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Finding the best spyware removers to detect and remove spyware and adware from your computer is much easier if you consider a few things before you make your purchase. Here are a few things to keep in mind when looking for a spyware protection program.

The best spyware removers should offer you complete protection against spyware, adware, keyloggers, Remote Access Trojans (RATs), and browser hijackers. These are the main spyware infections that expose your confidential information and diminish your PC's performance.

An important consideration for any spyware protection program is automatic updates for your software. There are new spyware programs invented on a regular basis just like viruses and automatic updates cover you against the latest spyware threats.

Another important consideration to look for should be technical support from the manufacturer. A spyware protection program doesn't do you any good if you have a technical issue that you can't solve. Often, just a minor piece of technical advice will solve most software problems and it's important that your software run right. You also may need someone to answer questions that come up.

Customer service is another feature you may consider looking for. It shows the
manufacturer is a trusted source who cares about their reputation and will probably be around awhile.

Spyware is quickly becoming a major threat to Internet security. It is reported that 9 out of 10 computers are currently infected with spyware, adware or both. Most people don't even realize it's there because spyware and adware is programmed to run silently. Microsoft estimates that spyware is responsible for 50% of all PC crashes.

If you don't remove spyware from your computer it will eventually not work at all or your computer files will become infected by spyware programs. Your personal information, passwords and credit card numbers could end up stolen from you without you even knowing it.

Once you remove spyware and adware programs from your computer you'll find it will run faster and your personal information will be much safer. Your security and peace of mind is worth spending a little time to find the best spyware removers possible.

Copyright © 2005 Spyware Information.com All Rights Reserved

One of the most popular pages on about-the-web.com is about
avoiding scams, hoaxes and urban legends on the Internet
(http://about-the-web.com/shtml/scams.shtml). Here are a
few ways to avoid some of the perils associated with being
connected to the rest of the world.

As a general rule of thumb, beware of any offer that sounds
too good to be true. This applies to products being offered
on the Internet and especially to any unsolicited offer or
spam you receive in your email. Many of these are scams.

The term "spam", in case you don't know, refers to any
unsolicited bulk email. If it's not addressed to you, or
you don't recognize the sender, or you're being asked to
buy something or pass along questionable information, then
that's spam. My advise is to "can the spam" by immediately
deleting any email you receive from anyone you don't know.

The best way to avoid spam, is to be very careful about who
you give your email address to. My advise here is to set up
a free email account and to give this email address to
anyone you don't absolutely trust with your personal
information. It almost never does any good to fight back
against spam. Your best course of action is just to delete
any unwanted email.

A trick that has been pretty successful for me is to set up
an email rule (or filter) that automatically sends any mail
not addressed to me to a special folder. Most of this is
spam and can be easily disposed of.

In addition to spams and scams, the other thing to watch
out for on the Internet is hoaxes, urban legends and false
information. There are many of these floating around the
Internet these days. Beware of any email that asks you to
send money for any cause, or to forward the email to all
your friends. Almost all of these are hoaxes. An excellent
resource for information on hoaxes, urban legends and false
information is http://urbanlegends.about.com/index.htm

Another category of hoaxes involves virus warnings. If you
receive information that indicates you can get a computer
virus from doing anything except opening an email
attachment or running an application, then this is probably
false information.

Most computer viruses are spread by users opening email
attachments that contain the virus. NEVER OPEN AN EMAIL
ATTACHMENT THAT YOU ARE NOT EXPECTING. Even if you know
the sender, make sure the attachment is legitimate before
opening it. It is much safer to delete any questionable
attachments and ask the sender to resend them than to
assume that the sender intended to send that email.

Your best defenses against computer viruses are: 1) caution
in downloading programs from questionable sources,
2) regularly scanning your drive with virus protection
software, and 3) backing up all your important data to a
different drive or media (floppy, Zip or CD-ROM) as soon as
possible. By doing all of these, if your system does get
infected, you can restore it with a minimum of hassle.

Always check out any offer or information you receive
before sending any money or forwarding the information
to someone else. That way you can rest easy knowing you
aren't getting scammed or passing along an urban legend.

There are several basic concepts to keep in mind when deciding to stay spyware free for good. This article will outline a spyware checklist for you to keep in mind when getting tough on spyware and taking back control of your computer using two popular free applications, Ad-Aware,and Spybot - S&D. Using these two programs in conjunction will eliminate a vast majority of spyware problems from your computer. For the purposes of this article, "spyware" refers also to adware, malware, and other not-so-nice "features" of today's computing reality.

