Antivirus Software

Overview Most new computers come with antivirus software pre-installed. But is it the right software for you? Does it protect against the newest, most destructive viruses? Is it freely updateable, or is there a fee? Is it easy to use, and do you understand how to configure it correctly? Answers to these, and other questions, can be found below.

General Information The Internet abounds with comprehensive information about viruses and antivirus software. Many guides are available to help computer users better understand what a virus is, how it affects a computer, and what can be done to prevent its spread.  The discussion found on the Web page entitled “An Overview of Computer Viruses and Antivirus Software” by Bob Kanish serves as a solid introduction to viruses and antivirus software. For the most up-to-date news stories about computer viruses and antivirus software, visit the Yahoo News Directory page located here. Go to Microsoft bCentral to view the very detailed “Using Anti Virus Software and Scanning” web page. Also, be sure to read the discussion found at Pcguide.com. It covers topics ranging from detecting virus infection symptoms to deciding which antivirus software package to run on your system. Read reviews of the most popular antivirus software packages at: Consumersearch.com. 

Where to Buy Antivirus Software Once you have read about viruses and antivirus software, and have chosen an antivirus program, you will need to find a place to either buy it or download it. One site with links to antivirus software manufacturers is the Microsoft Product Support Services page. An additional method for finding specific antivirus software manufacturers is to search a large shopping site like www.buy.com or shopping.yahoo.com/. You can also simply enter the software package name at your favorite search engine. Two popular antivirus software manufacturers are McAfee and Symantec. Both of these companies produce highly rated, easy-to-use, and very effective antivirus programs for your PC. 

Additional Links You do not necessarily need to spend money on commercial antivirus software when there is plenty of free and highly effective antivirus software available on the Internet. Visit Freebyte's Guide to Free Antivirus Software to download one of the many free antivirus programs. If you are looking for information about antivirus software for your Linux system, visit this sourceforge.net search results page to read their antivirus software FAQs.

Some antivirus software is designed to specifically combat one computer virus. For example, the “Code Red Worm” wreaked havoc on the Internet by infecting hundreds of thousands of servers. A “patch” was quickly developed to close the weakness that the worm exploited. This patch was widely distributed free of charge in an effort to protect computers from infection. Read all about the Code Red Worm by following this www.caida.org link or reviewing the information at this U.S. Department of Energy CIAC advisory notice web page.

A worm, dubbed "Mydoom" was launched in January 2004 and spread more quickly than any other virus or worm. Antivirus software were quick to deliver anti-Mydoom updates, but millions of computers were affected before their owners installed the updates, and the worm slowed Internet traffic for several days.  Read more about the Mydoom worm here at the Symantec website.