{"id":17819,"date":"2010-07-29T11:06:46","date_gmt":"2010-07-29T16:06:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/?p=17819"},"modified":"2010-07-29T11:06:46","modified_gmt":"2010-07-29T16:06:46","slug":"ask-leo-how-do-i-keep-myself-safe-from-viruses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/ask-leo-how-do-i-keep-myself-safe-from-viruses\/","title":{"rendered":"Ask Leo: How do I keep myself safe from Viruses?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/20090929leonotenboomwp.jpg\" alt=\"askleo\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" class=\"attachment wp-att-7652 alignleft\" \/><\/p>\n<p>By Leo Notenboom<\/p>\n<p>Computer viruses are a fact of modern, internet-connected life. At best,<br \/>\nthey&#8217;re annoying performance sucking beasts, but at worst &#8230; kiss all your<br \/>\ndata, and perhaps your bank account or identity, goodbye.<\/p>\n<p>We <strong>all<\/strong> need to take steps to make sure that our computers<br \/>\nare safe, or we risk infection. Complacency is simply not an option.<\/p>\n<p>And yet, even after all the news, all the horror stories, all the warnings,<br \/>\nand even after all this time &#8230;complacency remains all too common.<\/p>\n<p>There are four important steps you should take:<\/p>\n<p><strong>1. Install and Run an Anti-Virus Program<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There are many out there.<\/p>\n<p>Personally, I run <a href=\"http:\/\/go.ask-leo.com\/malwarebytes\">Malwarebytes<br \/>\nAnti Malware<\/a> on my primary machine. It was one of the first to recognize<br \/>\nand clean up after some recently pervasive virus infections, and has garnered<br \/>\nquite a good reputation.<\/p>\n<div class=\"pullQuote\">&#8220;Download and install the package of your choice. Now.<br \/>\nBefore you forget.&#8221;<\/div>\n<p>I also run and have run other anti-virus solutions with good results on some<br \/>\nof my other machines. Specifically, I&#8217;ve run the free versions of <a href=\n\"http:\/\/go.ask-leo.com\/avgfree\">AVG<\/a> and <a href=\n\"http:\/\/go.ask-leo.com\/freeavira\">Avira<\/a>. I also hear good things about the<br \/>\nfree version of <a href=\"http:\/\/go.ask-leo.com\/freeavast\">Avast<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>While I&#8217;m not a big fan of their product offerings, Symantec maintains one<br \/>\nof the best <a href=\"http:\/\/go.ask-leo.com\/symantecavc\">reference sites<\/a> for<br \/>\nvirus related security issues.<\/p>\n<p>Not all virus scanners catch all viruses. I recommend having a selection of<br \/>\nadditional virus scanners to run as a &#8220;second tier&#8221;. Most downloadable virus<br \/>\nscanning solutions often include free trial periods that can also come in handy<br \/>\nas one-time second-level scans.<\/p>\n<p>Download and install the package of your choice. Now. Before you forget.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2. Update the Anti-Virus Database<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>After installing your anti-virus software, your first step should be to<br \/>\nupdate the virus signature database that came with it. New viruses are being<br \/>\ncreated every day, and the databases used by anti-virus programs are being<br \/>\nupdated frequently as well. You need to update to the latest database for your<br \/>\nprogram right away.<\/p>\n<p>Most of the programs have update functions that will locate, download and<br \/>\ninstall the latest databases regularly and automatically. Make sure that this<br \/>\nis enabled.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/ask-leo.com\/viruses_how_do_i_keep_myself_safe_from_viruses.html\">Article continued here: Steps 3-4.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>FaceBook URL:   <a href=\"http:\/\/ask-leo.com\/fb\" target=\"_blank\">Leo&#8217;s Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Twitter URL:     <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/askleo\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/twitter.com\/askleo<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/techtalk.pcpitstop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/20090929leonotenboomwp.jpg\" alt=\"askleo\" class=\"attachment wp-att-7167 alignleft\" \/><\/p>\n<p>By Leo Notenboom<\/p>\n<p>Computer viruses are a fact of modern, internet-connected life. At best,<br \/>\nthey&#8217;re annoying performance sucking beasts, but at worst &#8230; kiss all your<br \/>\ndata, and perhaps your bank account or identity, goodbye.<\/p>\n<p>We <strong>all<\/strong> need to take steps to make sure that our computers<br \/>\nare safe, or we risk infection. Complacency is simply not an option.<\/p>\n<p>And yet, even after all the news, all the horror stories, all the warnings,<br \/>\nand even after all this time &#8230;complacency remains all too common.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":66012,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[847,46,1535,48,1536,4875,1537,67,1538,1539,1540],"class_list":["post-17819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-leo-notenboom","tag-anti-virus-software","tag-ask-leo","tag-choice","tag-computer","tag-free-trial-periods","tag-leo-notenboom","tag-new-viruses","tag-package","tag-virus-scanners","tag-virus-signature","tag-viruses"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ask Leo: How do I keep myself safe from Viruses?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By Leo Notenboom Computer viruses are a fact of modern, internet-connected life. At best, they&#039;re annoying performance sucking beasts, but at worst ... kiss all your data, and perhaps your bank account or identity, goodbye. We all need to take steps to make sure that our computers are safe, or we risk infection. Complacency is simply not an option. And yet, even after all the news, all the horror stories, all the warnings, and even after all this time ...complacency remains all too common.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/ask-leo-how-do-i-keep-myself-safe-from-viruses\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ask Leo: How do I keep myself safe from Viruses?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Leo Notenboom Computer viruses are a fact of modern, internet-connected life. At best, they&#039;re annoying performance sucking beasts, but at worst ... kiss all your data, and perhaps your bank account or identity, goodbye. We all need to take steps to make sure that our computers are safe, or we risk infection. Complacency is simply not an option. 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