Computer virus problems

I routinely receive lots of emails from people seeking overclocking advice. I also get lots of emails from family and friends plus a fair amount of spam too. Sometimes I get emails that contain viruses. Fortunately I have Norton Antivirus 2001 installed which I keep updated on a regular basis. Apparently some people, including my own Mom and sister, don't think using an antivirus program is at all necessary, or they don't want to hassle with it, or think it's too expensive, or have some other dumb excuse. Well, sooner or later your computer will get infected and this could lead to irreversible loss of data or a hundred other computer problems ranging from minor to complete failure. Almost everytime I get a virus from someone, they have no clue that it was on their computer. Then when I ask what antivirus program they're using, they usually don't have one. DUH! It's like having unprotected sex. Do you want to get AIDS. Do you really think it could never happen to you? Please, spend a little bit to invest in a good antivirus program. McAffee and Norton are a couple of good ones that I can think of off the top of my head. Come on fellow overclockers, we are the elite of all computer geeks, spread the word and insist that all of your family and friends get with the antivirus program. Amen.

Amen to that.

I use Zone Alarm to keep hackers out, and any spy-ware in, and never open any attachments from:

Aeople I don't know

Beople I do know (without running it through a virus checker)

Spread the word.......

are there any free Anti-Virus programs out there
there should be

Thanks Red, you made a couple good points I overlooked. Do not open attachments unless you are positive it's safe. I have told all my friends and family not to send me stuff in attachments unless they have personally ran it through an antivirus program first. Then they have to tell me that the attachment is ok and what it actually is. Definitely do not open any attachment with the .exe extension or one that has two extentions. Viruses sometimes pulls a random file off the host computer, infects it, then adds a second extension to it.

Yes there are shareware antivirus programs available that you can download for free. But, I'd stick with known programs that you can update on a regular basis. New viruses are introduced daily. Check out the below listed link for free downloads. There are many other places to get free programs, this was only the first reputable place I found. If you're not part of the solution... you're part of the problem. Just say NO to computer viruses.

http://download.cnet.com/downloads/0,10151,0-10093-106-0-1-0,00.html?tag=dir

I make it a habit of not opening attachments from people I do know unless I requested the file. I have had several good friends (who aren't a diligent as they should be) open infected files and I have received the results as unsolicited forwarded (infected) files. I usually delete something that came unsolicited, then call the sender and ask about it. If it was supposed to be sent to me, they can re-send it.

Those who know me real well have gotten into the habit of sending me a warning e-mail first, telling me that they are sending the file, to avoid the hassle of sending twice. Knock on wood, I have remained virus free using this method and NAV2000 so far.

phiber said:

are there any free Anti-Virus programs out there
there should be

Click to expand...

Yes theres a free version of AVG which is small and fast with free update available from the internet, I moved to this from Norton as it takes up less system resources, a great little peice of software imho

I also recomend a great trojan defence program called 'the cleaner' from moosoft.