Viruses: How to Protect Your Computer

Once a virus has infected your computer, it can be very difficult to remove completely. Protecting yourself from the initial infection saves you the time and headaches of completely disinfecting your computer and all of your floppy disks.

Ideal Solution

The only way to avoid being infected with a computer virus with absolute certainty is to never share any files or disks with anyone. This solution is hardly a realistic one, especially when collaborating with colleagues, co-workers, instructors, and students.

Practical Solutions

Following the practices listed below can help you to avoid infected your computer. The more diligently you follow these practices the more likely you are to have a virus-free computer.

• Install Anti-virus Software

  Installing a good antivirus program on your computer and using it regularly is one of the best ways to avoid infection. You want to choose an anti-virus software package that allows regular updating. New viruses appear constantly and you want to be able to detect these new strains. Some popular virus programs include:
  

  • McAffee VirusScan - http://www.mcaffee.com
    
  • F-PROT - http://www.commandcom.com
    
  • Norton AntiVirus - http://www.symantec.com/
    
  • Alladin Internet Security Unit's E-Safe Protect software http://www.esafe.com/. A freeware Web browser plugin.
    

  Visit the International Computer Security Association. This organization  provides a description of the certification criteria and a time table for when software is re-tested.

• Remove all floppy disks from your computer before starting or rebooting your computer.

• Scan all shared floppy disks

  Some antivirus programs allow you to automatically scan a floppy inserted into the disk drive. These programs warn you if it detects any viruses on the floppy before you even go to open a file.

• Scan all items downloaded from the Internet

  This practice holds especially true if you download something from a less-than-reliable source, such as someone's personal site or from a company you have not heard of before.

• Do not auto-open attachments through your email program

  Distributing files by attaching them to an email message is another way that viruses can be spread. Please note that you cannot be infected by the email message itself, only the attachments. (More information on this subject, see the next page, Viruses: Hoaxes and Urban Legends.)

  Just as when you download items from the Internet, save the attachments to your hard drive and scan them before opening them.

The virus information in this curriculum was written by the
Digital Media Center, University of Minnesota

The Master Internet Volunteer Program was developed by the University of Minnesota Extension Service and was adapted for use in North Dakota with permission. Copyright  © 2001  North Dakota State University. All rights reserved.

North Dakota State University Extension Service