Today more people depend on their computers more than ever. Businesses literally cannot function today without the use of computers and at least 80 percent of all households in the United States have computers. Computers are purchased with pre-installed operating systems and many of these can be subject to viruses that can literally leave your computer out of commission. The need for solid anti virus protection on both personal and business computers is needed now more than ever. It is important to understand that a computer virus is a program that someone created with the sole purpose of causing harm to your computer.
A computer virus typically spreads to your computer by opening attachments via email or downloading software applications via the Internet. Many software applications will contain a virus within the program. Some viruses will not harm any of your files on your computer but may cause your computer to shut down on its own or you may notice opening and closing of windows that do so on their own. If the virus is not removed the behavior will continue but it does not damage your information or spread it to other people by reproducing it via email. These types of viruses are simply to annoy users.
Damaging computer viruses are those that ruin certain aspects of the files on your computer. For instance, if you pick up a more malicious computer virus it can literally be programmed to go in and destroy your music, photos, and document files. If this happens, you have no recourse and you will be unable to recover any of the destroyed files. What’s more is that these types of viruses are also programmed to go into specific email clients and take your address book and send everyone in it a message with the attached virus. This is how computer viruses spread quickly.
When your computer is protected with anti virus protection, it acts as a shield or barrier between a computer virus and your computer. For instance, if your computer is protected and you go to a website that has a piece of software that includes a virus, your virus protection you have on your computer will detect it and let you know instantly that it contains a virus. If you are sent an email attachment that has a virus and you download it, the virus will be moved into a quarantined area and you will then be given an option of deleting it and removing it entirely from your computer.
Computer viruses are created rapidly and therefore they continually change the way they function, which means if you have anti virus protection on your computer it is vital that you have it set to automatically update the definitions. This means that the software application is continually looking for new viruses being created and as a result, they will add security for this new virus by downloading it to your computer’s virus protection software that runs continually. This is what will keep your computer from becoming infected from current and future viruses.
