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If you access the Internet, you certainly need anti-virus software. It does not matter whether you do not use a computer. Whatever you use to get on line you must have anti-virus software. Although there are hundreds of malicious idiots producing viruses to attack those who access the Internet from a computer, there is an growing number who are targeting mobile phone users too.

It is more difficult to clear viruses from your cell phone too, because there are less vendors for the anti-virus software and mobile phone users are often less technically knowledgeable than computer users, although the method of removing the virus is fairly analogous.

Let’s just use the example of using computers to go on line. If you go on line, your ant-virus software is your most essential item of software. It does not matter what you use the Internet for – transferring data back to base or receiving emails from friends – you are subject to attack.

For example, if you use the Internet only to communicate with your head office, a hacker could try to piggy-back your connection to gain admittance to the mainframe at head office and perhaps access financial or other personal data and if you just send to and receive emails from your friends and family, you are open to assault from malevolent fools around the world.

If you use webmail such as that offered by Yahoo, Hotmail and MSN to name only the most popular, you will be sheltered from the most obvious attacks, but still not out of harm’s way. If you receive your email through an email client such as Outlook or Outlook Express, then you do not even have that small amount of protection.

If you do not use email, but only surf the Internet for study or whatever, you are still not safe, because some websites and loaded with viruses, trojans and worms, waiting to unload them onto unsuspecting visitors.

Therefore, whatever reason you surf the Internet for, you could do with some type of security. Luckily, anti-virus software for personal use is low-cost and can even be free. Business users will usually get tax relief on their purchases.

However, be cautious with the free anti-virus software, because not all of it is effectual enough. The exceptions that spring readily to mind are Avira and AVG. These are exceptional items and have rightly gained worldwide praise. Just Google the two names to get the download URL.

The anti-virus software that costs something (typically $25-$50 per year) invariably offer one to two months free trial before you buy and a discount in price, if you pay for more than one year at a time. Names that fall into this class are Kaspersky, McAfee, Norton and Nod.

After you have chosen your software, the subsequent steps are the same for free and paid software. First install it and then configure it. If you are not certain how to do that do not worry, the default settings are fine for the vast majority of users. The only choice you will get that it is imperative you make correctly is to consent to automatic updates.

New viruses are being discovered or fixed every day and for your anti-virus software to be effectual, you must allow it to update itself whenever it wishes to.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with the network antivirus software. If you have an interest in such software, please go over to our website now at Computer Antivirus Software

New computer viruses are being created, exposed and fought every day. These computer viruses are created often just to annoy us and to wreak mayhem in our computer systems. Below, I have described ten viruses currently cited as being the most widespread and being potentially able to cause the most damage. However, new viruses are being created daily, so this list is by no means complete. The only thing you can do is stay alert, keep your anti-virus software updated, and stay aware of the current computer virus threats.

Virus: Trojan.Lodear: A Trojan (from Trojan Horse) that attempts to download files from a remote source. It will inject a .dll file into the EXPLORER.EXE process causing system instability.

Virus: W32.Beagle.CO@mm: A mass-mailing worm that reduces security settings. It can delete security-related registry sub keys and may prevent admittance to security-related websites.

Virus: Backdoor.Zagaban: A Trojan that allows the infected computer to be operated as a covert proxy and which may decrease network performance.

Virus: W32/Netsky-P: A mass-mailing worm which propagates by emailing itself to addresses harvested from files on the local drives.

Virus: W32/Mytob-GH: A mass-mailing worm and IRC backdoor Trojan for the Windows platform. Messages sent by this worm will have the subject chosen randomly from a list including titles such as: Notice of account limitation, Email Account Suspension, Security measures, Members Support, Important Notification.

Virus: W32/Mytob-EX: A mass-mailing worm and IRC backdoor Trojan similar in nature to W32-Mytob-GH. W32/Mytob- EX runs constantly in the background, providing a backdoor server which allows a remote intruder to gain admittance and control over your computer via IRC channels. This virus spreads by sending itself to email attachments harvested from your email address book.

Virus: W32/Mytob-AS, Mytob-BE, Mytob-C, and Mytob-ER: This family of worm variations has similar characteristics in terms of what they can do. They are mass-mailing worms with backdoor functionality that can be manipulated through the Internet Relay Chat (IRC) network. Furthermore, they can propagate themselves by email and through various operating system weaknesses such as the LSASS (MS04-011).

Virus: Zafi-D: A mass-mailing worm and a peer-to-peer worm which copies itself to the Windows system folder with the filename Norton Update.exe. It can then create a number of files in the Windows system folder with filenames consisting of 8 random characters and a DLL extension. W32/Zafi-D replicates itself to folders with names containing words like ’share’, ‘upload’, or ‘music’ as ‘ICQ 2005a new!.exe’ or ‘winamp 5.7 new!.exe’. W32/Zafi-D will also display a fake error message box with the caption “CRC: 04F6Bh” and the text “Error in packed file!”.

Virus: W32/Netsky-D: A mass-mailing worm with IRC backdoor functionality which can also contaminate computers vulnerable to the LSASS (MS04-011) exploit.

Virus: W32/Zafi-B: A peer-to-peer (P2P) and email worm that will reproduce itself to the Windows system folder as a randomly named EXE file. This worm will check for the presence of an Internet connection by attempting to connect to google.com or microsoft.com. A bilingual, worm with an attached Hungarian political text message box which translates to ?We demand that the government accommodates the homeless, tightens up the penal code and VOTES FOR THE DEATH PENALTY to cut down the increasing crime. Jun. 2004, P?cs (SNAF Team)?

