If you find that your computer is accessing hard drive more and more frequently while you are doing nothing that access hard drive (like reading an email for example), you may want to perform a complete system scan with your antivirus software to rule out a possible virus or spyware infection.

Increased Number or size of Files. Viruses often create new files to store their own code in separate files. Generally such newly created files are hidden. However if you suddenly start to lose disk space, it can often be a sign of a virus creating hidden files on your hard drives. Some viruses increase size of executable files, while infecting them, as they attach their own code to them.

Change in Date/Time Stamp of File. Some viruses do not restore old date/time stamp of a file after infecting it, hence date/time stamp of file is date/time stamp of virus infection. Look out for other odd things like when 'seconds' entry of a time-stamp shows more than 60 seconds.

Funny things happening with your screen Viruses can use screen for other activities than just for displaying message. Some viruses are specially designed to play with screen such as they can highlight some pixel character or can increase intensity of some pixel or display bouncing balls on screen etc. Some viruses show effective animated pictures e.g. a dancing girl on your screen while in background virus is busily formatting your hard disk.

These few things represent clues to an infection – you could say they are all when your PC starts doing odd things. Relying on figuring out you’re infected isn’t really a very smart solution, since any damage could well be done before you notice. What you need to do is to take decent precautions to prevent infection in first place. Step one is almost undoubtedly buying and running antivirus software from one of major suppliers.

To learn more about effective, easy to afford and use PC protection tools, visit http://www.antivirus-report.com

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1)How often and how fast are virus definitions updated. You want answer to be “As soon as a new threat is found”. 2)Are virus definitions updated automatically by software? You want answer to be “YES”. 3)Can you configure software to check for updates every time you go online? You want answer to be “YES”. 4)Is software “smart” so that it can find viruses it doesn’t even know about yet? You want answer to be “YES”. 5)Can it scan incoming and outgoing email automatically? You want answer to be “YES” 6)Can you configure it once to perform automatic scans of your entire computer on a regular schedule? You want answer to be “YES”. 7)Does it provide a way to ‘clean out’ any viruses etc. that are found? You want answer to be “YES”. 8)Are upgrades to software package performed automatically, regularly, and at no cost? You want answer to be “YES”.

Understanding basics of antivirus software should help you understand why you need it, why you need it kept up to date and give you some clues about how to check you are buying or have a good package. You probably want something that makes whole task as easy as possible – that usually means automating everything. It’s usually a good idea to add a bit of personal knowledge to mix. Knowing what your software does helps you know what you should do!

To learn more about effective, easy to afford and use PC protection tools, visit http://www.antivirus-report.com

===================== About author: Eric Koshinsky created layman’s guide to antivirus and PC protection after helping too many people deal with simple PC problems. Find out exactly how to protect your computer from harmful internet attacks at http://www.antivirus-report.com. The comprehensive antivirus report is available at no cost. Find out how to block trojan horses, spyware, computer viruses, and other malicious software quickly and easily in one place. =====================

+++++++ Note:

If you manage a website with similar content to http://www.antivirus-report.com, we are interested in exchanging links with you. Please visit http://www.antivirus-report.com/link-to-us.html for more details.

+++++++

******** Note II:

We have a 100% brandable version of antivirus report available to anyone who wants to add an effective broad appeal revenue source to their portfolio. It is available at no expense ( F.R.E.E. ) here: http://www.antivirus-report.com/aa-brand.html

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