Tech Tips – Antivirus


Tech Tips / Friday, April 15th, 2011

Are you running a computer without antivirus software installed? Do you have a Mac so you think you’re immune to viruses? Does having many virus scanners make your computer safer?

If you don’t have virus protection on your computer, you should seriously consider getting some software. I personally cannot count the number of times my flash drive has been returned from being used in a Ukrainian computer only to find out it had a virus on it. Now is not the time for your computer to run into problems because it has one too many viruses on it.

For those Mac users out there don’t assume you are safe from viruses. Just because you haven’t gotten a virus yet doesn’t mean you won’t. There’s a reason viruses are more common for Windows computers too; it’s a more common platform, therefore more potential for virus infection. Windows users should be more wary because of this. No matter how secure an operating system is, you can still spread viruses to other computers.

Having multiple antivirus scanners does not make you safer. In fact, it can actually make you less safe because they can interfere with each other. It’s best to choose one, solid scanner and stick with it. This also will keep your hard drive less cluttered.

If you run Windows and do not have antivirus protection, I recommend Microsoft Security Essentials (http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security_essentials/ProductInformation.aspx) developed by Microsoft. This program is free to download from Microsoft.com. It will scan and clean your computer for you and will check media anytime it is plugged into your computer.

If you have a Mac and have now decided to get antivirus software, I recommend LinkScanner (http://linkscanner.avg.com/Mac/) which is developed by AVG. This program is a free download and AVG is a reputable antivirus company.

Of course, for antivirus software to be effective, you must keep its virus definitions up-to-date. Make sure to download and install updates to the software on a regular basis.

 

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