Virus Protection
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Options to consider
when selecting a virus protection
plan for your computer
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First: What is a virus?
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A Virus is a program designed
to replicate. While the primary purpose
may be to replicate, some viruses also incorporate a payload -
often malicious. The first PC virus was discovered in-the-wild in 1986.
Today, over 54,000 viruses are known to exist. At any given time,
approximately 200 are considered in-the-wild threats. Where once
viruses reigned supreme, today combination threats are increasingly
prevalent. These threats combine Internet worms, viruses, and Trojans
in an infectious mass-emailer.
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A Trojan is a program that
appears to be legitimate, but in fact does something
malicious. Trojans were responsible for the Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS)
attacks suffered by Yahoo and EBay in the latter part of 1999. In fact, Trojans
are often used to gain backdoor access - that is to say remote, surreptitious
access, to a user's system. Trojans do not replicate as viruses do, nor make
copies of themselves as worms do. However, combination threats are increasingly
prevalent.
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Worms: Some use the terms viruses and worms
interchangeably. In fact, worms do not infect other files (as do viruses),
but instead worms make copies of themselves over and over again. As such,
worms can deplete system resources (i.e. hard drive space) or deplete bandwidth
(i.e. by spreading over network shares). Today's worms are referred to as Internet
worms or email worms, as they send copies of themselves to recipients in infected
users' address books. Worms such as LoveLetter can cause loss of productivity and
revenue, as email servers cannot handle the burden of the heavy traffic they promulgate.
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Second: Who needs virus protection?
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If you plan to use email or download from the Internet you will need
virus protection. While it is not absolutely required it is highly
recommended. You can receive viruses and you can send viruses
without knowing this is happening. If the problem becomes too severe
your Internet connection may be shut down and you will be asked to
remove all viruses, worms, etc, before your connection will be turned
on again. Viruses spread rapidly and the only way to contain them is with
virus protection.
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Third: Where do you get virus protection?
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Norton Antivirus Symantec
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Virus protection for Corporate and Home users
This easy-to-use program scans and cleans instant-message attachments
as well as email messages. And automatic updates help defend your PC
against new viruses.
Norton Antivirus
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Trend Virus Control
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This company also has Home and Enterprise virus protection. Trend Micro
specializes in high-performance virus protection and content
security products and services. Internet users are able to do a free
virus scan with Trend. Click here for FREE SCAN Trend Virus Control
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McAfee
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McAfee also has virus protection for business and home users. You are able
to download the plan you select from their site. You are also able to
do a free virus scan at McAfee. Click here for
FREE SCAN and to view their home page.
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AVG Free Anti-Virus
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AVG Anti-Virus Free Edidtion, basic protection against viruses and spyware.
Limited features, no support, for private and non-commercial use only.
AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition is only available for single computer use
for home and non commercial use. Trusted by 80 million users.
AVG Anti-virus web site
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Fourth: Other Information
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This is a very good site to visit if you want to learn more about
Viruses and antiVirus software
AntiVirus Software
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