Keeping viruses at bay

“Ene mene miny mo” - with which Antivirus provider should I go...

These days there are a large number of Antivirus or Internet Security programs available. Unfortunately, it is impossible to say which one antivirus program is best as all viruses and antivirus programs operate differently. The unfortunate truth is that no antivirus program can protect you completely. If you don’t already have antivirus software, we would recommend that you buy a recognisable brand. Consider purchasing an Internet Security package rather than a standalone antivirus program as these usually only cost marginally more but include anti-spyware, anti-spam and anti-phishing components which further boost your computer’s protection.

I’ve subscribed to my favourite magazine, what’s this about a subscription for my Antivirus?

Just like a magazine subscription, you need to have a current subscription for your antivirus program if you want to protect your computer against the latest viruses.

Most antivirus programs come with a 12 month subscription which grants your computer access to the latest virus definition files required to protect your computer. If you’re not sure whether your subscription is current, open the main window of your antivirus program. You should be able to locate a section that deals with your subscription. It’s very important that you keep in mind when your subscription expires. If you don’t renew it either by purchasing another years subscription through the programs’ website or by purchasing a new version of the product, your computer is at risk of contracting viruses.

Out-of-date = Out-of-protection

Antivirus programs use the internet to download updates which keep nasty viruses out. Without these updates, your computer is vulnerable to attack from the latest viruses. It’s best to make sure (at least once a week) that your antivirus has all the latest updates by checking for them manually. This usually takes a few minutes and is an easy way to ensure you are protected.

In order to access the update feature of your antivirus program you will need to first open it’s main window. To do this, click the Start Menu and search through All Programs until you see the name of your Antivirus program.

Once your antivirus program opens, look for a button labelled “Update”, “Live Update” or something similar. This will launch an update window which should guide you through the update process.

Running Scans - or running scared...?

Antivirus programs keep your computer safe using with two techniques: real-time protection and scheduled scans.

Real time protection

Real-time protection basically means that as your computer processes files, downloads data or receives emails it continually scans for viruses.

To check if your antivirus’ real time protection is working, open your antivirus program and check that something similar to the following is listed as “Active”

1. Real-Time Protection
2. Resident Shield
3. AutoProtect
4. On-Access Scanning
5. Something similar

Full System Scans

In addition to running real time protection your antivirus program should also be set up to run a scheduled scan once a week. Running a full system scan tells your antivirus program to look through your computer for viruses. Full scans can take a while, so adjusting it to run a time that suits you is a good idea. For example, you might decide to set the scan to run at 9.30pm every Wednesday night - just make sure you leave it on.

Oh no, I think I’ve got a virus...

If you suspect that you have caught a virus, or if you just want to know for sure that you don’t have one we would recommend that you do the following:

1. Make sure your subscription is current.
2. Perform an update so you have the latest virus definition files.
3. Get your antivirus program to run a full scan of your computer. To do this, most antivirus programs have a “Scans” or “Tests” section in their main window. This allows you to launch a full system scan.
4. Make sure you do a full scan - a quick scan might not search all the right areas! This scan may take up to an hour or more to complete, so grab a magazine and a cup of coffee. Usually if a virus is detected your antivirus program will be able to clean it from your computer. If the virus is quite nasty or if there are lots of them, your antivirus might only be able to quarantine or delete the infected files (i.e. transfer the file and the virus it contains to a maximum security prison inside your computer, then destroy it once the virus has been deactivated). In many cases you will find viruses can skip around the antivirus program, preventing itself from being cleaned or quarantined and deleted.
5. In these cases it may be best to call in your favourite Gizmotech. We can manually locate the virus and wipe it out. We also can repair any damage that the virus may have caused.