Tips for computer security and to prevent viruses

You must run quality security software on your computers to protect your work and private data from viruses, spyware, and other security threats. When it comes to security, there is no substitute for quality. See below our recommended quality solutions. If any of the following is difficult for you, get an IT Expert to do it for you. You must do the following or risk all of your work/data being compromised (think of it as locking your front door):

1. Get good anti virus software e.g. one of the below.
   Recommended anti virus software:
   - AVG - Our most recommended Antiv Virus software.
   - Norton Anti virus
   - McAffee Anti Virus
   - Sophos Anti Virus
   
   Be sure to regularly update your 'virus definitions' e.g. once per week
2. Install a quality Firewall
   There are many firewalls available, some good, some bad. Our recommendation is the FREE ZoneAlarm. They provide a paid version with extra tools (of course), but we think the free firewall-only option is fine. Its getting harder on their site to see the free one (so look carefully!). At time of writing, go here, scroll down and click the free option. If the above link doesn't work, start looking from the Zone Alarm front page.
3. Install an anti-spyware application
   There are many available, some good, some bad. Our recommendation is the FREE: Spybot - Search & Destroy. Download here, and find Spybot info here.
4. Email Attachments: BEWARE OF ATTACHMENTS. Do not open email attachments you are not expecting. Viruses come with some very nasty messages to trick you into opening the attachement e.g. "Your email account has been cancelled, see attachment for details". Even worse, the virus looks like it comes from an email address you recognise e.g. from admin@yourDomain.com (where 'your domain' is the domain name that you use). Virus attachments can have the following 'file extension': .exe, .pif. If you receive a .zip attachment and open it - make sure it doesn't contain a file with one of those extensions. Do not open attachments you haven't requested, even if they appear to be from people you know.