How to Avoid Email Viruses – Complete Virus Protection

There are numerous ways whereby your machine can invite virus infection. While email viruses are a nuisance, they are not the only source of virus infection. There are some standard steps to reduce the chances of virus infection and to offer maximum virus protection from any source. The most important steps are briefed below:

1. Always keep your computer’s operating system and browsers updated.
2. Make sure you have the latest updates, fixes, and patches from Microsoft if you are using Windows.
3. Windows Defender comes bundled with Windows Vista and Windows 7. It is also available as a separate download for Windows XP. Make sure you have the free virus scanner which also doubles up as antispyware. MSRT is another tool that is built into XP Service Pack 2 so make sure you have the Service Pack.
4. As MS Office is also an integrated part of your daily computer use, make sure you have the latest patches and updates for your version of MS Office.
5. Finally, use a standard profile for your daily work. You can create standard profile using Control Panel --> User Accounts or while installation. This limits the chances of virus infections only to the profile in use. If there are no separate profiles created, Windows loads the default administrator profile thereby inviting virus infections across entire computer.

In addition to the above and the regular virus scans using your antivirus, I would also recommend you use the free online MS AV Scanner or any other good online scanner occasionally, without having to download any additional antivirus that may conflict with the existing one. It helps you double check the security status of your computer.

NOTE: Some of the virus displays itself as a folder at easily accessible locations such as the My Documents folder. If you find any folder that you did not create, do NOT open it. Check if it is a genuine folder. To check this, go to Tools menu in the Explorer window and select Folder Options. In the Folder Options, select View tab and uncheck “Hide File extensions for Known File Types”. If you notice any kind of file extension in the folder name, it should be deleted immediately.

TIP: You may use Unlocker in case you are not able to delete the folder.

The above steps can give you some relief from virus infection and should be followed as a standard practice. Still, there are many ways whereby your computer can get virus infection and virus propagation across the machine or entire network. Let us take a look at these methods in the next section.

The most common method of inducing virus into any computer or network is to present it in form of a useful program or information. It is just like gift wrapping a bomb. Similarly, a virus maker would make and hide the virus in anything that looks attractive or compelling. Let us take a quick look at virus propagation basics and virus infection from different sources.

While email attachments are a good source of virus infection, other most common methods of virus infection are downloads from any Internet site or FTP site. Even as most websites take care that the downloadable programs are free from any kind of infections, malicious programmers get around the catch.

Virus infections can also be invited by clicking on links on your networking sites or other websites that claim to do something very good for you. For example, there was a link circulating on Orkut that claimed to show you excellent methods of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) on a video. In a world where everyone wants to get ahead of others, why would anyone share his/her secrets by offering a direct link to the secrets? A little caution combined with common sense will save you from potential virus infections.

Other methods used for virus propagation are links to websites with malicious scripts. The site may look like a genuine and clean website. However, the intention of the website is to infect your computer by sending virus or any other malware to your computer. While you are exploring the site, it may be running some script in the background that downloads malware to your computer. There are plenty of ways to check virus propagation through this method, briefed in the next section.

Among other sources of virus infections are infected removable media. These include CD and DVDs, USB Mass Storage Devices, and even cell phones. You need to be cautious while dealing with removable media.

The next sections take a look at putting a stop to virus infections and virus propagation through the methods mentioned above.