Virus, viruses, viri, whatever you may see them referred to, are more than the common cold today. Virus is a general term which can actually refer to a true computer virus as well as worms or so called Trojan Horses.

First, let's define what I am talking about. The following definitions are what anti-virus software is primarily designed to protect you from.

# Trojan Horse
A program that neither replicates nor copies itself, but causes damage or compromises the security of the computer. Typically, an individual email a Trojan Horse to you-it does not email itself-and it may arrive in the form of a joke program or software of some sort.

# Virus
A program or code that replicates; that is, infects another program, boot sector, partition sector, or document that supports macros, by inserting itself or attaching itself to that medium. Most viruses only replicate, though, many do a large amount of damage as well.

# Worm
A program that makes copies of itself; for example, from one disk drive to another, or by copying itself using email or another transport mechanism. The worm may do damage and compromise the security of the computer. It may arrive in the form of a joke program or software of some sort.

So, now that you know what you have to protect yourself from, let's discuss how to protect yourself. First, don't be cheap when it comes to an anti virus package. Invest in Norton/Symantec products. Many freeware or shareware anti virus programs just don't meet minimum needs in the real world. A large company can, within hours of a new viral threat, deploy updated virus definitions that can protect you. Small company's or freeware programs can't provide that kind of support.

Second, scan your disk first before installing the program. Some viruses are designed to disable the anti-virus software.

Third, once installed, you must configure the software to update itself, that is the application and it's virus definitions daily. During the worst threat, the initial Sassier outbreak, virus definitions were being updated a couple of times a day. You should also insure it is configured to scan your email and any media inserted. You should also have a scan at shutdown so it is less annoying when you are waiting. Scans at boot time can be frustrating leading to people disabling their anti virus protection.

Know this however, even with a very good anti virus program, it relies on scanning for a "profile type" in order to detect the threat. In the case of a new, as of yet unknown virus, it may possibly get through undetected. The chance is very small, but possible. Most viruses are variants of an existing virus.

If you want to see the latest threats to your computer, visit our help page, it contains a live bulletin board from Symantec Corporation displaying the latest threats.