These are some tell-tale warning signs that your computer may be suffering from spyware-

* You receive many pop-ups

* Your computer is running slowly

* You may have invasive toolbars hijacking your browser

* Your home page may have been hijacked

Your first step to escaping spyware's wrath is to download and run Ad-Aware and Spybot - S&D, the two leading spyware fighting tools out there, boasting millions of downloads each. Please remember it's always safest to backup your system before installing a new program or executing one. After downloading the two programs, be sure to run the update feature to be sure they are current when it comes to detecting the latest threats. Remove the detected spyware using these two programs, then move to step two.

The second step in staying spyware free involves you to be proactive. At this point your computer should be free from spyware. What you want to do now is keep it this way, to do that there are helpful tips to guide you. In Windows 98 you can use msconfig to view the startup programs on your computer. This is helpful because you can control what programs automatically load when you boot your computer. To access this invaluable tool, go to START >> RUN, type MSCONFIG. If you check the startup programs occasionally you may see a new spyware entry that will alert you it's time to clean out the spyware again.

The third step involves your web browsing habits. It means you must never click on an activex screen that asks you if you want to allow an innocuous looking toolbar, or "surfing aid"be installed. By clicking "allow" you are effectively giving these perfidious spyware authors free reign over your system and personal information. If possible you should surf with the security settings on "maximum" for safest surfing.

In summary, it's important to avoid spyware for your computer and personal identity health. To do so, use free tools available to you and be mindful of your computer settings and surf the Internet responsibly. Following these easy steps will ensure a safe and spyware free existence for you and your computer! Erich Bihlman is a technology pro specializing in PC/Internet Tutoring and website design services in Prescott, Arizona. Erich has owned and operated www.Bihlman.com since 1997.

Computer security, in basic terms means keeping your computer and the data that's in it safe and secure. More of our personal data is stored in or accessed from our computer, now more than ever before. Yet most people lack even the basic understanding of how to keep their computers safe and secure. By following just a few simple rules you can dramatically improve the overall security of your computer.

The first thing to understand is what exactly it means to be connected to the internet. Your computer connected to the internet is similar to your house in many ways. There are many ways into your house. Windows, doors, etc. The more windows and doors you have, the more ways someone has into your house. An open door doesn't necessarily mean you are going to be robbed, but it does improve the chances. Complicating matters, the ones that you think are locked, may not be because the lock is faulty or even the door itself may have an as of yet undiscovered flaw that would allow an intruder easy access to your home.

Your computer has many windows and doors, not all of which are locked. New flaws are being found everyday, often with the fix not coming until days after. Just like you wouldn't leave your front door unlocked, you shouldn't leave your computer wide open either. The first two things we will discuss to help with this task are installation of a quality firewall and regularly updating your installed software.

Updating your software is becoming easier these days, especially your Operating System. We don't have the time here to go into detail about the many ways to update the many software packages you may have or use, but generally speaking the software manufacturer will provide you a way to do this automatically via the internet. A good example of this is the Microsoft Windows Update feature. Be sure to get the updates for everything installed on your computer, nothing is too trivial.

There are two basic types of firewalls and both perform the same functions. One is hardware the other is software. A hardware firewall is probably included in your router if you are using one, while you may or may not have a software firewall installed. To continue our house analogy, a firewall is like building a wall and gate around your home and giving the guard at the gate instructions on who to let in and out. While this does give a great deal of protection, it is not all that is required. Someone may know a way around or under your wall, or even be able to coerce the guard into letting them in.

You yourself may unwittingly allow someone in. This could happen by simply opening an email or even simply surfing the net. Spyware, viruses, trojans and the like are ever more adept in their methods of fooling you and your guards. Emails may come from a trusted friend containing a dangerous virus without them even knowing it. This is where the next layer of protection comes in, anti-virus software.

Anti-virus software is a large category these days. Often these packages come as "suites" including a firewall and Spyware scanner. While most of these programs are very effective in their promised tasks, it is not wise to be lulled into a false sense of security by them. They are simply one layer in what should be a multi tiered protection plan for you and your computer. One last important note about anti virus software is to be sure that it updates on a regular basis. New threats come out daily so check its updates manually to be sure they have happened.

Back to our house analogy, we now have all of our windows, doors and other entry ways locked and fully updated. We have a wall around our house with a guard at the gate and we have software scanning everything that comes in past the gate. Sounds pretty good, but there's one last security hole we need to address, you.

