Virus prevention and removal

Written by Ashish Jain


A virus is a piece of code that gets loaded onto your computer without your knowledge and runs against your wishes. The first known occurrence of viruses goes back to 1987 whenrepparttar ARPANET was infected by one.

One common misnomer among people is that you can infect your computer just by opening an email and reading its text. That is not possible; it is usuallyrepparttar 107418 files attached torepparttar 107419 email that containrepparttar 107420 virus. The most common file types are ".SCR" ".VBS" ", ".PIF"

Prevention is better than a cure: Here are some tips to make sure that your computer does not get infected.

* Get a good Anti-Virus software like Norton Anti-Virus, MacAfee, PC Cillin etc. * Keep your anti virus software updated by downloading new virus definitions regularly. Most Anti-Virus software comes withrepparttar 107421 feature of updating virus definitions. * Keep your windows operating system updated by regularly downloading new updates fromrepparttar 107422 Internet. Windows O/S's have a lot of security loopholes and bugs that can be easily exploited by worms and viruses. * Make surerepparttar 107423 anti virus scansrepparttar 107424 file each time before its opened. * Floppy disks and removable media are a good source of viruses; always scan them before accessing files on them. * Never open email attachments from sources that are unknown or suspicious. * Do not open emails that have questionable subject lines. * When in doubt about a file, don't open it. * Even withrepparttar 107425 best of precautions bad things can still happen. Backup all your data and important files.

Why Is The Malicious Software Removal Tool Needed..?

Written by Marc Liron - Microsoft MVP


It has been estimated that only one third of home users have an up to date anti virus product installed on their PC's.

The many home users without an up to date anti virus program installed, are helping inrepparttar spreading of today's viruses, Trojans and worms!

To help remedy this situation, in part, Microsoft have now releasedrepparttar 107417 FREE: Malicious Software Removal Tool ...

So What Isrepparttar 107418 Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool..? -----------------------------------------------------------

January 2005 seesrepparttar 107419 debut of a FREE security tool from Microsoft. This new tool will be updated on a monthly basis to include information about recent malicious software threats...

Here is what Microsoft have to say in their own words:

Microsoft has releasedrepparttar 107420 Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool to help remove specific, prevalent malicious software from computers that are running Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Microsoft Windows XP, or Microsoft Windows 2000. The Malicious Software Removal Tool supersedes all virus-cleaner tools that were previously released by Microsoft. You can downloadrepparttar 107421 Malicious Software Removal Tool fromrepparttar 107422 Microsoft Download Center. You can also run an online version ofrepparttar 107423 tool fromrepparttar 107424 Malicious Software Removal Tool Web site on Microsoft.com.

To runrepparttar 107425 Malicious Software Removal Tool from either location, you must log on to your computer with an account that is a member ofrepparttar 107426 Administrators group. If you are running Windows XP, you can also runrepparttar 107427 Malicious Software Removal Tool fromrepparttar 107428 Windows Update Web site or by using Automatic Updates.

...In practice, onrepparttar 107429 first Tuesday in every month, if you have Automatic Updates switched ON. The new tool will download and run a scan on your computer to see if there is any malicious software running...

The software does not install itself, and runs in "quiet mode" so that you will not actually see it running! When it has finished its scan -repparttar 107430 software then removes itself. For those of you concerned about privacy issues, you will be asked to accept an end user licence agreement (EULA) beforerepparttar 107431 scan takes place.

The software also creates a log file, more information on this inrepparttar 107432 next section.

This tool is updated monthly and contains a list of known threats and any variants.

It is NOT a substitute for having an up to date anti virus product installed, BUT it will help to reducerepparttar 107433 amount of infected PC's connected torepparttar 107434 Internet.

Far too many folks have "infected" PC's and just are NOT aware ofrepparttar 107435 problems this is causingrepparttar 107436 rest of us...

As already stated, this tool will be updated to include new malicious threats as they appear. The initial version ofrepparttar 107437 Malicious Software Removal Tool - version January 2005 - includes:

Cont'd on page 2 ==>
 
ImproveHomeLife.com © 2005
Terms of Use