Antiviral software vendors frequently release free virus protection downloads in order to increase your safeguard. Ensure that you check for new signature files regularly!!!

TIP..."Try a Free Virus Scan once in a while to make certain that your current antiviral software is performing its job."

Common threats and vulnerabilities to your home or small business computer system include viruses, worms, Trojan horse attacks, time or logic bombs and now airborne viruses in the wireless world. A virus typically, when released into an unprotected computer will inspect its environment and then will copy itself into your programs. It is called a virus as it spreads much like an illness; it infects your data files associated with popular applications that you have installed on your computer. The virus spreads when you load these data files on to other computers by means of manual transmission such as through a floppy or memory key or through network transfers such as emailing a file to another user. Viruses can vary in payload (this means severity) from causing your system to perform unpredictably, hiding popular icons or completely crashing the system. Viruses depend on human interaction to spread such as people who sneeze and don't cover their mouth. Viruses only spread if their offspring can reproduce as well.

A worm is a program much like a virus but spreads over computer networks. Worms do not need human interaction to spread as they are programs that can run independently. A worm looks for holes into other computers using resources found in the host computer and then sneak their way into an unsuspecting system. Worms often have the ability to detect other computers on your network and can write itself to the other computers without the users ever suspecting These days it's often hard to distinguish the difference between a virus and a worm because characteristics of both may be present. Usually worms target your address book and once infected sends itself off to everyone in it assuming to be the computer owner/email subscriber. Not all viruses and worms that you have heard about through the media are dangerous and some have even provided the user with recovery information. We assume that they were released just to make a point about how easy and quickly a virus can spread and the potential for destruction. Worms and viruses can often contain a Trojan horse, time or logic bombs, which can contain the malicious code, which threatens your computer or network. Worms and viruses act as the transportation vehicle to your PC, in other words, it's the bus that can secretly drop off unwelcome passengers such as malicious Trojan horse, Time or Logic Bombs.

A Trojan horse as the name would indicate, are programs that appear harmless or even useful but actually have their own agenda playing out behind the scenes. Didn't your mother always tell you, there's no free lunch? You may think that a free screensaver would be great to have but at what risk? Its purpose is to act like a spy, reporting its findings back to the mother ship or even allowing the mother ship complete and utter control over your computer. Time or logic bombs are programs that may be sitting on your computer lying dormant until a specific event happens. For example, it is programmed to wake up on a specific date or when an event is true, or even every time your computer starts up then implement the intended attack. Most people could significantly reduce their chances of being victimized just by simply running their updated security maintenance tools at least once per month. A Trojan is very dangerous because it can open a back door or connection giving an outside user remote control over your computer and everything contained on it. I don't know about you, but most of us don't even like to share the remote control with our spouses never mind a complete stranger.

People who intend harm write viruses but in this game they cannot spread without aid from other computers or human interaction. In other words, if you leave your computer unprotected, you are helping these crackers achieve their objectives. Computer viruses are made of bits of programming code that hide in programs or the boot sector of your storage devices. A Virus is created to reproduce itself as much as possible in order to create disruption. The good news is that very few viruses actually destroy the infected device, as that would limit the life span of the virus. Virus writers usually want to infect as many computers as possible so keeping the virus alive is very important to them.

There are now three Classifications of viruses

A Boot-Sector Virus would be found in the first sector of a floppy or hard disk drive. The virus will execute when the computer is booted or turned on.

A File-Infector virus attaches itself to a file and is actioned when the file is used. The most common categories of this type of virus are Companion Virus, Macro Virus, Polymorphic Virus and Stealth Virus.

An Airborne Virus is received via wireless data transmission between PC's, laptop, cell phones and PDA's.

Is it Antiviral, Anti virus , Antivirus or Anti-virus Software?

No matter how you spell it everyone needs it. Antiviral software attempts to monitor, block and remove computer viruses. Antivirus software contains patterns of code that resemble known computer viruses. When you update your software, you're adding new signature files to this list of patterns. As there are new viruses created daily, updating your antiviral software is extremely important as new viruses spread very quickly. Look at it as a cat and mouse game. A virus is released then all the antiviral companies scramble to get the new signature file out to their customers before too much damage is done. If you're not diligent about updating your software then chances are, you will be a recipient of the latest and greatest virus coming to a neighborhood near you. We update the signature files as soon as a new update is available from the software vendor, which could be every few days to weeks depending on the virus activity on the Internet. By not being conscientious about updates, you are leaving yourself and all your contacts in your address book open to a possible attack. Put it this way, no one product will make you 100% safe online as we mentioned on the home page. We believe in layering your protection with various security tools but you must also be prepared to do a little work yourself or subscribe to an Internet Service Provider that will automatically install updates for you. By taking a few precautions, using a few security tools, being meticulous with updates and testing your system periodically, you can do your best to secure your PC and precious data.

Do you think you may have a virus slowing down your PC or making it act erratically? Try a free virus scan with Panda.

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