A large percentage of infections are caused by the computer user themselves. The internet is an ever changing place that requires it's users to be educated about its use. I'm not suggesting that you need to be a computer expert to simply read your email. I am however suggesting that you take some time to educate yourself on some of the dangers that pop up everyday, and the precautions to take in order to avoid them.

In summary, your computer is a powerful machine connected to one of the greatest things ever invented, the internet. This vast resource can be a dangerous place if you are not properly prepared and informed. Regular software updates, a good firewall, anti virus software and a little education are the basics in computer security. Having and understanding these basics will make your computer safer, more secure and more enjoyable.

Traditional anti-virus software only stops known computer viruses – stopping undefined computer viruses requires a different approach.

In the past, network administrators scrambled to apply new virus signatures whenever new computer viruses were discovered. While these signatures will stop a known threat, it takes time for anti-virus vendors to develop them. Unfortunately, the newest and most damaging viruses are able to spread so quickly that the damage is done before a signature can be developed and distributed.

In fact, the independent testing laboratory AV-test.org found the response times for major anti-virus software publishers to range from just under 7 hours to almost 30 hours , with the four leading vendors (Sophos, McAfee, Symantec and Trend Micro) clocking in at no less than 12 hours.

In January 2004, the computer virus known as “MyDoom” created mass disruption to corporate resources and reputations as it quickly spread through e-mail networks worldwide. At its peak, MyDoom infected one in every five e-mails transmitted over the Internet. The worm broke records set by previous malware, such as Sobig.F, to become the fastest-spreading virus ever. This incredible propagation speed left many networks vulnerable - despite the presence of anti-virus software - because of the lag time between when the virus outbreak began, and when a virus definition became available.

As a result of recent malware threats, corporations and organizations have learned a painful but important lesson: simply deploying a signature-based solution is no longer enough. Detecting and eliminating computer viruses requires a multi-faceted, rapid-response approach that traditional anti-virus protection cannot provide. Even a single unprotected computer on an enterprise network can bring down the entire system in just minutes, rendering even the most expensive and up-to-date software useless.

Why E-Mail is Particularly Susceptible

In many organizations, e-mail has replaced the telephone as the most useful business tool available. Unfortunately, e-mail has also been a victim of its own success and presents a unique threat to the enterprise network as a whole.

Detecting and eliminating threats has traditionally been the combined responsibility of firewalls, virus scanners, and intrusion detection systems (IDS) set up by enterprises to defend against attacks. Firewalls prevent unauthorized programs from accessing the network, virus scanners scan each PC in the network for malicious code, and gateway servers lock down extraneous ports to protect against unauthorized access.

But key Internet-facing applications, including e-mail are unguarded by firewalls. In order to function, e-mail must expose firewall ports, including port 25, the port used by SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) and port 110, the port used by POP (Post Office Protocol).

When a firewall receives a connection on port 25, it generally assumes that the transmission is e-mail and allows it to flow through to the e-mail server. The transmission may very well be a valid e-mail; however, it could also be a virus, spam or something much worse. Firewalls are not able to distinguish between “good” mail and “bad” mail and therefore they are unable ot protect the e-mail application.

Stop E-Mail Threats at the Gateway

Therefore, some sort of protection is needed specifically for e-mail and, since the best place to stop a threat is before it gets inside the network, the protection should be at the e-mail gateway. Protecting the e-mail gateway requires a coordinated effort to combat a host of issues, including spam, viruses, corporate policy infringements, directory harvest attacks, denial of service attacks, phishing, spoofing, and snooping. As e-mail threats evolve, the distinction between each of these types of threats becomes blurred.

Furthermore, accuracy in identifying “bad” e-mails is crucial. Extreme care must be taken to avoid filtering out legitimate e-mails (false positives), which could contain important information from customers or partners.

Historically, enterprises have turned to multiple vendors to solve their e-mail security issues. They have relied on anti-virus vendors to protect them from viruses. They use a separate anti-spam vendor to help cut back on the spam. Then, there are the issues of content filtering, policy enforcement, encryption, and network security. Unfortunatley, attackers are now highly adept at exploiting these non-integrated solutions. This “Swiss cheese” defense has not only been costly, but increasingly ineffective at protecting corporate email systems.

Computer Virus Risks

Recent attacks from various types of computer viruses and worms have had profound effects on computer systems around the world. Enterprises have been brought to their knees and forced to spend billions of dollars cleaning up the mess and rebuilding their infrastructures. While the increased IT costs are clear, there are other risks corporations face with regard to e-mail borne viruses.

