Computer Virus / Anti-virus Software

Viruses, you hear a number of articles in newspapers and on the TV about the spread of viruses.  A virus is a computer program created to disrupt your computer’s operation or damage needed files.  Some viruses are a hoax.  Rumors of a “deadly virus that no anti-virus software can stop” is usually spread by E-mail from one person to another.  The E-mail usually states “send this to everyone you know, they will be glad you did”.   The E-mail hoax sometimes supplies a “Fix” to this deadly virus.  The most current one is the “Teddy Bear” virus hoax.   If you follow the directions of the E-mail that is reportedly to keep your computer safe, you actually damage a function of your computer.  There are many virus hoaxes, almost every one of the viruses listed on these "E-mails" are a hoax.  If your computer has anti-virus software that is up to date, you need not worry that much.  The likelihood of getting a virus is very very slim with current anti-virus software..  The XP and Windows 2000 virus did stop many computers a year ago.  It was not a virus but software glitch someone found.  There were fixes on the www.microsoft.com site within days of that virus being released.  Viruses can also come as E-mail attachments.  If you do not know the sender, never open an attachment.  The attachment could be a picture, file or compressed file (zip) that was added to an E-mail.  I would NEVER open a ZIP file, and actually remove any ZIP software on your computer.  That was a program started to save disk space and transfer speed.  It is a program that is not needed these days.  If someone with a familiar name sends you a strange attachment, it may be better to check with that person to see if the attachment was actually sent by that person.  There are ways to “fake” an address from someone, so the message appears as it is from your best friend.  Update your E-mail program, such as Outlook express.  There have been changes made to it to prevent the spread of viruses.  Be warned that updating Outlook will turn on a feature to disable any E-mail attachments.  You need to go to the security settings and allow "opening of attachments" under TOOLS - OPTIONS - SECURITY.

How to you keep a virus from getting into your computer.  You can pay for a nationally know program.  Symantic or McAffee are large companies that make millions on anti-virus software sales.  You must update the “virus” list and fixes every week.  Not performing that function can get a new virus into your computer.   BUT you must pay for updates after a year.  If not, old anti-virus software DOES NOT PROTECT from the new viruses that come out every few weeks.

Mr. Butkus has found three FREE versions of great anti-virus programs.  www.grisoft.com is a company that sells a variety of software programs and a free version.  You have to search for it a bit on their site.  http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1  There is a trial version and this FREE version.   Mr. Butkus uses this same program on his home computers and it has caught all the viruses to date.  Mr. Butkus gets an E-mail with a virus almost every day.  The updates are free and you can even have it automatically update every two days.  The FREE version of this software cannot do a small number of functions that the paid version can, but nothing has ever infected his computers while this software was activated.  Plus, it does not slow down the computer like some of the other major paid anti-virus software programs will do.

The second FREE Anti-Virus is from Avast  http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html 

The third is Panda Software http://www.pandasoftware.com/products/activescan.htm  a well known free anti-virus software.

The fourth is Micro Trend.  This web site will only scan your computer and remove any viruses others many not catch.  Nothing is loaded into your computer.     http://housecall.trendmicro.com/    This is good to check if any other anti-virus software misses something.  An "every other week" scan is a good idea.  It does take time on large hard drives.

If you intend on using one of the first three programs, you should remove your old anti-virus software after downloading this program.  Always have a parents’ permission to change software or settings on your computer.  Run a full hard disk check, this may take up to a few hours but will protect your PC.  Also run a check ever few days, say during dinner, to completely check your hard drive for viruses.

Another know way to avoid problems.  With Windows XP you can have each user login with a password.  Then each user can be given "rights".  If children are only given "user" ability, not much can be changed or damaged on that computer.  They can word-process, surf the Web or whatever.  If AOL IM is not installed, the child cannot install it or any programs without the parent's permission.  Most newer IM is all web based, meaning no installation is required.