How Can I Protect aginst Viruses ?

Computer Viruses

When people talk about virii (a subject dear to my heart) it is common for people to treat the virus, the trojan horse, the logic bomb, etc. as if they were one and the same. Now, personally, I find the idea insulting and I am sure that many virus writers would feel the same way. Time and time again, I have seen the worthy name of VIRUS heaped upon the ranks of such undeserving pranks as the common TROJAN horse. To think that the two are one and the same is fine, if you are the common lamer that so often finds himself behind the computer screen.



How can I protect myself against viruses?

There is one fool-proof positive method. Never run any program that isn't already on your computer and never use anybody else's disks. Unfortunately, that is practical. So what is the next best thing? þ Backups - Make frequent backups of the files on your hard disk. Remember that at any given moment you may lose your entire hard drive and its contents. Do you have backups of all your important files? Things like Phone directories and passwords are especially hard to get back. So be prepared for the worst.

>>>Rescue Disk - Many programs such as TBAV and Norton Utilities will allow you to create a 'rescue disk', which is a floppy disk that can be booted from in an emergency. On this disk will be stored a

copy of important system info that could be very hard, if not impossible to come up with manually. This includes a copy of the partition table, Master Boot Record (MBR), CMOS settings, and other Important system info.

Also on this disk, you should store utilities that can be used to


detect, clean, and remove viruses from your hard disk. This disk


should be write-protected, and should be updated any time you


make changes to your system.

>>>>>  Knowledge - Keeping yourself well-informed about how viruses work, any new viruses, and that  kind of info is very important. Most of the computer using public is entirely ignorant when it comes to


>>> AV Software - There are plenty of good Anti-Virus programs available on the market. Mostof good ones are usually shareware or freeware. Some are commercial. Many of the commercial ones are lousy, too. Using some of the less effective virus

software can provide a false sense of security.





þ VirusScan - by MacAfee, Also known as SCAN. This is the

standard, and recognizes more than 1300 virus strains. This

program is readily available and offers frequent updates.

{Shareware}

þ F-Prot Anti Virus- by Frisk Software, I highly recommend this

program. It recognizes nearly as many viruses as SCAN and

recognizes trojan horse programs, as well. It has both a menu

driven and command line interface, huriustic scan, virus

database, and detailed descriptions. {Free for personal use}

þ Thunder Byte Anti Virus- This is a good package that does alot

of interesting things. It will create a rescue disk, is highly

configurable, does CRC test for changed files, and has an

adjustable heruistic scan. It will also allow you to replace

the bootstrap loader on your hard drive with a new one that

will perform an automatic CRC check upon bootup. This will

allow you to be instantly informed of any boot sector viruses.

{ShareWare}

þ Doctor Solomon's Anti Virus ToolKit - Although more expensive

than the others, this program has some interesting utilities.

It has "anti-stealth" technology, and an authorization TSR, and

a Certify TSR, which only allows you to run programs that have been

checked and had their CRC logged in. {Commercial}