Hardly a day goes by when you don’t hear about a computer virus
in the news or from someone you know. As a matter of fact, there
are well over 8,000 active computer viruses in the world in any
given twenty-four period and 5 new viruses are introduced daily.
The majority of computers will catch a virus through an e-mail
attachment or link. Most viruses will use an infected computers
address book to distribute themselves, so you are much more
likely to receive a virus from someone you know rather than a
total stranger.
However, the best way to identify whether or not any attachment
could be a potential virus hazard is by looking at the extension
(suffix) of the attached file. Hazardous file attachments are
..pif, .exe, .com, .vbs, .bat, .bin, .dot, .reg, .js, .scr, .xlm
and .dll. While this list is by no means exhaustive these are
the definite ones to be on-guard for. In case you’re wondering,
catching a virus by file sharing is the second most popular way
to get infected. File sharing whether you use removable disks,
CDs, DVDs, memory cards/sticks or even synch cables can make
your “never connected to the Internet” computer, vulnerable to
catching a virus.
Protecting your computer from a computer virus infection is
relatively easy if you follow these simple steps:
1. Put anti-virus software on all your computers whether they
are Internet connected or not.
2. Don’t open or download file attachments (attached files) in
your e-mails. Especially the ones with the extensions .pif,
..exe, .com, .vbs, .bat, .bin, .dot, .reg, .js, .scr, .xlm and
..dll.
3. Don’t click on links in the body of your e-mails.
4. Don’t download software from web sites that you do not know.
5. Never install software on your computer unless you know
where it came from.
6. Run a manual anti-virus scan for every 24 hours you use your
computer.
7. Be sure that your anti-virus software is up-to-date. All
anti-virus software products usually provide updates every 2 – 4
weeks and this service is free of charge to registered users for
up to a year.
8. Received an e-mail from someone you know but didn’t expect
them to send you a file attachment? Call the person first,
before downloading or opening the file attachment to confirm
that it really came from them. Some virus programs are very good
at making it look like they are just files sent to you from
someone in yours or your friends e-mail address book.
9. Put firewall software on all your computers that are
temporarily or permanently connected to the Internet.
If you follow these simple steps you should be able to stop a
virus before it infects your computer.
About the author:
Dr. Robert Ing is a forensic intelligence specialist and has
appeared on North American news networks on the issues of
technology crime, computer security, privacy and identity theft.
For more articles by Dr. Robert Ing please visit