Surfing the net is fun and can be very educational. However, if you don't take sensible precautions you can fall prey to the many hostile computer viruses which are around. There are several cheap and effective software packages you can install on your computer which will help protect you from all of this and probably the most important is ANTI-VIRUS Software.
WHAT ARE VIRUSES?
A virus is in effect a malevolent piece of software that once on you machine can wreak havoc. The really scary thing is that it can do this without you even knowing it is there. Viruses can do anything from trash your hard disk to monitoring every key press you make on your computer - if you buy over the Internet for example, you really don't want something like that on your machine because no matter how secure the data transfer is between you and the online shop, if every key press is recorded, it is all meaningless - your purchase is made securely but the virus may very well send all the information it captured to some third party who could then impersonate you in other transactions elsewhere - It does happen, so get yourself some protective measures in place.
HOW DO VIRUSES GET ON MY MACHINE?
There are many lines of attack used by virus writers and they can get a virus on your machine through email and file downloads. There are common sense ways to combat this however and if you receive an email from someone you don't know (most of us get loads of these every day) NEVER EVER OPEN ANY ATTACHMENT- instead, send it straight to the waste basket.
Don't download software from the internet unless it comes from a very reputable source (such as Microsoft etc.) - A Trojan is a program that pretends to be one thing but may be something completely different behind the scenes - That game you just downloaded for example may well let you play solitaire or blackjack but in the background it may be doing much more sinister (like planting other viruses, or harvesting valuable personal information). This is a huge subject and we can only give you some very basic information here.
WHAT CAN I DO TO PROTECT MYSELF?
There are many forms of protection available - you'll definately want a good virus scanner/ anti-virus package and if you think you may be infected, get one installed soon and in the meantime, don't access the internet.
Other great strategies involve things like firewalls and proxies but that is outside the scope of this article. Nevertheless, if you have a broadband (high speed internet connection, you may very well already have some of this in place - that's great).
IF YOU SUSPECT YOUR COMPUTER MAY BE INFECTED WITH A VIRUS, WE WOULD RECOMMEND YOU DON'T GO ONLINE UNTIL YOU'VE CHECKED (OR HAD IT CHECKED) AND ABSOLUTELY DO NOT PASS ANY SENSITIVE INFORMATION OVER THE INTERNET EVEN TO A SECURE SITE LIKE OURS (You can still place orders by telephone with most companies).