How Do We Avoid Viruses On Computers?

How do we go about advising customers about viruses and how to avoid them? This is all the job of the IT Practitioners (systems support).

Computers that are connected to a network to send and receive emails are open to virus attacks unless steps are taken to protect these systems.

A virus is a program written to either cause damage to a computer or cause inconvenience to its users. A mild virus can be a slight nuisance and easily removed. However, most viruses tend to damage files and even hardware. Viruses can be very hard to detect and remove. A computer can pick up a virus when you download a seemingly normal file from the Internet. Most virus infections to a computer are considered very dangerous. Email is widely used to spread different kinds of viruses. These viruses are attached to emails and when the message is opened it spreads and causes problems.

How To Avoid Viruses

We need to remember the following:

• A virus is simply a computer program. Some viruses are designed to deliberately damage files, and others may just spread to other computers to cause inconvenience.
• A worm is a type of virus that can spread without human interaction. Worms can also allow attackers to gain access to your computer remotely.
• A Trojan horse is a computer program that is used to hide a virus or another damaging program. A Trojan horse can pretend to do a good action, when in fact, it performs a malicious action on the computer.

How do we avoid a virus infection from email? Most users get viruses from opening and running unknown email attachments. You should never open anything that is attached to an email message unless you know the contents of the file. If you receive an attachment from a familiar email address (eg a friend), but were not expecting anything, you should contact your friend before opening the attachment. If you receive a message with an attachment and you do not recognize the sender, you should delete the message. Selecting the option to view your email messages in plain text, not HTML, will also help you to avoid a virus.

On top of all this:

• Install an anti-virus program and update it regularly.
• Regularly scan your PC for viruses
• Use a virus scan before you open any new programs or files
• Be careful when accepting files that people send you on chat lines and other online programs
• Back up your data

Create routine automated procedures and assist in the creation of complex automated procedures. eg. timed back ups and data transfer, scheduled virus and spyware scan, scheduled maintenance (disk scanning, defragmentation, shortcuts and hyperlinks and auto-run applications).

This is all part of the requirement for City & Guilds Diploma in IT Systems Support (7267-24).