Commonsense Approach to Computer Viruses

It is actually pretty hard to keep yourself from being infected with a virus. It is a bit like visiting a doctor's office or preschool: You can watch what you touch, who you sit near, and wash your hands, but you can still end up with a cold.

The first line of defense against computer viruses, worms, and Trojan horses is common sense. You can do some fairly simple things to prevent infection:

• Do not open any e-mail (especially attachments) from people whom you do not know.

• Many recent viruses replicate by sending themselves to people in your contact list, so it is possible to receive a virus e-mail from someone you know, even without that person knowing he or she sent it.

• Preview any e-mail thoroughly before opening attachments. If you have any suspicion whatsoever, call the sender on the phone and ask whether he or she sent the e-mail.

• Avoid "free" software, offers, and opportunities. Ask yourself why they are giving valuable stuff away.

• If you use an e-mail program, such as Outlook, that gives you the option of viewing e-mails in plain text or HTML, set the default to plain text. Some viruses now take advantage of HTML and auto-launch as soon as the e-mail is opened. If you only view in plain text, any attached virus must be manually opened (which means at least you have a fighting chance).

• There is also a preview pane in Outlook that does actually open the e-mail and can launch a worm or virus. You can turn the feature off for some added protection.

Very Important

If you have children who use the Internet from a computer at home, set a rule that all downloads should be approved by Mom or Dad. This is good advice for malicious software and for some topics discussed later in the book.

Unfortunately, common sense does not save you from every infection, and anyone who has been using the Internet any period of time has likely been hit with a virus or worm. We have been hit. Everyone we know has been hit, and so has pretty much every company on the Fortune 1000. So, obviously, common sense is not enough. Fortunately, we have antivirus programs that are both cheap and effective.