Computer Viruses- A Modern Day Plague

It seems these days that viruses are everywhere, and infecting more people than normal. I run a computer repair shop in Atlanta Georgia, and in the past month I've seen more infections from virus than I've seen in twenty years in the business. No matter what kind of anti-virus software you're using, they often cannot protect you, at least not to the extent that you would expect. Of course, it makes sense to take some practical steps to avoid infection, as well as be proactive in how you approach your computer use in avoiding viruses.

First off, most computer infections come from email programs. Be very careful what files you receive, and do not click on them. Some of them are pretty sneaky, however when in doubt, don't open.

Secondly, be careful with the websites that you visit. What we've found is that even innocent looking websites might have malicious code right on the website that could cause issues with your computer. Third, you might want to consider using a different web browser. Many users have been making the transition from Microsoft Internet Explorer, and moving to Mozilla Firefox. It's a great program that gets awesome reviews. It's fast, secure and very, very customizable. You can do things with Firefox that Internet Explorer users only dream about. But, even better than that is that many viruses are specifically built to work only with Internet Explorer so that Firefox blocks the Virus. Fourth, don't download illegal software. Many so called "warez" sites are very aggressive in promoting virus infections. You have to be very careful as you'll very likely to become infected while even browsing for illegal software. You may want to consider a better virus program. Some virus protection programs are very different than others. Do a search on c-net to get reviews of the most popular virus protection programs. Many of our customers swear by products like Avast. By simply being a little more paranoid with your computer as well as avoiding problem spots as mentioned above you should be able to avoid most computer virus issues. Good Luck, and stay virus free.