When It Comes To Computer Viruses - The Key Is Preventing Them by Joel Pearce
A virus that infects your computer is not all that unlike a virus that infects your body: it slows you down and can be passed from you to the people who you keep in touch with. But the good news is that preventing viruses is not difficult. Just as you can prevent infections in your body by... Similarly, if you add the file to a website and it is downloaded, if the user has not installed software for preventing viruses his or her computer is likely to become infected as well. ... If you email the document to another user as an attachment, when they open the file their computer can become...

Virus Prevention and Removal by Ashish Jain
A virus is a piece of code that gets loaded onto your computer without your knowledge and runs against your wishes. The first known occurrence of viruses goes back to 1987 when the ARPANET was infected by one. One common misnomer among people is that you can infect your computer just by opening... The most common file types are ".SCR" ".VBS" ", ".PIF" Prevention is better than a cure: Here are some tips to make sure that your computer does not get infected. ... * When in doubt about a file, don't open it.

Is Your PC Infected with a Virus - Top 5 Anti Virus Programs by Richard Seng
What to Do if Your PC is Infected From lethal infections to simply frustrating ones, virus infections are the curse of computer users. Once you’ve recognized the symptoms, what can you do about it? Don’t Panic - Almost every computer is infected with a virus at one point or another. ... There are two types of computers—those that have been infected with a virus, and those that will be infected with a virus soon. ... This is why, unlike humans, computers are healed of viruses by cutting off the infected part.

Guide to Protecting Your Computer from Viruses by Michael Russell
Many people are paranoid about computer viruses and with good reason. Millions of dollars and hundreds of security leaks are propagated annually by these seemingly harmless codes hiding in various forms, from emails to games to download applications. ... Run a virus scan on the file first before opening the attachment or the .exe file. ... How do you protect your computer and your network from being infected? ... They can infect any file (not just the "program files"), even Word and Excel spreadsheet documents.

Ways That Viruses Spread by Eric Koshinsky
For a virus or similar program to have any great impact it needs to be able to spread from one machine to another. They are specifically designed to get access to parts of your computer system that allow for communication with other machines. Below is a discussion of some of the most common... In such cases, the user of an infected computer unknowingly attaches an infected file to an email message, and then sends the email to a friend or colleague. ... These attacks AUTOMATICALLY scan your computer's files for any email address it can find and then uses your email application to...

AntiVirus Software - Why Your PC Needs It by Rick Hendershot
If your PC is connected to the internet for browsing the web or sending and receiving email, you need antivirus protection. This applies whether you have a dial-up connection or a high-speed connection such as DSL or cable. The very fact that you are connected to a public network along with... ** Protecting your computer against malicious intruders Any time you receive a file from some other source on the web, there is a chance that file will be "infected" with a virus, or will contain an attached bit of adware or spyware.

Anti-Virus Software Fighting Back Against Computer Infections by Aurel Radulescu
Many computer users adopt the ‘it will never happen to me’ policy, but there are a number of computer viruses out there just waiting to infect and destroy the information contained on their hard-drive. This is why companies invented anti-virus software, which is a program that automatically... For example, if a computer user were to download an image but wanted to run a virus scan on it prior to opening the file, he/she could click on the anti-virus software and direct it toward the file in question.

Anti Virus Software - It's NOT 100% by Michael Russell
Ever get a virus? And no, we're not talking about the kind you get from the kid down the street sneezing all over you. We're talking about the kind you get when your computer runs into some nasty vindictive hackers. These are people who have nothing better to do with their time but make other... Other times the file is simply lost, especially if it is a user created file, though it may be possible to recreate the file depending on what kind of data it contained. ... In this case some harm may have been done and you may have to replace the file that has been infected with a new copy.

Why Should You Worry About A Malicious Code? by Johan Tengstrom
A malicious code can be a program. It can also be a part of a program. Further a malicious code can attach itself to a good program. In that way the malicious effect occurs first when the good program runs. The last time you installed a large software, let us say a photo program, you just... Of course you cannot know which sources are infected, the best advice I can give you is to expect that any outside source is infected. ... It can write a message on the computer screen, erase a stored file or stop a running program.

Adware and Spyware Blockers by Gary Gresham
The most important things you can do for your computer right now is to install adware and spyware blockers. Everyone is aware of computer viruses and run an anti-virus program to guard your computer against them. But only a fraction of computer users are running any kind of adware and spyware... Most of the time you are not aware that your computer is even infected. ... If your computer becomes infected, the results range from minor nuisances such as pop up ads to more serious threats including identity theft.