AntiVirus Info

One of the most frequent questions we're asked (and ask ourselves) is "What's the best way to keep my system free of Viruses and other malware?"

Everybody wants to find the easiest, quickest, most effective way to get protected and stay protected.

There's good news, and there's bad news...

The bad news is, there is no easy way to guarantee your system will stay 100% virus-free forever, no matter what.

The good news is, by observing a few simple rules, you can stay 95-100% virus free most of the time, and be safe even when viruses do come.

3 simple security tips for Windows-based computers:

1) Have an active, running, current anti-virus product with the latest virus definitions

In our shop at PC Sense, we use (and recommend) AVG, anti-virus by Grisoft. We routinely bring in systems that have an active, current Norton/Symantec product -- and AVG will find and eliminate 10-20 running viruses that symantec couldn't even detect.

Read about AVG at http://www.grisoft.com

2) Keep your computer up to date with the latest security patches

One of the most effective ways to spread a virus is by exploiting inherent vulnerabilities in the Microsoft Windows operating system, which happens quite frequently. So, MS is constantly releasing patches to block the latest hack into their system, and if you don't have the latest band-aid, you're at risk for infection.

If you're running Windows XP or Windows 2000, you can use the "Automatic Updates" panel in Control Panel to keep up-to-date automatically.

Everybody else, be sure to check windowsupdate.microsoft.com on a regular basis.

3) Run a firewall

We use ZoneAlarm in our office, and find it to be an effective measure against intrusion from inside and out. You can read more about ZoneAlarm at http://www.zonelabs.com/

4) Use FireFox

For the moment, FireFox (http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/) is winning awards for being more secure (less vulnerable) than internet explorer. Use it if you can.