How to Protect a Computer from Computer Viruses

        There are many ways of preventing a computer from virus attack. Some of these precautions are listed below.

• Verbal Warning
• Avoiding the use of unchecked disks
• Avoiding the use of unauthorized or unchecked software

Anti-virus Software

        Anti-virus software contains anti-virus scanners, which look for viruses.

• On-access scanners - Automatically check the hard disk and diskette each time the system starts up.

• On-demand scanners - Executes only on users demand and can be scheduled to run at various times

       Most commercial anti-virus software provides both types of scanners. It will take some time for an anti-virus software designer get to know about a new type of virus and to write software to detect it. Therefore anti-virus software gets out of date very often.

Firewalls

        A computer generally has many ports (think of them as doorways), which allow external programs to access the computer. Hackers use programs to automatically detect vulnerabilities in the computer and gain access to the computer by using this weak access points. Firewall protection secures these ports so malicious programs can sneak into your machine. Firewall software can also be used to check whether files downloaded from the internet follow a defined security protocol and free of viruses.

Posted in: Computer Viruses