Protect your computer from Virus or Trojans

Trouble:

Most of the problems which we receive through Trouble Fixers readers are created due to some kind of virus attacks. Although there is a cure for most of such problems, but as a wise man has said:

“Prevention is better than cure”

So in this post we will tell you some key points to save your computer from virus attacks.

Fix:

Some key points to follow are:

1. Use a good anti-virus software: There are several free anti-virus softwares available which provide good protection to your computer. Some such anti-virus are AVG free edition , Avast , Kaspersky etc.
2. Update Anti-virus virus definitions regularly : Most of users just install the anti-virus and they feel that that’s all what is needed to keep the computer safe. But that may not be sufficient. You need to regularly update the Virus-definitions of the anti-virus software to keep them up-to-date so that your computer is safe from even the latest viruses.
3. Run full system scan every week: This is a good practice to run a full system scan using your anti-virus software at-least once in a week. This ensures that nothing goes un-noticed.
4. Scan removable drives for viruses before using: Scan your pen-drives and CDs / DVDs before opening them. See this article to protect the computer from viruses in pen drives.
5. Disable Auto-Play functionality for removable media: See this link for instructions for disabling Auto-Play.
6. Run Internet Explorer /Firefox in limited mode : If you run Internet Explorer / Firefox with default settings, it has capability to install anything including viruses and Trojans on your computer. See this post by Mayank which tells how to run IE or firefox in limited mode.Thanks Mayank.
7. Don’t open e-mail attachments from unknown people: This is one of the most common way of virus spreading. Not opening such attachments will save you from a lot of mess.
8. Disable preview mode in outlook / other email clients: We advice to disable the preview mode for Outlook / Thunderbird or other mail clients because of safety reasons. Let me put in simple words, when you open the preview, it will try to show all the content in preview, not even that, it will also try to execute any executable file if it is present as any attachment. So disabling preview mode can save you from such problems.

Hope the information provided will help you secure your computer bit more.

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Author + Admin: Abhishek Bhatnagar
Hi, I am a Software Engineer by profession and blogger by passion, I write about computer tips and tricks and solutions for computer problems. You can connect with me at twitter or know more about me on www.abhishekbhatnagar.com.