Computer Virus Information

What is a computer virus?

Think of a biological virus – the kind that makes you sick. It’s persistently nasty, keeps you from functioning normally and often requires something powerful to get rid of it. A computer virus is very similar. Designed to relentlessly replicate, computer viruses infect your programs and files, alter the way your computer operates or stop it from working altogether. It’s estimated that the Conficker virus infected more than 10 million computers in 2009. Tens of thousands of computer viruses now operate over the Internet, and new computer viruses are discovered every day.

How does a computer virus find me?

Even if you’re careful you can pick up computer viruses through normal Web activities like:

• Sharing music, files or photos with other users

• Visiting an infected Web site

• Opening spam email or an email attachment

• Downloading free games, toolbars, media players and other system utilities

• Installing mainstream software applications without fully reading license agreements

What does a computer virus do?

Some computer viruses are programmed to harm your computer by damaging programs, deleting files, or reformatting the hard drive. Others simply replicate themselves or flood a network with traffic, making it impossible to perform any internet activity. Even less harmful computer viruses can significantly disrupt your system’s performance, sapping computer memory and causing frequent computer crashes.

What are the symptoms of a computer virus?

Your computer may be infected if you recognize any of these malware symptoms:

• Slow computer performance

• Erratic computer behavior

• Unexplained data loss

• Frequent computer crashes

Computer Virus Help: Arming yourself with the best computer virus protection?

When you arm yourself with information and resources, you’re wiser about computer security threats and less vulnerable to threat tactics. Take these steps to safeguard your PC with the best computer virus protection:

Make sure that you have the best security software products installed on your computer:

• Use antivirus protection and a firewall

• Get antispyware software

• Always keep your antivirus protection and antispyware software up-to-date

• Update your operating system regularly

• Increase your browser security settings

• Avoid questionable Web sites

• Only download software from sites you trust. Carefully evaluate free software and file-sharing applications before downloading them.