Anti Virus protection is just a click away

Welcome to one of the best sources of anti virus information on the Net. Hopefully, you've arrived here, not because you’re already infected by a malicious virus, but because you want to prevent that problem from ever occurring on your PC or Mac. Obviously undertaking a proactive anti virus protection strategy will help you avoid needless hassles, data losses and even complete hard drive meltdowns. The experts say that you need to take a total inventory of your security situation and then decide what protection to put into place. A good anti virus strategy employs all hardware, software and even common sense tools available today to fight the hackers and criminals bent on stealing or destroying your private data.

On the other hand, if you've arrived at this website with a computer already infected by a virus, then there are a number of steps you need to take immediately to get rid of it before installing other hardware and software. We touch on that cleansing process in another article.

So just what are computer viruses?

There are many ideas and misconceptions about computer viruses. So what are the straight facts.

Like the 'living' bugs they are named after, viruses attach themselves to a host - usually another computer program. Hitching a ride through hyperspace, viruses hide inside the host software waiting for the opportunity to infect their ultimate destination - your computer(s). To become activated, however, these viruses need you to actually invite and initiate the 'infected' host software. By its very DNA, the virus seeks to copy itself to another program and replicate by executing its malicious code.

Still a little unsure about these dangerous 'bugs?' Buried deep inside http://www.faqs.org/faqs/computer-virus/ is one of the best definitions:

'A computer virus is a self-replicating program containing code that explicitly copies itself and that can "infect" other programs by modifying them or their environment such that a call to an infected program implies a call to a possibly evolved copy of the virus.'

Want a mind-numbing journey through the hell that is computer viruses, there are lengthy treatises dedicated to the topic.

Sadly, every day, talented programmers and sick techno vandals are putting their skills to use in the pursuit of evil. So unless your computer sits on your desk unattached to the outside world in any form, your PC or Mac can be attacked directly online, via email, and through floppies/CDs. The battle is waged daily.

Taking steps now to protect your information will save you time and money later on trying to recover from an infection. Take it seriously … the bad guys do!