Counterattack With viruses like Melissa ready to strike homebased computer systems at any given time, finding your best defense mechanism could mean playing a little offense.
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The "Melissa" virus put computer viruses on the frontpages of the world's newspapers, and although it was allegedlynamed after a Florida topless dancer, the speed at which Melissaspread means it's time to start taking viruses more seriously.For years, I laughed off viruses--didn't even use antivirussoftware--but nowadays that casualness works about as well withcomputers as it does with sex. Protection matters.
But, first off, know that the majority of "viruses"you hear about--in frantic e-mails forwarded from colleagues orpals--are rubbish. Such as? Literally millions of e-mails haveclogged the Net with warnings about "the AIDS virus,"which supposedly "eats away" your memory. "Whenit's finished with memory, it infects your mouse . . . then itgoes to your keyboard."
Nonsense. There is no such computer code.
That's why, whenever you get alerted to a new virus, yourfirst stop should be at a site that tracks virus hoaxes. Odds are,you'll find this "menace" listed. Where to look? Twogood tracking sites are "Computer Virus Myths"(http://www.kumite.com/myths) andComputer Incident Advisory Capability: Internet Hoaxes (http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACHoaxes.html).
This scoffing doesn't mean you don't need protection. AsMelissa vividly demonstrated, there are nasty viruses out there.That's why you need any of the main antivirus programs: NortonAntivirus (http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/index.html);McAfee's VirusScan (http://vil.mcafee.com/villib/alpha.asp);or Dr. Solomon's AntiVirus Toolkit (http://www.drsolomon.com/vircen/index.cfm).
The beauty of these programs (in my opinion, they're aboutequal in value) is that, once installed, they automatically searchyour drives and incoming downloads for threats to your system. Thisis no-brainer protection.
Then can you rest easy? Nope. You have to keep your antivirussoftware updated, because deviant geeks are daily issuing newviruses. To stay immune, you need to pay a monthly visit to yourantivirus tool's Web site. Download any patches and updates,and you'll probably be well-guarded against the next Melissa .. . at least the cybervarieties. As for the others, just stay outof strip clubs and you'll be fine.
RobertMcGarvey started exploring the online world over a decade ago withGenie, and has been writing on--and complaining about--the Net eversince. He writes about the Web for Entrepreneur, BizTravel.comand Upside.