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with the network antivirus software. If you have an interest in such software, please go over to our website now at Computer Antivirus Software

Adware, spyware and anti-virus software share some similarities, one of which is that all three are major nuisances for computer users. Let’s make a distinction between the three.

Spyware is software that does not necessarily harm your computer. What it does is build links whereby someone else apart from the computer owner can communicate from that computer. Normally spyware records the different kinds of web sites you go to and sends that information to web advertisers, who then later send you unwanted emails and pop-ups.

Which is why spyware is unpopular and shunned. It is more intrusive than adware. Spyware has its own separate executable programs, which allow it to record your keystrokes, scan files on your hard disks and look at other applications that you use, including but not limited to chat programs, cookies and Web browser settings.

Spyware then sends the data that it had gathered to the spyware author. The author will then use this data for advertising and marketing purposes. They also sell the information to advertisers and other parties.

Adware, on the other hand, is a more legitimate form of software.. It is similar to spyware but adware is advertising spyware which is bundled into free software or a free program and is installed automatically once that particular program or software is loaded into your computer system.

Some forms of adware, on the other hand, download advertising content when a particular application is being run. Some adware behaves like spyware in that it tracks and reports user data to the program’s writers.

The signs of spyware infection include pop-up ads that seem to be unrelated to the site you are looking at. Sometimes spyware pop-ups are advertisements about adult contents. Furthermore, if you become aware of your computer slowing down, there is a big chance that spyware and its components have found their way into your operating system. If Windows desktop takes a long time to load, it is best to scan your computer for spyware infections.

Viruses, on the other hand, are a harmful kind of software. They were designed and created for one reason alone and that is to inflict chaos on your computer. They may destroy whatever data they come in contact with, can instigate self replication and then infect as many components of the computer’s operating system or network as possible.

These days, a lot of anti-virus software also offers spyware and adware scanning and removal utilities. They then remove it as well as its components located in the system registry and other places on your computer. It is therefore, good practice to regularly update your anti-virus and anti-spyware scanner to ensure that your computer is protected from the thousands of spyware and viruses in the Internet. Beware of free add-ons or free anything really.

Adware could be spyware in disguise and could be just waiting to be deployed for its writers to gather your data. Learn how to set up a firewall and pop-up blocker in order to minimize the risk of computer infection and guarantee the security of all your computer files.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with researching the best virus protection software. If you have an interest in such software, please go over to our website now at Computer Antivirus Software

Protecting your computer from viruses is getting more and |more difficult each day. While it may sound a little paranoid, it is true that you cannot let your defense down for one moment. Even corporate giant Microsoft has found its own computers compromised on more than one occasion.

Do you remember the ‘good old days’, before the arrival of the Internet and downloadable programs? Life was simple then in terms of computer viruses. The primary way to catch a virus then was via floppy disks. By today’s standards, it used to take quite a while before a virus was able to infect a computer and slow down the system. The antivirus software of that time was usually able to identify and eliminate viruses before they caused too much harm. Additionally, computer users were fairly knowledgeable about how to defend themselves by scanning all floppy disks before using them.

The Internet changed all that. The Internet provided a medium by which viruses could travel from host to host with blinding speed. A computer user had to start to think about email, email attachments, peer-to-peer file sharing, instant messaging, and software downloads as virus entry points. Modern viruses can attack through multiple entry points, propagate without human intervention, and take full advantage of vulnerabilities within a system or program. With technology advancing everyday, and the union of computers with other mobile devices, the potential for new types of threats also increases.

Luckily, the advancement of antivirus software has kept up with the virus threats. Antivirus software is essential to a computer’s ability to ward off viruses and other malicious programs. These software products are designed to guard against the ability of a virus to enter a computer through email, web browsers, file servers and desktops. Moreover, these programs offer a control feature that handles deployment, configuration and updating. A computer user should remain diligent and follow a couple of simple steps to guard against the menace of a virus:

You should appraise your current computer security system. With the danger of a new generation of viruses being able to attack in a multitude of ways, the approach of having just one sort of antivirus software has become outdated. You have to be certain that you have protected all aspects of your computer system from the desktop to the network, and from the gateway to the server. Think about a more comprehensive security system which encompasses several features including antivirus, firewall, content filtering, and intrusion detection. This type of system will make it more difficult for the virus to infiltrate your system.

You should install antivirus software created by a well-known, reputable company, because new viruses come out daily, so it is vital that you update your antivirus software daily. Become familiar with your software’s real-time scan feature and configure it to start automatically each time you start up your computer. This will protect your system by automatically checking your computer each time it is powered up.

Set your antivirus software to scan all new programs or files no matter from where they originate from and exercise caution when opening binary, Word, or Excel documents of anonymous sources especially if they were received during an online chat or as an attachment to an email.

Make sure you perform regular backups in case your system is corrupted. It may be the only way to retrieve your data if you computer becomes infected.

There are numerous applications available to consumers, so with a little research, you should be able to pick the program that is right for you. Many programs provide a trial version which allows you to download the program and test its capabilities. However, be aware that some anti-virus programs can be difficult to uninstall, so as a precaution make sure you set up a System Restore point and take back-ups before installing it.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with the cheap antivirus software. If you have an interest in such software, please go over to our website now at Computer Antivirus Software