This installment:
A quick note on dealing with computer viruses and keeping your computer from
getting victimized.
Most people have some sort of anti-virus software on their computers, and they
feel that all they need to do is have it running and everything will be okay.
Well, yes and no.
Your anti-virus software relies on virus definitions, which are downloaded (hopefully
automatically) from your anti-virus vendor's website. The virus definitions
tell your anti virus software what viruses to look for and what they look like.
If your virus definitions are not set to update regularly, you could receive
a new virus before the virus definitions are updated. If you run a scan on old
definitions, it won't catch it either.
So, there is something you should do to start the year off right, especially
on your home computer (and your work computer if someone else isn't responsible
for it) and that is to make sure your virus definitions are updated and your
anti-virus software is set up to do a scan when the computer is likely to be
on - the Norton Anti-Virus default for a full scan is Fridays at 8:00 PM, when
a lot of computers would be turned off.
McAfee/Network Associates virus definitions are available at http://download.mcafee.com/updates/updates.asp
and Norton Anti-Virus definitions are available at http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/defs.download.html.
You should check your anti-virus software to see when the definitions were last
updated and make sure that future downloads are scheduled (if your software
downloads automatically) when the computer will likely be on.
Next time, there will be more on cleaning your computers of viruses, which some
of you may need to know about once you've updated your definitions and run a
virus scan.
If you have any questions in the interim, please feel free to contact Graven
Consulting at paul@gravenconsulting.com
or at (917) 885-3087.
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