Virus Protection 101

Many people think that to be protected against those nasty computer viruses, all they need is to have an antivirus software installed.  WRONG!

Not only must you have a good antivirus software installed, but you must have the antivirus definitions up to date or the software is as good as non existant.  Furthermore, you must have your Windows updates installed by going to http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ and installing all the recommended updates.  These updates contain security patches that address vulnerabilities in Windows that allow malicious viruses to get in to begin with.  Be sure to update at least once a week.  More often if possible.  It is very important to not open files that you are not familiar with and stay away from *ahem* websites that are known to spread such filth.

If you have a software that was subscription based for updates and do not want to pay to renew, you can uninstall and instead download and install a good free antivirus software such as AVG Free.

http://free.avg.com/us-en/homepage


Depending on your antivirus software, you can download the latest virus patterns or virus definitions at the following sites:

Symantec and Norton Antivirus - http://www.symantec.com/business/security_response/definitions.jsp

McAffee (must have a login) - www.mcafee.com/apps/downloads/security_updates/dat.asp?region=us&segment=enterprise

AVG - http://free.avg.com/us-en/download-update

Here are is link to Symantec's free virus removal tools in case you are already infected with something.
http://www.symantec.com/business/security_response/removaltools.jsp

Malware Anti-Malware is a great tool to remove Malware, which is incredibly difficult to deal with at times.

http://majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=5756