Viruses

6 tips for avoiding infection
By Jeff Pott

Virus writers are getting very sneaky with how they write there code. They know that most people will open an e-mail from a friend or from a company that appears to be important... but beware, viruses are lurking around every corner. If you follow these six simple rules you will be able to avoid most viruses:

1. Do not run, download or forward any unsolicited executables, documents, spreadsheets, etc.
2. Any email you weren't expecting should be treated with suspicion, even if it comes from someone you know. It is worth calling whoever sent it to you to check that they intended to send you the email. This includes e-mails from your ISP (Internet Service Provider). Any reputable company will NOT send an attachment in an e-mail. If in question/doubt, DON'T open it.
3. NEVER, NEVER open any files with a double file extension, (e.g. iamavirus.txt.vbs). Under normal circumstances you should never need to receive or use these.
4. Avoid downloading executables or documents from the internet. These are often used to spread computer viruses.
5. Although JPG, GIF and MP3 files cannot be infected with a virus, viruses can be disguised as these file types. Jokes, pictures, graphics, screensavers and movie files should be treated with the same amount of suspicion as other file types.
6. Last but not least, keep windows up to date. Do a weekly check (at minimum) for critical windows updates. These updates are fixes to known bugs that virus writers use to infect an unsuspecting system. To check your Windows system now, click here.

In general, if you receive an attachment in an e-mail - BE SUSPICIOUS of it. Unless you have prior knowledge of the attachment, DON'T open it.