If you were a computer user in the late 1980s, virus infections would not have been a major concern for you. However, by the mid 1990s virus infections had become common place and this trend has worsened with the arrival of always on broadband internet.

Should Viruses be removed? Absolutely, because they are installed on your computer to do a job for the virus author, and these tasks are nearly always damage the computer user in some way. Common infections today will try and con the computer user into purchasing rogue antivirus programs, will steal private information which is then used for identity fraud or will hijack your browser, serving up unwanted advertisements and slowing down your computer.Your first consider should be strong and capable antivirus software. This will be your computers main line of defense against external attackers. Not all antivirus software is equal. Some in practise are truly appauling, letting too many infections in or slowing your system down drastically. It is essential that your do some research and find out from someone you can trust what is the best software to use. It is normally better to buy antivirus software as the free options are not all that strong. Another tip is to avoid the versions which vendors offer that attempt to combine antivirus, antispyare and a firewall all in one. Most of these are over complex and prone to a myriad of problems and are best avoided.

Your next priority after antivirus software is installed is to make sure your Windows installation is kept up to date. Visit the Windows Update website at least once a month to download all of Microsoft’s latest patches and security updates. This will give your antivirus software less work to do as the obvioue security holes in your system will have been pached up!

Antispyware software is ofter overlooked even though it is an extremely useful partner to your antivirus mainstay. The same principal applies here as with the antivirus. Do your research and install the strongest antispyware software you can find. This will greatly lessen the burden on your antivirus software and should leave it with less to do.

Finally, learn a bit about safe surfing and be smart about where you visit and what you click on. You will likely already know some basics. Dont open e-mail attachment from someone your dont know, dont interact with pop-ups warning you about security issues (they are usually scams), dont visit porn or warez sites, as they are breeding grounds for malware infectors, dont click on links that are displayed as a numeric IP number and not as a domain & download software only from trusted sites. However there are many more new tricks to learn, so be alert to new things and read up on the subject every few months. Google is your friend for research!

Follow all of this advice and you will have a much better chance of staying virus free for longer.
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