Internet Tips & Tricks
By MARK DAVIS
General Manager, CommSpeed Internet Service
President, Prescott Computer Society
Visit the Computer Society Website
www.prescottcomputersociety.org
A
Computer Virus Epidemic
Viruses
are an ongoing epidemic that now ranks as the number one
killer of computers in the world. Infection by a
computer virus can be devastating. About 100 million
American adults have computers hooked up to the Internet
at home, but only half of computer-equipped households
use anti-virus software, according to experts.
The number
of known viruses surpassed 80,000 in October
2002. Dozens of new viruses are cropping up and
mutating every day. An overwhelmingly large proportion
of infections today are caused by infected email
attachments. Despite the dangers involved, most home
and office PC users who have anti-virus software don’t
update it at least weekly, leaving themselves vulnerable
to newly minted viruses.
A recent
survey by Central Command, a supplier of anti-virus
software: “The survey revealed that in the last 12
months the majority of PC users (62%) had
experienced at least one virus, and over half of these
infections resulted in a loss of data. We're all
vulnerable, and that's downright scary.”
How to
Avoid Viruses
Get virus
protection software!
Install a virus protection program on every computer
that is connects to the Internet. The major suppliers
of such programs are McAfee and Symantec. Visit their
sites for more information,
www.mcafee.com
and
www.symantec.com.
Update
often!
Since dozens of new and different viruses are spread
every day, you should update your virus protection
software OFTEN.
Switch to an ISP that provides email virus protection.
CommSpeed is the only area
Internet Service providing email virus protection for
FREE to EVERY customer. With no new software
or hardware, you are immediately and automatically
protected from fast-moving virus outbreaks. Our Mail
Center has virus updates provided automatically EVERY 30
SECONDS by McAfee -- a world leader in anti-virus
software. No desktop software provides this level of
virus protection or the ability to stay current with
mutating viruses. See
www.commspeed.net
for more information.
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