Virus Protection Key to Healthy Computing
Computer viruses are proving to be highly complex but preventing viruses from infecting your computer systems is simple. Use two well-known brands of anti-virus software and keep them as current as possible.
Beyond that, there are some simple, common sense procedures that everyone should use, whether at work or in the home computing environment. Never open a file whose origins are unknown. In a simpler day, that wisdom only applied to executable files, or files that did something. They have the suffixes .exe, .com and .bat and each can start a program on your computer. These viruses spread through games downloaded from the Internet, on borrowed diskettes and through the old ‘bulletin board’ services.
Today, unfortunately, a whole new wave of viruses has been unleashed on unsuspecting computer users because software manufacturers introduced feature-rich new programs without considering how vulnerable they are to viruses. Now, almost any document and many email messages can carry and spread ‘macro’ viruses at lightning speed. That’s why it is so important never to open messages or documents from unknown sources. Viruses can delete data, change file names or even damage the physical media the data where the data is stored.
How important is virus protection?
If your data is critical to your business operations, there is nothing more important. Even though about 75 per cent of all data loss incidents are caused by human error or system malfunctions, a virus attack can still cripple your data center. A combination of regular, verified backups and constantly updated virus protection are absolutely essential to protect your data – and your organization.