Computer Antivirus Programs
...puter the next time. In some cases, a virus can stay inside your computer in an inactive mode, waiting for the trigger for something to happen like what has been mentioned above. At present we are still combating the offensive of computer viruses in combination with macro viruses, worms and Trojan horses and hopefully avoiding the serious damage they can inflict on our computer, on our business and on our society per se. Just to be clear we need to differentiate the three for future reference. First, macro viruses are malicious macro programs that are designed to replicate themselves from file to file, it can destroy or change data and it can be transferred across platforms and spread whenever you open an infected file. Trojan horses, meanwhile, are programs that appear to serve some useful purpose or provide entertainment but actually serves a covert purpose to damage files or place a virus in the computer. Lastly, worms are programs that replicate without infecting other programs and spreads by copying themselves from disk to disk. Computer users who normally access the Internet and exchange diskettes are the ones directly affected thus it is necessary for them to be protected. So now let us proceed on discussing how to fight computer viruses with antivirus programs. In the first place, what is an antivirus program? Again as defined on the Webopedia, it is also a program or software that searches a hard disk or files for viruses and gets rid of any that is found. Antivirus software ought to give protection for disks, email, and network protocols and connections. In a way it also provides added security and protection for our computer and the network. It works in such a way that it monitors your computer for known and unknown viruses. A known virus is the one that can be detected and identified by name. On the other hand, an unknown virus is one for which it does not a have definition yet. This is the shortcoming of antivirus programs. It requires regular updating because new viruses are being created almost everyday. Although it can generally prevent a virus infection, it is still not enough if put on the concept of real-time Internet access. So the need for an auto-update feature in downloading profiles of new viruses as soon as they are discovered is necessary. In addition to the virus definition capabilities of the antivirus program, it would also be of great use if it has the ability to scan e-mail and files as they are being downloaded from the Internet to block and delete malicious programs from entering the computer. The most effective strategy in combating the entry and spread of computer viruses, worms and Trojan horses into our computers and networks of computers involves three steps that consists of an updated operating system, installed and frequently updated antivirus software and a dependable firewall. This combination often times gives us the best defense against a virus infection because sometimes the virus can even disable the antivirus software which will let the hackers remotely compromise the network, log the keystrokes to obtain passwords and other confidential information from the computer and the Internet. We should not also forget the basic antivirus strategy which is having a clean, write protected bootable system diskette / floppy disk. This can be a very good way to start up the system without a virus just by booting from the clean write-protected disk. Another thing that can help is by keeping a clean back up of your hard drive because sometimes antivirus packages attempt to disinfect infected programs and in the process of removing harmful codes in a way it alters the code of the system. Normally, these two are preventive measures while the use of antivirus programs comes in as the execution part. Most of the time the choice is to use if at all possible more than one antivirus program to get the best result. Numerous products have been circulating in the market and in the Internet and they are ...