by Roberto beiro

You might have learned your lesson from a previous nasty experience with a computer virus. Or maybe, you've been pushing your luck by downloading various files or opening those email messages sent to you by people you don't know. Either way, it seems that you have no real understanding what you are doing or of just how vulnerable you really are each time you log onto your computer. In this article I am going to give you the opportunity to discover what steps you can take to avoid such annoying and many times destructive infestations.

I have put together 10 tips that you can follow in order to avoid being infected by a nasty virus that could potentially turn your PC into a disaster zone.

1. Get yourself some antivirus software from a respected company such as Norton Antivirus software. You should set it up to run automatically every time you turn your computer on.

2. Your anti virus software must be kept up to date. You can do this by checking it manually on a weekly basis, or on some software, this can be set up automatically for you.

3. You can also set up your software to automatically scan for viruses each time you open a word document that you recieve through email. This virus is called a Macro Virus.

4. Downloading software from the internet should not be done too often. It is very easy to get infected this way, even though there may be lots of great programs available This is very risky.

5. Tansfering data between storage devices like usb drives and discs, should only be done if really neccessary and they should be scanned for viruses before you install the data onto your machine.

6. When tranferring data using a floppy disc, the disc must be formatted first.

7. Don't install any software that hasn't been purchased from a well known and trusted vendor.

8. Never install software that is pirated. This is not only illegal but also a great way to get infected with a virus.

9. Before you open and install a program you have downloaded of the internet, ALWAYS scan them for computer viruses.

10. Probably the most important and neglected method of disaster recovery are periodic backups of all important files found on your computer. Should a virus happen to get through your lines of defense you may need to replace the virus corrupted files with fresh ones that have been kept for such an occasion.

I can't guarantee, if you follow the step that I advise, that you won't get a computer virus, but I can promise you that it will be a less likely occurence by far.

About the Author:
Roberto Beiro is a dynamic writer on the web. You can find more computer advice from him at his website Old boy articles. There are also 100's of articles on other topics like finance advice, and travel advice .

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