patndoris TechnoGeek

Edit: Somehow I kinda messed up my previous post…..well I kinda deleted it somehow messing with moving around LiveWriter files. Sorry for the inconvenience and all comments were lost I think, but reposting to get it back out there.

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Second only to the firewall in importance is virus protection. There are warped people out there, unleashing new threats to your computer every day. Your firewall will block some of them, but no one program or piece of hardware can do everything. The next weapon in your arsenal of defense is your Anti-Virus program. Such programs are designed to run quietly all the time. As long as you keep your definitions up to date, your Anti-Virus software should help protect you from the nastiest of the nasty crud that can infect your machine. Trust me when I say it is far easier to prevent these from getting on your machine than it is to clean them off later.

But just like firewalls – more is not better. You only want one  (and only one) anti-virus program running on your machine. If you have more than that, they will fight and cause conflicts (which can be baffling to troubleshoot and slow your machine down to a painful crawl). And, like may other software solutions, paid is not always better than free. In fact, my personal experience with paid anti-virus has been awful and I’d never ever pay for it again – there is a much better alternative!

If you have any Norton product on your machine, I would head straight for the Norton Removal Tool and uninstall it completely. (Please note: Norton is notoriously difficult to uninstall using the traditional un-installer provided with the program - it is much faster to simply use the removal tool.) Even then, I’ve seen cases where it was necessary to manually remove all files, then run the Windows Cleanup Utility (which I won’t discuss here since it’s really a powerful eraser and you should only use it when circumstances truly warrant it!) I’ve not found a single Symantec/Norton product worth having on a personal computer, and none of my friends (in all of our computer geekiness) would touch it with a ten foot pole. So take a hint from the geeks – stay away from Norton!

If you have any other anti-virus software (such as McAfee) I’d uninstall it as well by going to Start\Control Panel\Add Remove Programs (or in Vista by going to Start\Control Panel\Program Features) then select the program and uninstall. Then immediately, like right away…don’t dawdle or get distracted (since you now have no anti-virus program on your machine) download and install the free version of AVG Anti-Virus. Here is a link to an excellent Tutorial on Downloading, Installing and Configuring AVG Free. Configure the program to automatically check for (and download/install) updates on a daily basis and to run a complete scan every day. In general, AVG should not tremendously slow down your machine when it scans. The same cannot be said of the aforementioned Norton and McAfee (which will bring you to a revolting and grinding halt when they run). You may notice your CPU usage spikes, but it should not impair your online experience, though a full scan does take a bit to run.

As with your firewall, DO NOT disable this program without a really, really, really good reason - and even then - only briefly. (I might add that someone telling you to disable it to make a program run properly, as was once told to my 13 year old male offspring, is not a good reason). There are very rare times it is necessary to temporarily disable anti-virus programs in order to download and install a particular program, but once installed a program should not require you to disable your anti-virus in order to run. And you should always immediately re-enable your anti-virus protection as quickly as possible if you have had to turn it off. I generally download new programs with it running and if there is a problem or conflict with it running while you install - you will be notified. I personally can’t even remember the last time I had any need to disable it – that’s how infrequently you should plan on doing it.

Should you suspect you’ve become infected with a virus, or if you notice strange problems with internet or programs not behaving as expected, my first suggestion is to do a full system scan with up to date definitions. On occasion, you may receive a "false positive" from a program you know is safe. But before deciding to simply ignore a threat or delete the file, I strongly urge you to do a Google search using the entire filename (including the extension) and virus as the search terms (for example it might read as follows: badfile.exe virus). Then you can make an informed decision to ignore or remove the threat. You will likely find forum posts about it and be able to determine if it is really harmful. If in doubt, post a question in the user forum or ask someone you trust to assist you in making the decision what to do. Many threats have file names similar to ones you may be familiar with, or they may even have the same name, but be installed in an unexpected location. It’s imperative you know what you are deleting.

You are more likely to find viruses attacking your machine if you engage in internet behaviors known to facilitate their spread. While I won’t lecture on the legality of it, viruses are sometimes an unwanted byproduct of P2P file sharing. Another notorious way to get a virus is by frequenting “adult content” sites. (Was that politically correct enough of me?) We all know that green means go and red means stop. AVG has a great new Search-Shield feature when you search for things online, so you’ll be able to identify sites with potential for causing you problems. If you choose to go ahead to these potentially dangerous sites, be prepared to deal with the possible consequences. And for goodness sake – be sure when you download files you get them from reputable locations! If in doubt, don’t do it. Look for another way to get the file you want. I can’t hold your hand while you surf the net, but I can give you the tools and the knowledge to steer clear of problems and keep your machine clean – it’s up to you to use it.

As with firewalls, there are any other number of anti-virus programs available for free. I believe AVG is one of (if not) the best. If you wish to look for other options, feel free to visit Filehippo’s Anti-Virus Page for some other free options.