I keep hearing from friends and students whose hard drives have been wrecked by a virus. The problem is much more severe now than a year or two ago.
I am not trying to sell software, but I had similar problems using two different anti-virus software programs. One was "free" and almost cost me the hard drive. The other came installed.
I struggled with a fix on one for several hours, went out and bought Norton 360, which includes:
1. Anti-virus updates continuously.
2. Anti-spam email protection.
3. A firewall, also essential.
4. Online backups.
5. Anti-phishing (some blocking of financial schemes).
Norton quashed the virus during installation. The virus tried to come back for several days but Norton vanquished it.
The only dangerous viruses are the newest ones. If you do not have continuous updating, you will get the newest virus. They are no longer fun. They are very destructive.
Spam email can spread viruses. Spam software isolates it. Email viruses will copy your entire address list and sent the virus to all your friends (potentially ex-friends).
The firewall keeps the rest of the Internet from "seeing" your computer. I know that Norton also blocks various invasion efforts, such as the Trojan Horse and the Sub-seven. A Trojan Horse program will take over a computer and turn it into a zombie, controlled by someone in another location, even another country.
Online backups mean that the most important files are stored away from home, on a server, so they can be recovered if the worst thing happens. Computers are easy to replace. Years of work are not.
Phishing schemes send very official looking emails, asking for banking information and other ways to extract money from accounts. Software cannot be 100% on this, but it does recognize common schemes and blocks them. Reducing junk email is important. One corporation said 90+% of all emails received were spam.