System Downtime

E-mail has evolved to be the primary communication tool for most organizations and the loss of e-mail due to attack can severely affect enterprise operations. Beyond the immediate expenses involved in restoring the network, an attack on your enterprise e-mail system can also result in lost hours and days for employees who have come to rely on it to accomplish their daily tasks.

Resource Depletion

The costs of cleaning up after an attack are significant. IT teams are forced to spend considerable time and money repairing virus damage. The damage, however, is rarely contained to network servers. Once inside the network, viruses can quickly infect large numbers of relatively exposed client machines - all of which must be individually cleaned, patched and repaired.

Administration

In the past, when a new vulnerability was discovered, network administrators scrambled to apply security patches from the makers of their anti-virus software and manually reviewed quarantine lists for virus-infected messages. Software manufacturers release patches so frequently that network administrators cannot reasonably be expected to keep up with them all. As stated by Gartner Research, “Enterprises will never be able to patch quickly enough. After all, attackers have nothing else to do.” The staggering damage caused by recent computer viruses and malware attacks is clear evidence that manual intervention to institute emergency measures or review quarantined messages is rarely effective against rapidly propagating threats.

Compliance and Liability

Recent Federal regulations such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) and Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SoX), require enterprises to protect data residing in mail servers and other internal systems. Security breaches violate these regulations, exposing sensitive data and opening the door to serious sanctions and costly litigation.

Credibility

Falling victim to a virus attack can also result in lost trust from business partners and customers. According to Gartner, “Enterprises that spread viruses, worms, spam and denial-of-service attacks will find not only that malicious software can hinder their profitability, but also that other businesses will disconnect from them if they are considered to be risky.” While an attack may not be your fault, it is most certainly your problem.

The Solution

Although signature-based anti-virus systems are inadequate to preventing virus attacks in the first few hours or days of an outbreak, it is possible to identify outbreaks before they infiltrate your organization’s network and become a problem. In fact, doing so successfully requires tight integration of several different technologies designed to analyze mail based on many different characteristics. One of the most innovative and important technologies for meeting these threats is known as Anomaly Detection.

Large-scale virus outbreaks create anomalies in mail flow which are identifiable by the message content, source, volume, attachment or any of a number of other indicators. When a particular message appears to be a part of a sudden surge of anomalous messages moving across the internet, the message can be quarantined until virus definitions can be developed to address the new threat.

Anomaly Detection

CipherTrust’s IronMail utilizes a unique Anomaly Detection Engine (ADE), which dynamically identifies and responds to abnormal behavior in mail flow. By monitoring “normal” e-mail traffic rates across the Internet, the ADE allows IronMail to identify spikes in traffic that are often the first signal of a malicious attack. Once these spikes are recognized, IronMail units take appropriate action to prevent infiltration of the network.

Wouldn't it be nice if your computer still ran like it did
back when you first got it? Before you go and buy a new
computer try this key maintenance step you can use to put
life back into the computer you've already got.

Imagine that you start up your pc just to find yourself
staring at a blue screen with white writing, termed "the
blue screen of death" by those at Microsoft.

So you push the power button to shut it down, and when you
bring
it back up it just crawls. Within a few minutes it goes
back to the
blue screen of death.

This happened to a friend of mine. When she asked me what
she could do, I asked her if she had ever defragmented her
pc.

She got that "deer in the headlight" look, so I knew she
hadn't. Defragmenting her pc, after 3 years of never doing
so, took about 14 hours to complete.

One of the main reasons that computers slow down is poor
maintenance practices.

Unfortunately, when you buy a new computer you don't usually
get much instruction on how to maintain it. Poor or no
maintenance allows your hard drive to become more and more
fragmented which will slow it down over time.

To best explain hard drive fragmentation think of your hard
drive as a file cabinet. In this cabinet there are folders
with documents (files) in them.

When you need to work on something you open the folder
containing the necessary file, pull out what you need and
put the folder back. The files go on your desk so you can
work on them.

Over time certain files don't get put back, or they get put
back in the wrong places.

When this happens on the hard drive it leads to
fragmentation. Think of defragmenting as going through all
of the files on your desk, and in the cabinet, and putting
them all back in order in the correct folders.

Just as staying in this state of disorganization would lead
to a significant loss in your own productivity, the same
thing happens to your computer.

Eventually this even causes crashes because of how scattered
all of the information gets.

