How not to be infected

"Why is our antivirus software so bad?"

Well, it's not the antivirus software. No antivirus software in the world is going to save you if you don't practice safe computing. Antivirus software protects you from things that it KNOWS are bad. Much like a vaccine will protect, but only after the virus it is destined to shield against is analyzed and the vaccine specially crafted just for it.

No, there are billions of people on the internet and the state of virus protection is just what we've gotten a handle on a couple of weeks ago, not necessarily today. (Although they do try.)

There are things called zero-day exploits which are bugs in code that are hackable. Once the hackers figure out a way to use the holes to their advantage, they release those pieces of software "into the wild". That means that the hacked code to exploit the problem is out there, and it is being passed around.

And that is what your antivirus program is updating against...those sorts of things.

Now, your antivirus program isn't necessarily protecting you from yourself.

If you click on a program, and if you agree to install it, chances are good your antivirus program isn't going to complain. And a lot of the time, most of these programs aren't good for your computer. They might slow it down or mess with your settings. Sometimes it changes your search engine from something you might use to their search engine. Sometimes worse.

But, you see, this isn't a virus. This is a specially crafted program. It doesn't exploit any hole in software. A lot of these programs are called spam or malware or bloatware.

You get them when you click on a popup telling you that you are infected with viruses, while surfing the internet. You get them when installing one piece of software and it might install another one. You might get them while you are downloading some illegal software or music via a torrent or file sharing service.

So, the best way to not get infected by these sorts of things...don't fall for it.

Practice safe computing.

* Don't click on popups (except maybe the little red X in the upper right hand corner to close it). If it still doesn't close, shut down your web browser.
* Don't believe popups that come up while your browsing the internet, warning of an infection.
* Don't download popup advertised software designed to improve your computer.
* When installing legitimate software, don't accept additonal pieces of software. There are often check boxes given you the OPTION to not install it.
* Don't sign up for free stuff. This is how they get your email and send you email filled with links that can take you to sites with viruses.
* Stay away from file sharing sites. File sharing works on the fundamental idea that everyone trusts everyone else's data. And that every file is clean. It's alarming how many people have viruses on their computers and don't even know it. It's alarming how many people will place copies of certain highly requested things and make that a starting point for a virus infection.

If you think you might be infected?

* Download (if you can) antivirus updates.
* Unplug your network cable from your computer. That severs any connection a hacker might have to your computer.
* Run your antivirus program.
* If it doesn't find anything, download a spamware/malware product. Good free ones are MalwareBytes or Spybot S&D. It will remove what spyware it can, and that may help.
* If that doesn't help, attach a USB hard drive and create a Knoppix CD and boot off of it. This will allow you to see your computer without using your operating system. Right click your USB hard drive to make it writable and start transferring your valuable data off your hard drive and onto your USB hard drive. You might copy infected files, but without the operating system, they won't hurt anything.
* Get your computer erased and reinstalled. After an infection or a malware attack, sometimes the damage done is so severe that you just have to start over. Make sure to reinstall your antivirus first and THEN transfer your backed up files back. Often this is when your AV will flag a file as trouble.