About Norton Anti-Virus

With the many types of anti-virus software, it is helpful to read a brief description of what the different types do and how they can be beneficial to you and your computer. Norton Anti-virus
Symantec's Norton AntiVirus software is perhaps the world's most trusted antivirus solution. It is available for both Windows PC's, and Macintosh (Symantec Antivirus for Macintosh - S.A.M). Norton AntiVirus is a very reliable and easy-to-use anti-virus product. It's the best anti-virus product for catching viruses in downloaded files and E-mail. Norton AntiVirus is also more expensive than McAfee VirusScan although not by much, and the added abilities of Norton can easily make up the difference.
Norton AntiVirus includes many tools that can be run in the background, including watching for suspicious PC activity and automatically checking downloaded files for viruses. Norton AntiVirus is also automatically configured to handle E-mail virus scanning for email messages coming into your computer, as well as those you send. This process automatically scans and cleans both incoming and outgoing email, stopping viruses from infecting your computer or spreading to others. It removes viruses automatically, without interrupting your work and prevents infections during real-time online chats, and also detects viruses in instant-message attachments. Because so many viruses and internet worms are now spread using email and Instant Message Systems, this is extremely valuable and necessary protection.
Norton Installation
Installation is simple. Simply install the CD in your CD drive, and the installer will launch automatically. The installer should ask you if you want to do a pre-install scan of your system for viruses. This is a very good thing to do. Once this is finished, the installation will proceed, and you can accept all the defaults without worry. Once the installation is complete, you'll be prompted to go online and get up-to-date virus definitions. DO NOT skip this step. Having up-to-date virus definitions is essential to the performance of any antivirus software.
Normal Use
Norton is a very hands-off program. Pretty much it is an install and forget program that looks after itself. It will automatically notify you if there is anything that you need to do. If a virus is found, the software will try to automatically repair the file, if it can't, it will place the file in a safe 'quarantine' zone, and let you know. In addition to looking for known viruses, the Norton Antivirus Bloodhound feature tries to spot new viruses and worms by their behaviour that is common to such nasty programs.
Checking your system and downloading updates are two things you need to do regularly. Norton Antivirus makes them painless by setting up a full system scan once a week and checking for new updates (both to the software, and virus definitions) whenever you're online. These simple update scans hardly slow down your PC down at all.
Overall, Norton Antivirus is an excellent way to guard against viruses. It is the system that I recommend to my clients most often, and that I use personally.

AntiVirus Software - Why Your PC Needs It

If your PC is connected to the internet for browsing the web or sending and receiving email, you need antivirus protection. This applies whether you have a dial-up connection or a high-speed connection such as DSL or cable.
The very fact that you are connected to a public network along with millions of others means that your PC is vulnerable. It is open to receiving thousands of little software programs that are specifically designed to either harm, disrupt, or exploit your computer.
** Protecting your computer against malicious intruders
Any time you receive a file from some other source on the web, there is a chance that file will be "infected" with a virus, or will contain an attached bit of adware or spyware. That applies to viewing web pages, and receiving email messages. It also applies to downloading image, audio, and video files.
Email attachments are especially notorious for harboring viruses and malware. You receive a message that has an attachment beckoning you to double-click on it. When you do so, it installs a little program that resides somewhere deep within your PC, ready to do whatever it has been programmed to do -- whether that is spying and reporting on your computer habits, hijacking your home page and redirecting you to some other site, or popping up aggravating ads for gambling or pornography sites.
Viruses go well beyond that. They are intentionally designed to run programs that damage important operating system files, and usually have some way of exploiting your email program to send the infected message to hundreds of others in your contact list. That is why they are called "viruses" -- because they can spread like wildfire to thousands and even millions of computers.
** Antivirus programs
Antivirus programs like Norton Antivirus 2006 were designed to do just what their name implies -- to guard against viruses. They do this by using a four part process. First when the anti-virus program is installed it "cleans" the system. Every file on your hard drive is scanned to see if it is infected. When an infected file is found it is either "quarantined" or deleted.
Second, the antivirus program stands guard and automatically scans any new files, email messages or web page files that are downloaded or copied to your computer's memory. If any of these files are found to be infected, the antivirus program blocks them from being copied.
Third, the antivirus program runs periodic scans -- usually every few days -- of your entire file system to make sure no infected files have made it past the automatic scan.
And fourth, the antivirus program has a system for being automatically updated. Since new viruses are being created every day, it is important to update your system of protection every day. Usually this is done by automatically downloading and installing updates to the virus descriptions.
** Guarding against spyware
Spyware is a relatively new problem confronted by the PC owner. The point of spyware is to monitor your keystroke patterns and use this information for some commercial or advertising purpose. The spyware program is usually installed along with some freeware such as a music or video sharing program. The user does not consent to the installation and is often not even aware of it.
Some spyware programs are relatively harmless, but others can have a dramatic impact on your computer's performance -- even bogging it down completely.
Newer versions of an antivirus program such as Norton Antivirus 2006 detect and remove spyware, keystroke loggers and other unwanted monitoring software. They also come with regular updates to stop new spyware from infecting your computer.

