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Several Simple Techniques on Protecting yourself from Viruses.Written by John BirrenbachIn the last year, a very good friend of mine that also works with computers has received close to 20 emails that contained viruses from friends, family and coworkerıs. I too have received over 30 in the past year (but as my mail comes to my Mac I have been unaffected). If it had not been for him updating his virus protection software regularly and following a few simple rules he would have lost a lot of information off of his computer and had to totally reinstall several gigabytes of software many, many times. In addition, by catching these viruses, he has prevented those same friends, family and coworkerıs from continually infecting others. With the proliferation of viruses these days, I thought that I'd share a few simple techniques that anyone can use to protect against the devastating damage that a virus can cause. First of all, those of you with Mac's can probably stop right here, cause over 95% of the viruses out there are written and designed to attack PC's running Windows. It has been a long time since I worried about a virus attacking my Mac. For the rest of you (and myself, because I have a PC now also) you are very vulnerable to attacks from viruses, worms and Trojans. I hope that these few suggestions will help you remove yourself from the line of fire and prevent any potential damage that can be caused by a malicious virus. The best thing to do, of course, is to get a good virus protection package like Norton or McAfee and keep the virus definitions up to date. On a daily basis I log on to one of their web sites and look for updates. In the week of Nov 26-30 I checked for new definitions and found that there was one 4 of the 5 days. Frankly I check almost every time I fire up the PC and log onto the net. Some of the software packages out there can do this for you automatically each time you connect to the internet or periodically depending on it's settings.
Failing that and/or being cheap you can reduce the risk of getting a virus in a couple of other ways as well. First of all, never ever open an attachment that you received from someone else without first either knowing where its coming from and what it is or checking to make sure the attachment was really meant to be sent to you. Be especially concerned if the attachment is unexpected. Its simple to reply to the sender and see if they sent it. Many viruses change the email address of the sender and if it comes back as undeliverable, figure that file is infected. Then go to your address book and send a email to their true address and let them know. Secondly, NEVER USE A WEB BROWSER to check your email or check newsgroups. By design it can launch stuff automatically without you even looking at a message. Thus it can automatically give you a virus instantly without your knowing it or being able to prevent it. Third and most important, even if you have virus protection software, do not use Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express and the Windows address book to store your email and other information. The security holes in these programs are so severe that you can eventually receive a virus and pass it on to all of your friends. There is another email program that is just as good (if not better than) Outlook for email. It is called Eudora. Eudora is a program ( http://www.eudora.com ) that, like Outlook, allows you to store addresses both email and mailing, but also notes and the ability to file messages and some other features like checking multiple email address checking and setting up different signature files for different uses (I currently use it to check 10 email boxes on different servers, and have 6 different signatures that are automatically added to the bottom of each message). In over ten years of using this software I have never had a virus that I sent back out to anyone because of Eudora and it's features. Eudora was developed at the same university as Netscape's predecessor Mosaic, and has since gone on to be it's own software company. Eudora is easy to set up and very stable. It is also not subject to most of the viral attacks that Outlook and web browsers are. There are several nice versions of this program, two of which are free. When you download it and install it will ask if you want the Lite version, the Ad version, or a Pay version. The differences are the lite has no adds, but limited features. The Add version is a full version only it puts up a small add window on your screen. Or the Pay version which is the same as the Add version only without the add window. I use the Add version cause the add window is about 1/16th of your screen (or very small) and mostly has ads for how to use Eudora. Finally, the last way to avoid a virus, is to stay away from newsgroups on Usenet. These groups where you can find info on your favorite band, topic, or porno pictures is full of viruses and most of the newsreaders for the PC act like a web browser and open documents once you click on the message itself. There are ways to search the newsgroups by using Dejanews.com or Google.com and other methods. If you must use a newsreader to check the Usenet then you must have a good virus protection software package and keep the virus definitions up to date. If you follow these few simple things you will greatly reduce the chance of getting a virus and transmitting it to others. You can also help to stop people from infecting others by notifying the sender when you receive and detect a virus arriving in your email. By letting them know that they maybe infected, you can prevent them from sending it out to others... Sometimes people don't even know they have been infected, and a heads up allows them to notify everyone else in their address book to be on the lookout for an infected email from them. I have tried to keep this short and give you some ideas for protecting yourself from various viral problems, and transmitting them on to others. If you have more questions please feel free to contact me.
08-19-05 No, this is NOT a biological crisis! But for all its crippling consequences, it might as well be -- especially for those of us who are attached to our PCs and rely on them every day.
Trends Indicate That the Spread is On The question is: How well do you know the enemy? And, can you recognize an attack? If you suspect your PC might be infected, ask yourself these simple questions:
Just like any other viral threat, prevention is preferred over treatment -- and it's usually much more effective.
A Virus By Any Other Name... In layperson's terms, a computer virus can be defined as follows: It's a form of malicious software - also referred to as malware - that reaches your computer (most times) uninvited. The forms of malware that antivirus solutions protect against include viruses, Most viruses today are typically spread via email, but can also be spread by sharing diskettes, network drives, or Internet downloads. But viruses cannot spread on their own and must be run (or executed) by someone to cause damage. Some viruses are benign and can be playful in intent and effect, but some can be quite harmful, erasing data or frying your entire hard disk. The essential phrase to key-in on above is "must be run." You see, a virus is software, and, like any other software program, it cannot affect your PC, or do harm, unless its code is executed and the program actually runs. This is important to know, because it gets to the heart of how security software. Like a sentry standing guard at all entrances, Anti-Virus software inspects all media that enter a system, searching for signs of possible infection, and when it comes across any potentially infected files, it refuses to copy them into memory or storage. This is called scanning, and it's a vital function, because any files that are denied access to PC memory cannot run, cannot execute and cannot unleash their potentially damaging payload.
At the Sign of a Threat...
Why is it so important to stay updated?
Self-propelled spreading of viruses via email to everyone in your own address book - family and friends alike! Inexplicably deleted or modified files Degradation in PC performance that slows down productivity System instability that leads to frequent freezes and crashes Trojan worms unleashed via virus - they can steal and forward sensitive information, plus lead to identity theft Security settings compromised to facilitate additional infiltration
Microsoft, Outlook, Outlook Express, Windows are trademarks of Microsoft Corp. Eudora is a trademark of Qualcomm Corporation, Norton & Symantic are trademarks of Symatic Corp, McAffee is a trademark of McAffee Corporation. This web site created and maintained by John Birrenbach Consulting all materials are copyright protected under International Copyright Law.
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