atw: Re: OT: Viruses

True, Allan (C)

Most antivirus programming tends to be reactive rather than proactive but
the checkers have got a lot better in the past few years at identifying and
alerting you to likely culprits.

The tricks are to be very careful when (in fact to actively avoid) opening
attachments (Save and Scan first) from so called trusted sources
(hijacking someone's E-mail address is what these viruses do best) and
to regularly back up your work and mission critical / personally important
files.  (Forget about backing up the software.  You "should" be able to
reinstall that from the original CDs and OEM stuff that you "purchased",
right?)  Plus just delete all those inessential, joke file attachments that
you receive every day, without even opening them.

Also, don't delete anything with a Teddy Bear icon, no matter how
earnest the request to do so from the sender.

But, certainly, logging in through your virus signature file update tool gives
you the latest available protection, which has saved my and my folks' bacon
so many times when compared to logging in direct from an E-mail tool first.

One of the key reasons that I love using my Web mail interface first.

Deleting chunks of junk at a time from a pick list without having to pay for
the "privilege" of downloading it.

Cheers,

Michael Granat
Write Ideas

At 15:26 24/9/2004, you wrote:
>The first was about 1987 or thereabouts. My XT was hit by the Marijuana
>virus, which was relatively benign and easy to remove.
>
>The second hit was in 1996 (I think), and a virus overwrote an
>operating system file.  Norton found the file and quarantined it, but it
>couldn't do a repair.  It took me four days to replace the damaged file
>with a fresh copy from my operating system installation disk set.
>
>It was frustrating and I don't want to go through it again.
>
>Don't think that having anti-virus software and keeping it up to date
>is a guarantee that you won't be hit by a virus.  It just reduces the
>number of hits.  If you spend a lot of time on the internet, sooner or
>later a virus will sneak past your virus protection.
>
>Allan
>allancharlton@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Michael E. Granat
(QGTWD) (FOTROTWYB!)
T/as Write Ideas
E-mail: mailto:writeideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Web: <http://home.pacific.net.au/~megranat/>
Without Prejudice.
E&OE. 

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