6 Ways to Keep Your Computer Virus-Free
If you spend a considerable amount of time on the Internet, you may be wary about viruses and know how to avoid them. But if you aren't an experienced Internet user, it's easy to allow a virus to infiltrate your system mistakenly and cause unknown damage. You can protect your computer from viruses in a number of ways -- both through technology and awareness.
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Anti-Virus Program
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Installing a quality anti-virus program onto your computer is one of the best ways you can keep it virus free. It's important to use a program that updates daily or hourly so that it will help protect you from the latest threats. A non-updating anti-virus program is virtually useless as new viruses are created daily, and an old program wouldn't necessarily block them.
Firewall
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Editing the firewall settings on your computer to help protect it from a virus attack is helpful if you want to keep your machine working smoothly. Though you may have to occasionally decrease the firewall's settings to allow for such activities as online gaming, keeping them set to "High" as much as possible is another deterrent for a virus.
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Pop-Up Blockers
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If you surf the Internet with considerable frequency, it's useful to install a pop-up blocker on your Web browser. These blockers are often already installed on browsers, but you may have to turn them on. They'll prevent pop-up advertisements, many of which can contain viruses, from appearing on your screen. Many pop-up blockers will also let you sort through a list of the sites from which the pop-ups have been blocked.
Email Attachments
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Many viruses come to your computer through emails, either from a sender you know or from someone you don't. Be wary about opening attachments in emails, especially if they've been forwarded multiple times. Though the sender may not maliciously be trying to infect your computer with a virus, he may not know that the attachment contains one.
Web Browsing
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Viruses can often lurk on amateur or otherwise suspicious websites, so it's best, if possible, to keep your Web browsing to well-known sites. Though no site is impervious to a virus attack, larger, well-run sites spend considerable funds and resources protecting themselves from viruses. Try to avoid websites that contain a plethora of user-uploaded information, as these sites can often contain viruses.
Downloading
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Many people download audio, video and game files from peer-to-peer networking sites. Though many of these sites are illegal, another danger is that these files can often contain viruses. When you attempt to download a movie, for example, check the file you're downloading to ensure it's a media file, and not a file that looks suspicious. Be especially wary of EXE files, which may execute a virus upon being downloaded.
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