Computer Virus Protection Best Practices

A computer virus can be a devastating thing for any computer user. Many seemingly benign computer services have been disguised as viruses or malware. Virus software support is one thing, but the best practice for computer support is always prevention.

Be Mindful of your Browsing.

This is the simplest yet most difficult task for virus prevention. It seems simple enough to just avoid websites that are infected with viruses or malware, but as people have become more tech savvy, these viruses have become more insidious. The only thing that can be done is to simply be mindful of where you are spending your time on the internet and what computer services you are using. Employ pop up blockers in all your browsers, as many of them are designed as carriers for malware and viruses. Pay attention to alerts that show when sites are potentially infected, such as the ones that Google employs.

Do not Download Suspicious Files

This may seem like common sense, but it happens more frequently than you think. A good rule of thumb when dealing with virus software support is that if you don’t trust the site, or the person that is sending you the email, then do not download any attached files. Don’t run any .exe files from untrustworthy sites. It is generally easy to find a comparable computer service to download from a trustworthy site. Don’t shut off windows alerts. While there are options to shut off the alerts that pop up whenever you run a new downloaded file, leaving them on will give you an extra layer of security.

Keep up with your Updates

An important tool in virus software support is making sure all of your programs are up to date, including your operating system. Many updates that are released are to cover holes in security that hackers or viruses have discovered. Java and Adobe have both experienced security breaches recently. Computer support systems are designed to help prevent these threats, and repair them if prevention is not an option. Operating system updates are also important for this as well, as the programmers at Microsoft know of threats and how to fix them well before the general public.

Pay Attention to your Anti-Virus Warnings

A good antivirus program is the best defense that you can use to avoid viruses on your computer. It is important to keep these virus software support programs up to date. Many of them update every day or several times a week as new viruses and malware are discovered. You can set them up to update automatically, and can also set them up to scan your computer once a day. If you leave your computer on constantly, it is easy to set up scheduled scans for whenever you will be asleep or away from the computer.

Disaster Recovery

If the worst happens and your computer is infected with a virus or spyware that cannot be removed, having a backup or restore point may be the best way to get your computer up and running again. Virus software support can only go so far before it is unable to repair or remove the infections. Creating an image of your hard drive, for example, creates an exact copy of everything on your computer, including your operating system, all installed programs and personal files, and can be used to restore a computer to a point before the virus infection happened. If this is not an option, simply creating a restore point periodically should give you a point to go back to before the virus infected the computer.

The old saying goes an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and that applies to computer viruses as much as anything. To find out more about best practices for virus prevention, please visit our website.

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