Invasion of Privacy! Big Brother and the Company Hackers
If your system doesn't have antivirus protection like Norton or McAfee, install it immediately! Sooner or later a virus or worm will compromise your computer. An antivirus program can circumvent that and prevent a real calamity.
You'll find links to download numerous utilities including antivirus, antispyware, and personal firewalls on the Invasion of Privacy homepage at http://www.mjweber.com/iop/privacy.htm/.
Updating Your Virus Definitions
Don't be penny-wise and pound -foolish. It's important to keep your antivirus library up to date. An antivirus subscription runs about $15 a year. Open your wallet ”but check eBay first. You might be able to upgrade the product version of your favorite antivirus program, including a one-year subscription, for the same investment. Last July I bought the latest version of Norton Systemworks Pro, a great suite of utilities that includes Norton AntiVirus, for $11 on eBay. Once an Internet Auction Junkie, always an internet auction junkie!
Once you have a valid subscription, use it weekly to update your virus definitions. Most antivirus programs have an auto-update feature, but I prefer to update mine manually. I favor minimizing the number of Windows services running in the background of my system.
Antivirus programs have two modes:
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Set it and forget it. (The program starts automatically upon boot.)
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Scan for viruses. (The program allows on-demand scanning of files, folders, or the complete computer system.)
Scanning for Viruses
In addition to the "set it and forget it" mode, it's prudent to do a full virus scan of your computer system weekly.
Reserve an hour per week to
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Defrag your hard drive. (Remember to perform a Disk Cleanup first.)
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Update your virus definitions.
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Scan your computer system for viruses.
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Scan your computer system for spyware.
Performing On-Demand Virus Scans
It's also wise to scan shareware and third-party downloads for viruses prior to and after installation. I use Norton, but all antivirus programs have similar feature sets.
To scan files or folders for viruses on demand with Norton
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Open Windows Explorer.
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Click the Folders button on the navigation bar if you don't see a directory tree in the left pane.
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Right-click any file or folder.
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Choose Scan with (Norton) AntiVirus.