Just like the computer and the Internet, viruses have indeed come a long way. From mid 20th century up to the present, cyber viruses progressed from virtually harmless self-replicating programs to tremendously damaging and polymorphic ones. The popularity of Internet and file sharing is a big contributor to the fast spread of some of the formidable cyber viruses known to mankind. The dawn of the 21st century witnessed how powerful viruses became and how destructive they can be when let loose on the wild. The love bug and Melissa virus are just two of the computer viruses that wreaked havoc amounting to millions of US dollars.
With all the damage viruses are capable of, it's no wonder why an impending outbreak can easily set the cyber world over the edge. The huge demand for anti-virus softwares is a clear indication that many people are conscious and vigilant about their computer's security. Although anti-virus softwares help a lot in getting rid of viruses and thwarting their activities, they are far from being "cures" to the swelling number of viruses and malicious softwares that gripped the cyber world today. And just like what they always say, prevention is loads better than cure, so even if anti-virus softwares are readily available, it always pays to know how to maintain your computer protected your own way.
Even with a fairly effective anti-virus software, you should not be lured to a false sense of security that your virus protection is doing all the work for you. Anti-virus softwares do not guarantee 100% protection against malwares and various cyber infections, no matter what their manufacturers claim. There's a good chance that some viruses still get past your PC's anti-virus program and on to its system. If you rely on anti-virus softwares too much, you would be oblivious to the stealthy attacks these viruses are doing to your PC. By the time you become aware that these evil entities are spreading their dirt inside your PC, it's too late.
Before you can proceed to eliminating your PC of all its evil (kind of like exorcising it), you should be aware of the hints that signal your PC is indeed infected. There are several ways to detect if your PC's system is home to viruses and malwares that don't require the aid of an anti-virus application. You just need to equip yourself with the proper technical know-how and a heap of gut instinct.
One way to detect if your PC contains viruses is by observing your network connection. When you are connected to the Internet and does activities with your computer like downloading and browsing site, your network connection status will show how much data are being sent and received by the computer. If you want to know whether or not someone else is utilizing your connection, open your network connection window and take note of its status. If it still shows that bytes of data are being sent and received even with the lack of activity on the computer, there's a big chance that you got spyware on your system.
How do you view your network connection status? Just launch the Start menu, point on Settings, and choose Control Panel. Once the Control Panel window is displayed on the screen, click on Network Connection. The window that would appear will show a graphics of two blinking monitors with bytes received and sent numbers below them.
Another sure-fire sign that your PC is infected with a virus is when it runs sluggishly. As a computer owner, you must be aware of its speed and capability. If you know that your computer is of the latest model, and is configured to run with utmost efficiency but has the performance that does not meet your expectations (meaning it's running like a Pentium 60MHz for a PC that has a Pentium 4 processor), odds are 100 to 1 that it is infected with viruses.
Once you figure out that your PC teems with viruses and once you rid your computer of them, it is time to do preventive measures to prevent viruses from attacking your PC. Aside from periodically updating your anti-virus software, there are other ways that can help in reducing your PC's chances of contracting a cyber infection.
Among the things you can do is to create and utilize a non-administrative account whenever you use the Internet. When you create accounts, do not use their default names like "guest" or "administrator". Reserve your administrator account for activities or jobs that would require administrative privileges such as changing your system's configuration. Meanwhile, you should use a separate "guest" account whenever you do ordinary computer activities like PC gaming or media encoding.
Another way to safeguard your computer is to activate its firewall. A firewall works like a barrier for your PC, keeping out unauthorized people from accessing all your files when you're surfing the web. Firewalls also block out bad applications, such as hacker programs, from breaking into the PC's system. Firewalls need not be installed because they usually already come with your operating system as a utility.
When you are checking your email account, you should not open messages from unknown sources. Most especially, you should not, on any account, download an email attachment from anonymous senders. Most of the viruses that spread through emails are disguised as legitimate attachment files. Once you open that particular file with its proper application, you will also inadvertently allow a virus to enter your system.
The sad truth is about the sophisticated viruses nowadays is that they are capable of using the addresses from your email account to make themselves appear as though they are from friendly sources. Just to be sure, you should always run attachments you intend to download and open with your anti-virus software. Once it gets past your virus scanner and was labeled clean, that's the only time you should open it.
Although anti-virus softwares help a lot in guarding your computer against viruses, a little cautiousness and initiative from you will surely go a long way. Most virus infections are the result of imprudence on the part of the computer owner or user. More than anti-viruses and anti-spywares, getting the maximum protection for your PC should first start with you.
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