Guide to Latest Anti-Virus

The many flourishing startups that have been catering to the social internet are being caught off-guard by the many evolving threats that are coming out on the internet leaving them very much vulnerable leaving their users to suffer the consequences. The social internet has given birth to several companies who were only too glad to oblige to the growing need for social networking platforms, such as Twitter, Facebook, Friendster and many more, all of which taking the internet to a social level. (more…)

The internet is a very dangerous place for the uninitiated and with that in mind, news that a new computer without proper security software and updates would last only 15 minutes before it has been infiltrated is an understatement of the true threat. Experts have been warning us of these threats all throughout the history of the internet and with all of these exploits, bugs and other malware around you need protection in the form of the many security software out on the market. (more…)

Before you start shelling out hard-earned cash on buying an anti-virus, we suggest trying out free anti-virus programs first, like Avira Anti-Vir or AVG Anti-Virus. Free anti-virus programs are recommended for casual users who don’t upload or download a lot of data.

Of course, anti-virus programs you pay for still offer a lot more protection, but sometimes you can do with just the bare minimum, especially if you don’t do a lot of file transfers.

Besides the programs mentioned above, you can always search for the best free anti-virus programs on the internet, and read reviews on the performance of each. There are also online virus scanners that you can go to, which can scan your computer without you needing to download a file or pay a cent. Of course, this will entail a faster internet connection for it to perform a faster scan.

Avira AntiVir, one of the free anti-virus programs out there

Most security software makers offer their products in bundles while some allow purchase of separate components allowing customized protection from deemed threats. Though most of them offer free access to their trial software, you may become too complacent with them without knowing they might need constant updates which may only be automatic for paid subscriptions. Though automatic updates are a common feature, it helps to do manual updates form time to time to get more of the trial period while you evaluate products.
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As much as antivirus-companies are concerned, they are doing their best to ensure that users are safe and secure against viruses. However according to a report coming from Trend Micro, Inc. a lot of fault lies not on their programs but in the users themselves:

From Jan. 1 to Nov. 25, the top 100 attack programs infected 53% of their victims by duping them into downloading something from the Internet. An additional 12% of the infections tracked globally were caused by users opening e-mail attachments.

Just 5% of the infections were related to an exploit of a software vulnerability, said Trend’s analysis.

“That’s something we can’t engineer against,” said Ferguson. It’s also is why Trend Micro and other security vendors have stepped away from a pure anti-virus detection and deletion model, and instead have been bringing in other protective features, such as domain reputation ranking and URL filtering, to their products.

Educate and be vigilant regarding malicious websites and downloads, if you do, you’ll be a whole lot safer.

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In your entire “surfing” life online, you will definitely encounter a virus one way or another. Fortunately, we have anti virus security running behind our operating systems to at least provide us with a small layer of defense against these often destructive anomalies. It is important to know that the destruction viruses caused in earlier days were massive. It would almost cause millions of dollars of losses in just one night. Virus cleanup is rather easy now adays. It is but proper to list down the most notorious of these viruses so you might have an idea what it can bring to us, computer users.

• 1986 – Brain virus – The first real VIRUS. Said to set the Malware Industry which proliferates up to this day.
• 1991 – Michelangelo virus – It attacked the boot sector of a pc.
• 1999 – Melissa virus – It tore down an entire mail system by sending massive amounts of messages to each other.
• 2000 – I Love You virus – The loss was estimated to have summed up to $5.5 Billion. It erased your existing files

• 2001 – Code Red virus – It attacked web servers

• 2004 – MyDoom virus – the fastest spreading email virus

• 2007 – Storm virus – It spread in email spams. It ultimately turned the infected pc into one of its zombie pc that connected to a bot network.

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Thers a new anti virus software worth trying. Avira AntiVir Personal – Free Antivirus is a thorough, very convenient antivirus program. The software is designed to offer the most reliable virus protection, Free of Charge for use at home. Avira offers a comprehensive malware recognition of viruses, trojans, backdoor programs and worms that wreak havoc in the entire internet system. It provides the user with automatic updates in increments, of anti virus signs, engines and full softwares. It offers permanent virus protection with its feature, Virus Guard. It monitors your system in real time. It is very easy to use, With just a click of a button it installs and configures according to the system specs. Virus protection whether known or yet unknown threats because it uses advance heuristic system. You can set the scanner to allow virus scans automatically and update itself with the Scheduler. It has a web site where you can research about the type of virus or infection that has installed in your system with the Knowledge Base. It also has Rootkit Detection and Removal. This is definitely one software you should not miss out in trying.

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A new virus, the W32/Nyxem-D, which spreads via email attached file. The damage that can be caused by this virus is massive. When opened, infected attached file it gets into the system and start delivering itself to all the available email addresses residing in the infected computer. Once activated, the virus it overwrites all DOC, XLS, MDB, MDE, PPT, PPS, ZIP, RAR, PDF, PSD and DMP files and replaces their contents with the data string: DATA Error [47 0F 94 93 F4 K5]. This can spell big trouble because these files are integrated to the system drives. This means your flash drives, network drives, external drives or any drive ar enot immune to the virus. This virus is also known as “CME-24,” “BlackWorm,” “Mywife.E” and “Kama Sutra” and seems even capable of disabling out-of-date antivirus software. What should you do to protect your computer? Upgrade your antivirus software. If you don’t have an antivirus software installed and you don’t feel like buying them. There are excellent antivirus programs you can get for free. Take these precautions so that your chances of getting infected will be reduced drastically.

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In this time of age, viruses are becoming more and more complicated and powerful. That is why we need a reliable antivirus to do the job. I found this program at Download.com and the name of the program is Avast Home Edition 4.8.1229.80923. First of all, it provides the same protection just like any known antivirus, second, it has good reviews, and third, it is free. Already 30,937,233 people has already downloaded this program and it was just released last month, Sept 23, 2008. To impress you more, the publisher of this program said that Avast includes the following components: On demand scanner with skinnable simple interface, just select what do you want to scan in which way and press the Play button; On access scanner, special providers to protect the most of available e-mail clients; Instant messaging–ICQ, Miranda; Network traffic–intrusion detection, lightweight firewall; P2P protection for Kazaa, BitTorrent; Web shield–monitors and filters all HTTP traffic; NNTP scanner–scans all Usenet Newsgroup traffic and all operations with files on PC; Boot time scanner–scans disks in the same way and in the same time as Windows CHKDSK does.

If you encounter a virus attack, do something at once to prevent the spread of the virus to your system. First, concentrate on the kind of virus to remove the malicious code. There are tools which are available online tailored for that specific virus causing the damage. Next is to see the range of the damage done. If the operating system is completely destroyed, you will have to reinstall. This can be done by using the quick restore CD that comes with your computer. But before you start the process, make sure that you have the necessary information like licenses, registration and serial numbers available. Then do a thorough virus scan of your network. Be sure your anti-virus software is recently updated and that your security patches are up-to-date to prevent future attacks.