Disk fragmentation can even shorten the lifespan of your
computer because your hard drive works so hard that it wears
out faster.

So the one step solution for this part of computer
maintenance, run the defragmenting tool that comes with
windows at least once every couple of weeks.

Do this by clicking Start, click All Programs, click
Accessories, click System Tools, then click Disk
Defragmenter. Choose the disk you want to defragment and
click the defragment button.

Alternatively you can get software that will automatically
keep your disk defragmented, like Diskeeper by Executive
Software.

Take care of your pc maintenance and you will continue to
enjoy the speed you experienced when you first made that
investment!

(c)Chuck Moorefield - All Rights Reserved.

Computer is a combination of analog and digital device which is used to compute complex mathematical problems. It is basically a programmable electronic device which performs high speed mathematical and logical operations. The main function of computer is to perform repetitive procedures very quickly and reliably.

The computer can be broadly divided in two sections; one is hardware and the other is software. The hardware is made of electronic circuits and components while the software is the programs required to run the central processing unit or the CPU. Again the hardware is of four type i.e. CPU, input, output and memory device. Now a days looking at the vast uses of computer people are using computer at their offices and at homes for working as well as entertainment purposes.

As we all know that each and every electronic goods need repairing and computer is not excluded from that list. Whenever there is any troubleshoot in this whole procedure the computer seems to function improperly. As a result we need to repair our computer to make it function properly. It is very tedious to repair ones computer and beside that it is also time consuming if the problem is unknown by the repairer. But if anyone has sound information regarding computer repair then it would seem to be rather easier. There are several organizations with trained and qualified technicians to help you out whenever you have problem with your computer. There are also various computer selling organizations who give after sell repairing service completely at free of cost. While there are other computers organizations, which have good computer technicians, provide only repairing service. Each of these companies serves their clients with best technical services. There are also different books or guidelines to provide us various information regarding computer trouble shoot and how to repair them. There are also technical colleges and training institute for technicians to learn more about computer problems and their repairing.

There are computers of various brands such as IBM, HP, Compaq, Dell, Apple etc. in the market and they differ from each other in respect of hardware and software. Therefore their troubleshooting problems also differ from each other. So the technicians should know how to repair these different computers. A good computer technician is required to familiar with various operating systems such as Microsoft Windows, Macintosh, Linux, etc. A good technician must also know how to deal with different computer peripherals such as printers, scanners, fax machines, etc.

Here are few troubleshoots of computers which are very common. They are 1) Power Supply Failure, 2) Motherboard Troubleshooting, 3) Hard Drive Failure 4), CD and DVD Drive Troubleshooting, 5) Modem Failure, 6) Sound and Game Card Failure, 7) Peripheral Failure 8) Virus Threats and many more. At first the technician need to do a complete diagnostic checkup. Then he needs follow those Basic Computer Repairing rules to repair a troubleshooting computer successfully. Beside these computer requires regular update, virus cleaning and modifications. At last we can conclude that if computers are maintained and handled properly then we can prevent our computers from various troubleshoots as we all know that 'prevention is always better than cure'.

Question : My problem is when the time comes to shut down or restart my PC - it takes about two to three minutes to shut down or restart. Please help.

Answer : Slow shutdowns can be due to various reasons. The main reason for slow shutdowns is page file clearing. This is especially indicated if the hard disk light goes on and stays on while the operating system (OS) is shutting down.

The page file is a file on the hard disk that's used as virtual memory. Virtual memory augments the random access memory on the system board. Since the page file may contain sensitive information, many OSes can be set to clear the page file when it (the OS) shuts down.

Many Web sites state this improves the security posture of an OS. They're not wrong in this, except that saying this improves the security posture of an OS is a little like saying installing 12 locks and a biometric identification system with voice analysis improves the security posture of a house.

Page file compromise is very low risk because there are many other ways to attempt to compromise the security and integrity of an OS, many of which would be easier and have better yield rates. Because of this, this option is not recommended for all but the most secure environments.

In Windows, this option is controlled by a registry entry. The registry entry in question is "ClearPageFile-AtShutdown". This key is usually located in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management section of the registry.

To attempt to turn off page file clearing, start (run) the program regedt32.exe and navigate to the HKEY_ LOCAL _MACHINE\SYSTEM\ CurrentControlSet\ Control \ Session Manager\Memory Management section. On the right pane, check if the entry "ClearPageFileAtShutdown" is visible. If it is, right-click on it and select Modify from the pop-up menu. When the EDIT DWORD window pops up, type "0" in the box under Value Data and click on the OK button. After the PC restarts, the next shutdown should take a little less time.

