Mitch, I clicked on red circle, with M on it, and it came up with , You have to sign in and give password, So I quess I am not registered, Now one package has Virus scan, uninstaller, oil change, first, aid, online. for 39.95 I quess a year. the other has Protect pc from virus, scan, and clean infected area. for 29.95 a year, what should I get? And what is a oil change. Also you have to agree to a page full of things, that I don"t have no Idea what they are talking about. Oh yes this is for McAfee , What do you think, And if all this done automatically?

-- Irene texas (tkorsborn@cs.com), March 13, 2002

Answers

I wouldn't waste the money on it. The only way you'd ever get a virus is if you open up an attachment that contains one. As long as you never download any attachments, you are safe. You cannot get a virus from reading email or browsing websites. Running those programs in the taskbar also slow down your system, especially on start up. I only run one program in my taskbar, a firewall.

I've been on the net since 95 and have only gotten one virus, when someone else using my computer downloaded it from irc chat. I do not use Outlook for email and am very cautious about downloading attachments, even if they appear to be addressed from someone I know.

There is too much freeware and cracks and copies out there to waste money on software programs.

-- Dave (multiplierx9@hotmail.com), March 13, 2002.

Irene, I am not enough of an expert to advise you correctly, I am repeating what I have been told about my system. If you allready have a antivirus system in place it will appear on the logo page before dial up connection, click it and follow its instructions. If neither Norton or McAfee are there you need to add one. The presence of the M and circle indicates McAfee is present, I am not knowledgeable about McAfee; I suggest you contact Chuck at Countryside or Karen at the Cooking/Crafting forum; they both have better knowledge and are willing to help.

-- mitch hearn (moopups@citlink.net), March 13, 2002.

Dave

I have had nasty graphics open when I opened an e-mail from a yahoo e-mailer who was spamming me, so your thoughts to Irene made me wonder.

Could a virus be imbedded in this graphic file? My gut says no, but since this seemed to be a self-opening attachment, I thought I'd make sure your comments to Irene would hold up ALL of the time.

Point of fact: Anti-virus software is obsolete in just about one day after installing it, as new viruses emerge. Bottom line is you need to update the software from them regularly.

-- Rick in SW West Virginia (Rick_122@hotmail.com), March 13, 2002.

Dave -- up until a couple years ago your response was correct. Unfortunately, some genius has come up with a way to embed a virus right into the text of an email -- and it is now possible to get a virus by simply opening an email. Trust me on this, I speak from experience.

The best policy is to simply not open emails that you are A) not expecting or B) are from someone you don't know. It isn't foolproof, but it's about the best you can do.

Tracy

-- Tracy (trimmer31@hotmail.com), March 13, 2002.

Yes, that's right about scripts in email. I continually forget that fact because I don't use Outlook for email and have never been affected by those virii. I use Netscape for my isp email and so far the hackers leave it alone. Those scripts don't work on web-based email like hotmail either. The weakness is with Outlook and every time Microsoft fixes it with an update, the hackers find another way. I have Outlook on my computer but only to keep up to date on it, I'd never use it to read email. Netscape works just as good and there's several other good email clients available.

Even using Netscape or another non-microsoft email client you can still get a virus if you download and execute an attachment that contains one. I do not open any attachments that are sent to me unsolicited and that pretty much solves the problem.

Opening emails only from people you know won't protect you anymore if you use Outlook. Most of the recent macro virii took advantage of Outlooks address book to send emails out to everyone who's in it. Because of this, you're more likely to get a virus from someone you know rather than a strangers email.

Rick, one thing that hasn't changed is graphics files such as .jpg, gif, ,bmp cannot contain a virus. They are data files and don't have the capability for macros or executables in them. McAfee and Norton also support this position on their website. The net would truly be a mess if they ever figured out a way to insert virii into graphics. One thing to keep in mind is that some virii try to appear like a graphics file by adding what appears to be a graphics extension(.jpg) behind the actual extension(.vbs). An example would be picturefile.jpg.vbs So look close at any graphics files you receive to make sure they actually end in an actual graphics extension.

You make an excellent point about updating antivirus software. It's not much good if you don't update it daily. I don't bother doing that because I don't really put myself at risk of getting a virus. I do have Norton A/V and only update it and run it once a month just for maintenance. It's never caught a virus on any of the computers I currently run. I'm more concerned with spyware and port probes rather than virii.

-- Dave (multiplierx9@hotmail.com), March 14, 2002.

One thing you can do to help with security is visit the Microsoft update site frequently and keep up with the latest updates for Windows and Explorer. It automatically detects what you're running and recommends critical updates and other new versions of features.

http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/

-- Dave (multiplierx9@hotmail.com), March 14, 2002.

Dave- I see what you mean about the graphics files. (Duh)

Once, when I was using find to try to locate a file I downloaded, I checked byu date.

There were scads of little page enhancing image files stored in the hard drive. for a 10 minute period of browsing!

-- Rick in SW West Virginia (Rick_122@hotmail.com), March 14, 2002.