Old Advice Still Thwarts
New Virus Threats
© 2003
Reprint by permission only. All
rights
reserved.
by Matt Hyatt
One of the most common questions I hear from new customers is “I’ve
heard there’s a new virus going around – do I need
to do anything special to protect my PC?” Fortunately for
all of us, the answer usually doesn’t change much – the
rules for avoiding viruses tend to stay the same.
Avoid suspicious email attachments. The easiest way for
an attacker to infect your machine is to trick you
into running a virus-infected program. To do that, many viruses
are
disguised
as interesting email attachments. Once an infected
attachment is opened, the virus is installed on the computer and
often sends
itself to every email address it can find. In other
words, the
virus will likely be sent to your friends, family,
and coworkers – anybody
you’ve sent email to before. And guess what they’re
likely to do once they see an email attachment from you? Open the
file, of course! So the cycle continues and the virus spreads.
To break the cycle and protect your computer, avoid opening email
attachments unless you’re certain they are safe.
If you use Windows, regularly download and apply all
available Microsoft Critical Updates for your computer. Keeping current is easy – just open Internet Explorer and click on
Tools > Windows Update. The Windows Update website scans
your computer for known Windows security vulnerabilities and
automates
the process of downloading and installing relevant
updates.
Install antivirus software on your computer and keep
it current. McAfee VirusScan is one of my favorites
for standalone desktop PCs. For about $70, it does
a great job at stopping viruses
before they infect your computer. Like most antivirus
products, it includes a one-year subscription for
virus definition file updates.
Install a firewall. Some viruses can attack your computer through an Internet
connection. A firewall
is special software or hardware that creates
a boundary between the Internet and your
PC, stopping potentially dangerous traffic before
it
gets to your computer. A software-based firewall
is easy to install and maintain,
but adds to the number of programs your computer
must run in the background. You can relieve your
computer
of that burden by choosing
a standalone firewall appliance instead. Good
software- and hardware-based firewalls for the home can be
found for less than $60. Business
firewall appliances start at about $300, but
special features can make them much more expensive.
While we all want to be vigilant about avoiding viruses,
it’s important to be leery of email advice! At least once
a month, I hear about a new “virus” somebody read about
in an email. The message usually reads “a new virus has been
discovered that will erase your hard drive … no antivirus
program can stop it.” The warnings usually go on to describe
a method for verifying the presence of the so-called
virus and removing it. Unfortunately, these emails often turn out
to be hoaxes,
wrongly identifying legitimate Windows files or registry
entries as viruses and tricking worried users into harming their
own computers.
To protect yourself from a virus hoax, check a reliable
source like Network Associates (http://vil.nai.com/vil/hoaxes.asp)
before
following any email advice. If you use a PC and suspect it’s already infected with a
virus, Trend Micro provides a free web-based tool called HouseCall
to scan systems and remove viruses. To use the tool, open a web
browser and visit http://housecall.antivirus.com. Click “Scan
Now” near the middle of the screen and follow the directions.
Be aware that the HouseCall tool cleans current infections only – it
will not protect your computer from future infections.
We often use HouseCall to clean infected systems before we install
antivirus
software for long-term protection.
There’s no question that viruses can be a costly nuisance.
Like it or not, viruses are going to be a threat as
long as we use computers. The good news is that our old bag of
tricks is usually
a pretty effective defense.
Matt Hyatt is founder
of Rocket IT, an IT consulting firm
near Atlanta, Georgia. For technology help with your business,
contact Rocket IT at 770-441-2520 or visit online at www.rocketit.com.
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