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Preventing Viruses and Trojans?

A virus is a malicious program or piece of code created to cause problems on computers. Viruses piggyback on top of programs, zip files and documents to infect vulnerable computers. For instance, a virus may be hidden inside a file attached to an email message. Opening the email attachment activates the virus, which may cause your computer to malfunction or delete valuable data. If you send the infected file to someone else, the virus may spread to that person's computer.

You may have also heard of Trojan horses or worms. These are simply different kinds of computer viruses. A worm typically will make a copy of itself in the form of a file and spread through systems that are connected, whether it is the Internet or a company network, and ultimately causing damage to each infected system. A Trojan horse masks itself as a program that appears to be normal, but when opened it can cause damage to the data or security of the system it infects.

Viruses and Trojan horses can cause damage to your computer and delete important information. Email is a common way for them to spread, but there's no need to fear if you take a few precautions.

Keep up-to-date anti-virus software on your computer, such as eTrust^® EZ Antivirus by Computer Associates. In an effort to combat malware, Microsoft is offering its customer a free copy of eTrust^® EZ Antivirus complete with a 1 year license. Please click here for more details on this offer.

Don't open attachments--especially executable attachments ending with ".exe"--from anyone you don't know and trust. The best way to avoid problems is to simply not open files from unknown sources--just delete the email and the attachment will go along with it. Other files that may contain macros, like Microsoft Word documents, can also present a risk.

There are many hoax virus warnings circulating via email. To find out if it's a hoax, check the Computer Incident Advisory Capability site on Internet hoaxes, sponsored by of the U.S. Department of Energy. We recommend you do this before you send on the warning to everyone you know; messages about supposed "viruses" clog the system and help further propagate them.

You may have heard about viruses that can be executed if you even just open an infected email using Outlook Express. A former example is the Bubbleboy virus. To prevent this from happening, simply go into Outlook Express, click on Tools at the top of the screen, select Options, and then click on the Security tab. Change the Security Zone to Restricted sites zone.

These types of viruses create a file on your computer. When you restart your system, the virus activates, and makes some minor changes to your registry. It then sends a copy of itself to every contact in every one of your address books. Fortunately, the email is only sent once and there is no damage to your machine.

Additional protective measures include:

	Backing up your files on a network or portable media such as floppy disk, CD or other portable media.
	Keep your original application and system disks write-protected to prevent the virus from spreading to your original disks.
	Make sure any public-domain software you obtain is from a trustworthy source.
	Remember, to avoid viruses:
	Don't share computer programs and disks freely.
	Don't download executable software from public-access bulletin boards.
	Don't use your personal disk space with public computers or computers used by more than one person.
	Don't open unknown email attachments without first scanning them for viruses.
	Don't open any unknown email attachment that ends in .exe, .vbs, or .lnk on a computer running Microsoft Windows
	File sharing has become a favorite pastime for Internet users because it allows users to share files online with one another for free or at a minimal cost. Some popular file sharing applications include KaZaA, LimeWire, BearShare, WinMX, iMesh, Morpheus™, and XoloX, just to name a few. While file sharing can be a great way to enjoy the Internet, they are also a good source for the spreading of viruses, etc.

To prevent future viruses and trojans on your computer, please make sure you have an up-to-date Anti-virus program installed and running on your PC. We highly recommend eTrust^® EZ Antivirus from Computer Associates.

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