Virus Protection
Virus Protection
Here are some of the common symptoms that could indicate your system has been "infected" by a virus:
- Unusual messages or displays on your monitor
- Unusual sounds or music played at random times
- A changed file name
- Missings programs or files
- The creation of unknown programs or files
- Files that became corrupted or suddenly stopped working properly
- Emails sent out to people on your mailing or your contacts list without your knowledge
Many software programs, called anti-virus software, are available to search your system for known viruses, isolate them, and then remove them. They can also scan incoming file attachments and warn you before any infected files are downloaded.
In addition to identifying infected files, most anti-virus programs offer the option of repairing them if possible. In some cases infected files can be "cleaned" by the virus protection software; in others, the files will have to be discarded.
After scanning all your drives for viruses and finding that they are virus-free, it is recommended that you do a complete backup of your system. This will secure a fresh copy of your files in case you get infected in the future and need to recover important documents.
The most widely used anti-virus programs are Norton Anti-Virus and McAfee VirusScan. They both include an auto-update feature that enables them to download profiles of newly discovered viruses.