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How to Survive a Computer Virus
If you work from home, your personal computer or laptop is likely the heart of your business. Without it, you can’t communicate with clients, look for new assignments, or complete your current work.
It’s important to protect your computer and information from viruses that can attack and crash your hard drive. Trust me, losing all your information and having to re-install your operating system is no picnic.
- Purchase a Virus Detection Program: Your computer likely came with virus protection software. If not, you’ll need to purchase a software program, and run the program to diagnose and fix any problems. Periodically check for software updates.
- Don’t Use the Infected Computer: If you know your computer has a virus, disconnect from networks and don’t insert removable hard drives. Viruses can attack other computers via network cables, and infect files stored on flash drives. Don’t send or receive files until your software detection program finds and removes the virus.
- Up Your Security: Customize your e-mail settings and have your mail server alert you to potential dangers. Also, exercise good judgment. Don’t download random, unknown files.
- Renew Your Anti-Virus Software: Unfortunately, virus protection isn’t a one-time purchase. Don’t forget to renew your subscription annually.
Technorati Tags: virus, computer, protection, work at home, telecommute
Some of the anti-virus software available doesn’t seem able to keep up with the systems they are supposed to protect. A few of them also mess with how legitimate software is supposed to work. I had to uninstall Norton on my aunt’s computer because of this problem.
Several of your antivirus software applications have relied on signature based detection of viruses; however, these are only good against known signature. Amazing thing is many of your antivirus software still rely on signatures as the only way to detect malicious code. That’s not too smart at all. If you encounter a rapidly mutating malware, you will be SOL Rapidly mutating Malware since it has the ability to outstrip the anti-virus vendors’ ability to write signatures.
I was a Windows power user. I knew how to configure my browser so I did not download malicious content off the web, I also was able to spot emails that could contain viruses; however, I did make my switch to Macs a few years ago.
Although I could install Windows on my Macs I chose not to. I even switched my father over a month after I made the move. That was the best decision I ever made. He is a casual user, and I was always getting calls to fix his system and yes he had anitvirus installed.