Protecting a Computer from Viruses

How can I keep my computer free from viruses?

A common component of anti-virus software is a "resident" program that checks files and disks for virus infections before letting you use them. (A "resident" program runs when you start your computer, and it continues to run "behind the scenes" while you use the computer.) If it finds something that seems to be infected, it will warn you and probably will not let you continue whatever you were doing until you fix the problem. You may need to run a separate program to remove the virus from the infected file(s) or disk(s).

Is a resident program all I need for virus protection?

Some vendors' resident programs are less powerful than their program for performing a full scan for viruses. This is usually done to keep the resident program from slowing your computer's performance. Also, there are ways a virus can get past a resident anti-virus program. For instance, if you start a computer running MS-DOS or Windows from an infected diskette, the virus will spread to your hard disk.

For the above reasons, you should not rely solely on a resident program to protect your computer from viruses, but you should use a scanning program on a regular basis to check for viruses. If you (or others who use your computer) frequently get files and diskettes from others, you may want to scan daily or weekly. If you never share files or diskettes with others, you may only need to scan every few months.

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