WARNING:  Your home computer is not safe from viruses!

Actually, no computer is 100% safe, but your home computer is likely at higher risk than you realize.  If you use the Internet or media you receive from others (including shrink-wrapped software from the store), your computer could be in danger.  According to Network Associates, owners of McAfee anti-virus software, as of March, 2001 over 57,000 different viruses or variants are known to exist.  (Update - two years later in February, 2003 over 62,000 viruses are known.  Update #2: In February, 2005 over 100,000 viruses have been identified.  Update #3: August, 2008 - McAfee reports that there are over 448,000 viruses now.)

"What if I have anti-virus software on my PC?"

Great!  That is a good step, but when was the last time you updated its virus list?  That's right.  When you install virus software, there are already viruses in the world that it will not detect.  Worse yet, more viruses are created every day.  For example, if you purchased your computer six months ago with virus software pre-installed, there could be literally tens of thousands of viruses that could infect your computer without your knowledge.

"I never run any programs from someone/somewhere else. Isn't this enough?"

Good idea.  These days, however, this is not enough.  Many viruses are spread simply by visiting a compromised web site.  Internet Explorer is more susceptible to these viruses than Firefox but neither are immune.

Also viruses have been written that take advantage of the macro capability in modern software.  Simply opening a Word file, an Excel file, or a file from some other newer program may be enough to infect your PC. Virus writers even take advantage of bugs in popular programs like WinZip or Adobe Acrobat Reader.  They create specially designed files (PDF, ZIP, etc.) which they email (or post on web sites.)

Bottom line is that you probably need anti virus software.  Especially if you have a Windows computer.

"Where can I get updates for my Virus software?"

We have included links to many of the most popular virus software updates below.

"How do I install the updates?"

That varies by program.  The best thing to do is look for and follow directions from the manufacturer.  

"How often should I update?"

That is really up to you. Keep in mind that 100-300 new viruses appear each month. While many of these look similar enough to existing viruses for your anti-virus software, some will be completely new and will be missed. The more you use the Internet, e-mail, and swap diskettes, the more often you should update.   If your software has a way that it can automatically update itself, (virtually all antivirus programs do) it would be a good idea to turn this feature on.

"What else can I do?"

1. Be prepared.  Instead of waiting for something to go wrong, create a recovery disk.  (See information at  http://www.russharvey.bc.ca/resources/recovery.html )
2. If you own a Mac, it should have come with System software on CD or diskette. If you need to recover from a virus, you should be able to boot from one of these. The directions to do this should be in your owners manual.
3. Label the bootable disk and put it in a safe place then don't use it again unless you need to recover from a virus.
4. Buy and install anti-virus software if you don't have it.
5. If your anti-virus software allows you to create an "Emergency Repair Disk" DO IT!
6. Keep your anti-virus software updated.  (Even the MS-Outlook virus mentioned above was included in updates from all major anti-virus software vendors just one week after it was created.)
7. Keep your anti-virus software updated.  (Too important to list only once.)
8. If your anti-virus software doesn't run automatically to protect you while you are using your PC, find out how to change its settings so it does... then do so.
9. Don't open/run attachments from someone you don't know until you have found out what the attachment is and why it was sent.
10. Don't open/run attachments from someone that you DO know if there is any reason to doubt why it was sent.  (Some viruses will send copies of themselves to everyone on your address book.)
11. Don't share software.  Besides being a virus risk, in most cases it is illegal.
12. If you do share software, use your anti-virus software to scan it before you install/use it.
13. Scan any new diskettes you receive from others before using them on your PC.

"What if I get a virus?"

1. Don't panic!
2. If you found out about the virus by a message from your anti-virus software or some other message that appeared, READ THE MESSAGE CAREFULLY!  It may be telling you that it caught and removed or "killed" the virus. If this is the case, the virus has been removed and you can skip to the last step... which is to tell the person you received the virus from about it.
3. Contact the manufacturer of your virus software.   Most have free tech support to help you remove a virus from an infected computer.  (If you don't have virus software, give this a try anyhow.  Many manufacturers will assist you in hopes that after you have the virus removed, you will go out and purchase their software to prevent future infections.)
4. If you don't have anti-virus software and can't contact a vendor, shut down your computer, go purchase an anti-virus package, and get help removing the virus.
   (Update: Several web sites now offer free virus scanning for home use.)
5. After the virus has been cleaned from your computer, either upgrade your anti-virus software (if possible) or purchase anti-virus software and install it then update it immediately.
6. Use your anti-virus software to scan all of the files on your hard drive(s).
7. Use your anti-virus software to scan every diskette and USB thumb drive that you have.
8. If you are pretty sure who you got the virus from, let them know about it so they can clean up their system too.

"Why bother?"

Today's viruses are capable of doing something as harmless as displaying a silly message once to something as serious as sending criminals all of your personal information including bank account details. In addition, your friends and family may not be too happy if they learn that the virus that erased their hard drive came from something they got from you.

Finally, isn't your peace of mind worth the few dollars that anti-virus software costs?

AVG Free - FREE and very capable anti-virus for home users.  If you aren't using your home computer to run a business then you probably qualify to use AVG for free.
http://free.avg.com/ 

McAfee, NAI, Virex and Dr. Solomon
http://download.mcafee.com/updates/updates.asp

Norton, Symantec, IBM and LANdesk
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/download.html

PC-cillin
http://www.antivirus.com/download/