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Computers: Anti-virus Software

What is a virus? A computer virus is an unwanted (though not always mischievous) program that is loaded by and runs on your computer without your knowledge or permission.

Viruses are written by computer programmers to challenge themselves and to explore capabilities of both their software and computers. Some viruses are innocent, simply displaying a word or playing a sound. Other viruses (the ones we all are afraid of) can be extremely destructive, and can erase or corrupt a hard drive or disable an entire corporate network! Viruses (both in real life and digitally) have to be able to reproduce or replicate themselves.

Your computer can only get a virus by executing, running or opening an infected program. This is often done accidentally (with an executable e-mail attachment) or by running a downloaded program or booting from an infected disk. You can't get a virus by just being on-line or reading e-mail.

Many of the problems with a computer are blamed on viruses, when in fact they are software incompatibilities with the operating system (however subtle), software bugs, or operator error. Most of these are not destructive.

Here are some tips for protecting yourself:

• Have at least one back-up copy of important files and documents.
• Use antiviral/scanning software to scan all files and programs prior to using them on your computer. Good software also checks all disk drives when re-booting your computer.
• Scan all disks and software, even those from a commercial company.
• Keep current by reading about viruses on-line, magazines, and other pertinent resources.Check with your anti-virus vendor for major software updates.

For information on current viruses and alerts.

Here are some downloadable anti-virus software packages (not all good software can be downloaded from the Internet).

• PC-cillin HouseCall Scans your computer for viruses remotely, without downloading anything
• Oakland University Software Archives
• CIAC Archive of Antivirus Software Tons of scanning and antivirus software
• F-PROT Updated F-Prot 2.2.6 is a must-have freeware for DOS all the way through Windows 95.
• McAfee Download Page Download leading software for a 30 day trial.
• Symantec Download Page Download Norton Antivirus for a 30 day trial.

• Agax 1.3 Scan your disks and files for viruses. (Freeware) 90.1K
• Autostart Hunter 1.1 Used to check and Clean "AutoStart-9805". (Freeware) 118.0K Download
• Disinfectant 3.7.1 This only attempts to deal with Mac system viruses, not Trojan horses, practical jokes, DOS or Windows viruses. (Freeware ) 203.3K
• VirusScan 3.0.1 An easy-to-use and effective virus scanner. However, it doesn't detect the Autostart 9805 worm. (Demo) 1.4MB
• vScan 1.8.2 Allows users to determine if they have AutoStart 9805 Worm and SevenDust virus files on their hard drives. (Shareware) 1.8MB
• WormFood 1.5 Removes AutoStart 9805 infection, but cannot determine which, if any, files were trashed by the worm. (Freeware ) 899.6K
• WormScanner 2.3.1 Scans local drives for AutoStart 9805 worm variants and will also alert you to unknown files with suspicious properties. (Freeware ) 200.6K