How to Safeguard Your Computer
July 06, 2005
How To Safeguard Your Computer DESA members are contracting computer viruses at an alarming pace. How do I know this? When your computer becomes infected, many of these viruses will attach themselves to your email address book list and email the virus to everyone on your list. I am receiving viruses at the rate of 20-30 per week from DESA members because many of you have me in your address book as the webmaster of DESA! So, I developed this page in an attempt to help you understand viruses and ways you can protect your computer from becoming infected. It is quite obvious that many of you do not have anti-virus programs on your computer, or else you have the program but are not updating it regularly. Therefore, your computers are becoming infected. How are you contracting these viruses, you ask?? The most common way is opening email attachments, i.e. files that are sent to you as part of a email. People think the file is safe because it was sent to them by someone they know. This is the _worst_ rationale you can use because you have no way of knowing where that person got the file and the person before them got the file, etc etc. Also, many viruses have the ability to "spoof" or fake the name of the sender so it is not possible to know if that person is really the one who sent you the email. Again, just because you recognize the name of the sender is _not_ a reason to open an email attachment. The golder rule of computing: You MUST have an anti-virus program installed on your computer and you MUST keep it up to date, at least once a week. Most anti-virus program give you free updates for the first year. After this time you must PAY a nominal subscription fee to be able to update your program. Your anti-virus program should be set to automatically scan all your incoming email and all files you download from the Internet. For added security you need to install a "Firewall". A Firewall is a MUST if you have a DSL or Cable Internet connection. The golden rule of email: NEVER open a file attached to email unless it has been scanned with a anti-virus program that has been updated within the past 2 days, REGARDLESS of who sent it to you. The golden rule of downloading files from the Internet: NEVER open a file/program you have downloaded from a website UNTIL you have scanned it for a virus. The golden rule of Windows is critical: Keep Windows updated regularly! You should run Windows Update at least once a month. To update, click on Start --> Windows Update and follow the instructions. If you need assistance, contact the webmaster. There are currently over 50,000 viruses in circulation with more appearing daily! You must learn how to protect your computer. A Letter To The Webmaster From A DESA Member A Lesson Learned The Hard Way
Below, is a list of the Top 10 viruses in circulation and the Top Virus Advisory Alerts. This information is updated daily! Also, you can Search for information about a particular virus. If you do not have an anti-virus program, you can run a Free Virus Scan on your computer. Just click on the button below. Also, find out if the email "virus warning" you received is a hoax (especially the one that tells you to search for a certain file and delete it from your computer). I hope this information is helpful to you. |
