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Protecting Yourself From Virus Damage
Sunday, September 2, 2007Be Wary When You Receive Information From Others
A good thing to begin doing NOW is to check all files received from others, whether you receive them from a floppy diskette or from the internet. It is important to realize that most viruses are transferred without the knowledge of the person sending the information. The person sending an infected file could be you! To help prevent the spread of viruses, it is also a good idea to scan any files before transferring them to a floppy diskette or attaching them to an email message. Obtain a good virus scanning program for performing these tasks (described below). A good virus scanning program will not only detect and remove viruses, but will automate several of the procedures described above (such as scanning files before they are copied to a diskette).
Obtain A Good Virus Scanner
UWM provides free virus software (McAfee), with free weekly updates of the virus definitions. the software can be downloaded by anyone with an alpha ID. Use the following link: http://www.uwm.edu/IMT/purchase/virusprotect.html You need a UWM connection to download this from home. OR you can also go to the Second floor SBA lab or Bolton Lab 225 and get the Campus Resource CD which has the virus scan protection software on it.There is also a free online virus scan that works while you are hooked up to the web. It is called house call available at: http://housecall.antivirus.com/housecall/start_corp.asp
Spybot -- Free spyware destroyerSpy Sweeper -- Free spyware destroyer
Backup
Regular backups are an important measure against preventing loss from computer viruses. This is true even if you are backing up the virus that eventually caused the damage. Why would this be so? Well, lets say you get a computer virus that destroys all of your data on your hard drive. Fortunately, you've got a backup that you made yesterday. Although you know the virus is in the backup, you can safely restore all of your data, obtain one of the virus scanners listed above, and remove the virus before continuing with your work.
