A Little Story about Computer Security

My friend asked me to re-install her computer during the weekend, as her computer had been badly affected by a virus. She said her computer always got virus and asked me how she could stop them. It’s quite simply actually. I’ve never had major virus attacks on my computer, because I do the following three things:

1. Update your windows regularly
2. Buy a decent security software
3. Update your security software and run complete system scan weekly

The above actions won’t cost you a lot – the only cost actually is the purchase of the security software. They also won’t take you much time, most of them can be done automatically or by clicking a single button.

Windows is like a house and all the software and applications are furniture inside the house. Windows is not a perfect house, although Microsoft always said it’s the best house it ever built. Windows XP is house with lots of holes (hope Windows Vista will have fewer holes). All the unwelcome guests may come in, small guests like flies may annoy you, and big guests like burglars may steal from you or even threaten your safety. You may also encounter water and fire. They may destroy your house completely.

Virus, Spyware and other computer threats are those unwelcome guests - water and fire. How can we stop them? Firstly, fix your house with those free updates from the house builder (Microsoft). If you turn on your automatic update, the house will try to fix itself. However, even a perfect house won’t stop things like flies. So secondly, you’ll need an effective insecticide. I recommend the newest Norton Internet Security 2007 for normal home users. It will try to kill flies every time they see one and protect you from every possible threat.

Unfortunately, there are new species of flies every day and some of them are hiding in your house. So thirdly, update your security software regularly and run a system scan weekly. They will find out the hidden virus and kill them. Most of the decent security software can do automatic updates and you can schedule the weekly system scan.

It’s not that hard, right? So if you do the above three steps properly, your computer will probably be safe from those viruses.