The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
I have to admit that after my free subscription ran out of the Norton anti-virus software that came with my computer, I never renewed it. That was at least six years and three computers ago. But I've never had a major virus in all this time. It is amazing that my telephone rings at least several times a week from people who want me to come over and look at their machines because it is acting strange and they think it has a virus. I even need to pick on my sister-in-law. She has had her computer for about six months, and after downloading the free version of ad-aware from www.lavasoft.de, she found that she already had over 950 pieces of spyware! Being curious, I downloaded this same small piece of software, and I found that I only had 27 pieces of spyware on my machine after having it for over three years. While I think one piece of spyware on my machine is too many, recent reports show that a brand-new Windows machine placed on the Internet is infected in under 30 minutes on average. Spyware and viruses remain a fact of life for computers users. Fighting back, or at least having a good defence, is still your best bet. Besides ad-aware, another free piece of software is the anti-virus program AVG. Available at www.grisoft.com, AVG is every bit as good as any piece of software you will spend your money on. The one disadvantage of using AVG is that it does not automatically update itself, you need to head to the website once every week or so to download the latest files. Anti-viral programs are only good if you keep them updated, otherwise you might as well save the space on your harddrive. Besides using software to control computer troubles, the best defence you have is using your head. The reason my sister-in-law had so much spyware on her machine is that she downloads a fair amount of music. A lot of music files also contain packets of small code that install spyware on your machine. The same goes for other things that you download. If you download pirated copies of software available online, count on there being a lot of hidden things in the download as well. The same goes for email attachments. Still the most common way for viruses to be spread, you should never open an attachment unless you are absolutely certain what it is. Even if it is from someone you know, every attachment needs to be suspected. Virus programs often automatically send themselves out to everyone in the address book of an infected computer, so your friends may be sending you viruses without even knowing it. If you can read the suffixes on attachments, these will also help you to understand what is being sent to you. If the file is a .doc file, this means it is a Word document, while .ppt means PowerPoint, .xls is Microsoft Excel, and .wpd is a WordPerfect file. If you go online and search for them, you can find lists of every different type of suffix possible. What is dangerous is a file that is labeled .exe. For Windows users, this is a piece of code that is an executable file, a file that performs a function of some type. Any attachment that has a .exe suffix I automatically throw in the recycle bin, I don't care who sent it. Having a computer is a great thing, but it can be the most frustrating, useless waste of time if you have to spend hours fixing it regularly. Keep it clean and safe and enjoy using your machine.