Another possibility is that there are programs or services that take some time to shut down. In general, it is not advisable to have too many services or programs running in the background because all these will have to be terminated before the OS can shut down gracefully.

To test for this, try closing all open programs and manually shutting down all background applications (including all firewall/anti-virus software) just before shutting down the OS.

Most background applications can be shut down by right-clicking on the icon in the taskbar and selecting Exit or some similar option. If it shuts down faster after all the background applications have been shut down, it's possible that there are one or more background applications that take a long time to shut down. If this is the case, not much can be done other than shutting down the offending application or finding a way to configure the parent program so it doesn't load a background application when it starts.

The offending application can be identified by looking through the event logs (Start --> Control Panel --> Administrative Tools --> Event Viewer). If nothing looks amiss, it can also be identified in this manner: First, shutdown a background application and then shut down the OS. Not the shutdown time. On the next restart, shut down another background application and note the shutdown time. This should be repeated for every application that runs in the background. If at any time the shutdown time improves after a background application is shut down, the same application becomes a prime suspect in the "slow shutdown time" issue.

It's also possible to decrease shutdown time by decreasing the time Windows waits for hung and slow applications to shut down.

To change this time, open the registry editor (regedt32) and navigate to the HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control section. From here, right-click on "WaitToKillServiceTimeout" and select Modify. In the box under ValueData, enter the time (in millisecond) the OS should wait until it summarily kills the service. The default value is 20,000 (20,000 milliseconds or 20 seconds).

Other settings that can be added here include "Hung-AppTimeout" and "Auto-EndTasks".

HungAppTimeout controls the amount of time the OS should wait before killing a hung or frozen application. AutoEndTasks tells the OS when to end hung applications automatically, or display the End Tasks dialogue. To add any of the two settings, right-click on the right pane and select New --> String Value. Enter the name of the setting (HungApp-Timeout or AutoEndTasks as appropriate). Next, right-click on the added setting, select Modify and enter an appropriate value.

For HungAppTimeout, an appropriate value is the amount (in millisecond) that the OS should wait before terminating an application. Suitable values for AutoEndTasks include "0" and "1 ", with "0" meaning "end hung applications automatically, do not show End Tasks dialogue" and "I" meaning "show End Tasks dialogue when the shutdown time exceeds the value stated in HungAppTimeout".

If using Internet Explorer, ensuring that the browser clears the Temporary Internet Files folder every time it shuts down (Tools --> Internet Options --> Advanced --> Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed) and defragmenting the hard disk drive may result in faster shutdown times.

If you've recently purchased a computer, or are just learning about using email and the internet, you may have heard about computer viruses and anti-virus software. You may be wondering if this is something that you should be concerned about, and if so, what you should do about it. This article will attempt to answer these questions for you.

First, you may be wondering just what a computer virus is. Basically a computer virus is one of many types of small programs that install themselves on your computer without your consent. Usually they enter your program through an email, or while you are browsing a website.

When these programs run, usually without you knowing, they can cause all types of problems with your computer. Some viruses can be mildly annoying, slowing down your computer as they use your computer's resources for another purpose. Others can be very dangerous, collecting your personal information and sending it to another party, or damaging your hard-drive.

True to their name, viruses are able to use your internet connection and email program and send themselves to the computers of other people you know, spreading themselves just like a contagious disease.

Because of this, just like the health of your body, when it comes to computer viruses, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. It is much easier to prevent viruses from entering your computer than it is to get rid of them and cure your computer once it becomes infected. This is why Anti-Virus software is important.

Once you realize that you need anti-virus software installed and running on your computer, you'll have to choose which one to purchase and install. This can be a complicated process, but here are some tips to make it a bit easier.

First, check your computer to see if it came with anti-virus software. Many new computers are shipped with anti-virus programs already to go on them, you just need to turn them on. Check your instruction manual to see if this is the case with your computer.

Check with the vendor. If you purchased your computer from a local retailer, check with them to see what anti-virus program they recommend. They should be more than willing to help you and may even be able to provide you with a discount since you purchased a computer from them.

Once you have your anti-virus installed and running on your computer, be sure to contact the software's support if you have any questions. It is also important to keep your software updated. Many of these programs will automatically update themselves when you are online. This is very important since new viruses are always appearing and you want to make sure your computer is protected.