BC Technologies
1 North Main Street
Mansfield, PA 16933
(570) 662-7990
sales@bctech.com

Anti-Virus Information

Once again there seems to be an increase in the number of systems that are coming in to the store for “possible” virus problems. You know.. things like your computer acting erratically, locking up, blue screening, or just not running at its “usual” performance pace. Upon investigation, our technicians find that the strange behavior of the computer is indeed the work of a “virus”.

What exactly is a virus? A Virus is a computer program written to reproduce itself, spread and quite often, cause damage by impacting computer performance or deleting data. While dangerous, a virus cannot spread on its own; it must be executed or run to do any damage.

What kind of damage can a virus do? The majority of viruses are not much more than harmless e-graffiti (commonly known as "hoax viruses"), ways for hackers to prove that they could have disabled your computer system had they so desired. The viruses with both bark and bite, capable of crippling your operating system or wiping crucial files from your hard disk, are the REAL dangers!

So.. how can you prevent this from happening to you? Well, there are several things that can and should be done. First and foremost, purchase a good anti-virus program and keep it up-to-date. Most people think that if they purchase the anti-virus software and install it, that they’re finished. No, no, no, no, no! Virus protection is like taking cold medicine. You wouldn’t take one dose and expect to never get a cold again. Well, it’s the same with updating your anti-virus software. Because there are as many as 6 new viruses created every day, updating should be done as often as once a week.

Selecting anti-virus software is not any easy task. So how do you know which one to pick? Think about the following criteria:

	Low Maintenance up dating. The best packages allow automatic, click-free updating; the software periodically retrieves the latest virus definitions from its Web site and incorporates them into your software.
	Decide how you want your files protected.
	Can the software remove zipped viruses from e-mails without destroying the entire document?
	Will it warn you of infected files prior to being downloaded?

Once you can answer these basic questions, select the software that will most closely meet your specifications.

Links:

The following links are for information purposes only. BC Technologies makes no claim as to how well they work, but only offers them as additional facts.

The Editor's DeskTop - by Dan A. Wilson - "Anti-Virus Software"
http://www.editorsdesktop.com/anti-virus.html

Virus Encyclopedia
http://antivirus.miningco.com/compute/antivirus/library/blency.htm

Virus Hoaxes
http://vil.mcafee.com/hoax.asp

Anti-virus Software Links:

McAffee Anti-Virus

Dr. Solomon's Anti-Virus

Norton Anti-Virus Available for purchase at BC Technologies!

EZ Anti-Virus Available for purchase at BC Technologies