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With all the news about the latest virus attacks have you changed the way you protect your computer? Were you already secured to the hilt or playing russian roulette with the internet?

Have you been the victim of a virus attacking your computer (sob stories go here).

Personally I have a firewall and a virus protection package which updates constantly but I do pay for it Roll Eyes .

My last computer died (or part of it did) and although I never tracked down the culprit it may have been a virus...not taking any risks this time!
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I have Kaspersky Anti-Virus running, I've updated it twice this week to keep up. I also run Ad-aware frequently to get rid of spyware and what-not. And I went to Microsoft's site to download the patches. I'm not terribly concerned with viruses, though my boyfriend is a lot less techie than I am, so I need to keep on top of things to keep him from mucking up the machine.

They were talking about one of the viruses on the news the other night and he said, 'we're fine because you put on the anti-virus right?' I said well no, I need to update the definitions. He thought you just install anti-virus software and you're done with it. Probably why his machine died.

Now Playing :The Cure - Never Enough:
I don't currently have anti-virus software, so you might want to classify me in the camp that's playing Russian roulette. Wink

Although I think my risk is very low (someone please tell me if I'm making a dreadful mistake!!!) because I use a Mac, so I don't have all the Windows-associated problems, and I don't use Outlook for email either.

In probably 10 years of using a Mac, both here at home and at work, I have never ONCE been affected by a virus, nor have I ever found one on my computer when doing a virus scan (I did have Mac anti-virus software on my computer where I used to work). I also know better than to click on suspicious Word attachments received in emails, or for that matter any attachment that I'm not expecting or that I don't trust. A couple of times suspicious .exe files have turned up on my computer, but .exe files won't run on my Mac anyway.
(I'm reminded of an old Bolle sunglasses advert here in Australia, a couple rolling on the beach in "From Here to Eternity" fashion.

"No, wait," the girl says breathily, "do you have... protection?"

Guy slips pair of sunglasses on.)

*Kia drapes pair of sunglasses over the top of her laptop screen, and hopes for the best...* Big Grin

(no, seriously, I'm a little less clued-up than some, but like brownie I don't use Outlook for my email, and here at my folks' place the entire network is behind a firewall, so I'm not as unsafe as perhaps I could be...)
If any of you have Windows XP, you can actually enable a firewall setting associated with your internet connection. PM me if you have any questions, but it's only for those who have Windows XP.

I have quite a bit of stuff protecting me.

1. I use MSN and their browser to read my e-mail, not Outlook. That way all my mail is already scanned with McAfee by MSN before I even see it.

2. I use a free firewall software called Zone Alarm. It's constantly running, and not only blocks things getting to your pc, it gives you the opportunity to stop communicating with sites you aren't familiar with. You can read about and get this free stuff HERE.

3. My last job gave me a copy of Norton Antivirus Corporate Edition which never expires, and was free. Big Grin

4. The afore mentioned Windows XP firewall.

5. Something that I'd recommend to everyone is a free package called Ad-aware. This program scans your system for known advertising, and tracking components that are downloaded to your pc when you surf around. It basicly protects your privacy. You can read about and get this free stuff HERE.
Thanks for the info Geddy. Anyone who doesn't have any protection is at risk. Not all viruses come in email attachments although it is the most common way these things are spread.

A lot of internet providers have emailed customers with advice on what to do regarding recent attacks but my guess there will be more and more in the future which are sneakier in how they are spread.

A friend suggested an easier way to limit the amount of viruses that spread this time of year would be to cut down on on the kids holidays....they are obviously getting very bored Wink
I'm doing a bunch of things that ensure that I don't get a virus. And I don't!

1) I run and update Norton AntiVirus. I have it checking emails, and I have it doing a full system scan every other day before I wake up.

2) I'm running McAfee SpamKiller, which not only kills spam, but will specially accept or kill emails based on rules you can create. I can tell it to kill everything that has "re: approved" in the subject for example. Any email it kills stays in the spamkiller app until I delete it or "rescue" it, which makes it available in my email. So when this virus first hit, I was killing 1000 of them a day.

3) I use Eudora. Right there, I'm saved from propagating many viruses as once you have one, they are often written to send themselves out using Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express. So if I get one, I'm probably not infecting anybody else.

4) I have Eudora set to NOT download any attached file or email over 20K. That's a low trigger, but it gets nearly everything, including the "attached text file" going out right now. So these attachments stay on the mail server until I specially tell it to download them.

5) But I've written a filter in Eudora to automatically delete these attachments from the server based on text in the email. So should some slip through the spamkiller, Eudora kills the attachments and I can just delete the message.

Sounds like a lot, but is easy to set up and maintain once you know what text or subject line to look for.

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    All times London, UK.

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