virus threats and computer virus protection software.

What is a computer virus?

A computer virus is a self-replicating program that can infect other programs in your computer. So all infected programs in your computer do not behave the way it is supposed to. Computer viruses can crash your computer, which will lead to losing your important files and programs.

What is an anti-virus (AV) program?

Anti-virus (virus scanners) is computer virus protection software. AV's are using a virus definition table (list of computer virus information) to identify and remove computer viruses. New computer viruses are released almost everyday. You should keep the virus definitions up to date to get the maximum protection. Antivirus programs are allowing different methods to keep the virus scanners up to date. Downloading updates from the Internet is the most common practice. Refer to your anti virus program to find out how to do this.

How do I know that my computer is infected?

Computer has become noticeably slow.
Strange PC behaviour.
An increase or decrease of data in a file.
Pop up messages.
Random graphics.
Files being deleted.

Top 8 Tips for a PC Clean and Safe From Viruses

Viruses aren't a mystery - there are some simple steps that everyone should take to avoid becoming a victim of computer viruses and also avoid spreading viruses to others. Besides using simple disk maintenance software like norton clean sweep, antivirus software (computer virus protection software)is a must. Unfortunately a lot of people don't bother taking these precautions and make the evil work of spreading viruses much, much easier.

1. Never open an E-mail with an attachment you were not expecting.

Many viruses are spread by E-mail automatically from an infected computer without the owner's permission. This means that even if an email is addressed from someone you know and trust, don't open it if you were not expecting it. Even if you were expecting something, avoid opening the attachment until you have scanned it with up-to-date virus software. Remember malicious code, like Trojan horses, can slip into your system by appearing to be from a friendly source.

2. Turn off the 'automatic preview' in your email program.

A lot of people don't realise that automatically previewing an email message has the exact same effect as opening and reading an email. Many of the newest internet worms, trojans, and viruses simply need to have an email message read in order for them to be activated. Turning off the preview feature allows you to scan any email BEFORE you actually read it.

3. Beware of disks (floppies, CD, USB drives etc.)

Floppies are still one of the most common ways viruses are transmitted. If you are using a floppy disk while working on your computer, remove it when you shut the machine off. If you don't the computer will automatically try to boot from the floppy when you restart and this can launch any viruses on the disk. Similarly, don't share floppies - even a well-meaning friend may unknowingly pass along a virus, Trojan horse, or worm. Label your floppies clearly so you know they're yours and don't loan them out - there are other methods of file sharing. In any case, scan floppies before using them. You could have easily picked up a virus from an insecure network and introduce it into your system. Running a virus scan before launching any of the programs on the disk will prevent infection.

4. Keep your web browser set to its highest security level.

Of course it's a pain to get the warning messages on every other web page you visit, but it is the best way to protect yourself - especially if you use Microsoft Internet Explorer and Outlook.

5. Don't download programs from the Web.

Unreliable sources such as Internet newsgroups or Web sites that you haven't heard of may be willing providers of viruses for your computer. Avoid downloading files you can't be sure are safe. This includes freeware, screensavers, games, and any other executable program. Executable files are those that end with a .com, .exe, .ovl, .drv, .sys, .bin extension – like something called "coolgame.exe." for example. Check to see if the site you are downloading from has anti-virus software running on their side. If in the end you do have to download from the Internet, be sure to scan each program before running it. Save all downloads to one folder, then run virus checks on everything in the folder before using it. Regardless of where you download from, ALWAYS scan downloaded software

6. Clean any virus, worm or trojan off your computer

Using your antivirus software, perform a full system scan of your PC, hopefully it will detect and remove the virus. If a virus was detected, restart your computer and run the full scan again. Sometime the virus will keep reappearing, due to the evolving nature of viruses. If your machine got infected BEFORE you installed antivirus software, you may need a virus removal tool, which is simple software that will scan your computer for infections, and then remove them from your machine.

7. Install a Firewall

If you use broadband or a high-speed method to access the Internet, you need to get a firewall. A firewall is a program that defends your computer from hackers who attempt to gain direct access to your computer over the Internet. You can read more information on freeware on computer firewall page.

8. Install and use a high-quality anti-virus program.

This is the key to protecting your computer. Buy one of the major computer virus protection software programs. The primary benefit of the commercial packages is the frequency and ease of updating the virus definition files that these programs use to detect viruses. With new viruses popping up all the time, unless your protection software is kept updated, you start to become ever more vulnerable to infection.

How to select a good computer virus protection software.

Good antivirus program should include following features.

1. User friendliness. It should be easy to install and configure. Also computer virus scanning and removal should be easy.
2. Up to date with new viruses. They should alert about new viruses to all users and provide solutions immediately.
3. Easy to update virus definitions. A good virus scanner should automatically download and install updates as soon as the user connects to the Internet. Also educate the user with latest virus information.
4. Reasonably priced.
5. Should not use lot of computer resources such as memory.

What are the best Anti-virus programs?

There are different products in the market which may not 100% suits you. Visit computer security products page to find the best computer virus protection software for you.

Lets summarize the steps to protect your PC from viruses.

1. Install a good computer virus protection software (anti-virus) and configure to automatically download and install virus updates from the Internet. Also perform a manual update once a week. You will be surprised to see that some of the updates have not been downloaded automatically.

2. Perform a full system scan at least once a week. Your antivirus software should explain how to do this.

3. Install a firewall

4. Create an emergency boot disk set. Your virus scanner should have an option to create these disks. They are helpful if you cannot start your PC due to a boot sector virus. Don’t forget to update the disk set regularly.

5. Uninstall all unnecessary programs in your PC.

My Computer is already infected. How to remove Computer Viruses?

This is mainly depending on the type of virus and the type of your virus scanner. However, some computer virus removal include manual work prior to running the virus scanner. In case your virus scanner cannot remove a virus then visit the web site of your virus scanner and search for details. They will explain how to remove viruses manually.

Below are standard steps for any computer virus protection software program.

1. Scan for viruses. Your antivirus program will scan the PC and detect infected files. Also it will tell you what are the virus names.

2. First try to quarantine infected files.

3. If your anti virus program says "cannot quarantine" then select the "Delete" option.

4. If your anti virus program says "cannot delete", then note down the virus name and visit the website of your anti-virus software. Then search for the virus name for instructions to remove it manually.

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