How Does Antivirus Software Work?

If you want to make sure that you’re protected from viruses, you should get some antivirus software. This software can offer peace of mind, even for experienced computer users who would be unlikely to open a simple virus.
Antivirus software works in two ways. Firstly, it has a big ‘dictionary’ of viruses, allowing it to scan files and flag any that are known to be viral. Secondly, the software monitors the system for any suspicious activity. One method involves creating decoy files that are hidden from the user and monitoring them to see if they are altered – if they are, then it was almost certainly a virus.
The two giants of the antivirus industry are McAfee and Norton. They are both commercial software based on yearly subscriptions, and at this point there’s little to choose between them – some people swear by one, but just as many will swear by the other. However, both are quite expensive, especially if you buy them as part of the complete security suite.
If you want a free antivirus program, the best around is widely considered to be AVG (the Free Edition). It’s a small but effective antivirus application, popular firstly for being free and secondly for using hardly any system resources to run. AVG is capable of running very fast, even on older computers.
For people who don’t actually want to download and install antivirus software, but just want to quickly make sure that they don’t have a virus, TrendMicro’s HouseCall website is a good solution (you can find it at housecall.trendmicro.com). When you go to the website and click ‘Scan Now’, it will scan your computer for viruses right then and there, without you needing to install anything – and best of all, it’s free. While it is a very good service, however, you shouldn’t rely on it completely, as it is a bad idea to use a computer with no installed antivirus protection.

Maintain Your Computer - Keep Your Business Running

Maintaining your computer is extremely important – especially if you are an Internet Marketer. As you know, without your computer, your business can come to a screeching halt. There are 4 important steps in which you can perform on a regular basis, to help protect your computer and your livelihood.
First line of defense, invest in quality virus software. Be it Norton AntiVirus, McAfee Virus Software or another software program, protect yourself and your computer.
I personally have set Norton to run every evening. It may seem like a hassle when you’re trying to get a project done, however, a 10 minute break in the action is far better than a one or two days of down time – and possible loss data, if your computer crashes. And trust me, I’ve learned this from experience.
Second line of defense, invest in ad ware software. I use Ad-Aware SE Personal – you can get the freeware version or the shareware version – the decision is yours. I’m currently using the freeware version, but will eventually be going to the paid version for added protection. Anyway, Ad-Aware SE will protect your computer from such critters as, data-mining, scumware, parasites, mulware, browser hijackers, to name just a few.
A third line of defense is to always backup your data. Even though you don’t want to hear this, realize that your hard-drive can either go belly up or crash. It is always better to have a backup – it shortens the down time.
Just a side note, when I was working in the corporate world, I had the misfortune of having a supervisor that was computer illiterate. My computer started to make sounds similar to that of a seagull. I told my supervisor that I thought my hard-drive was going out. She did not want to believe me, and stated “We do not have the money in our budget for a hard-drive”. I found that to be a rather crass remark and waited nervously for my hard-drive to make its exit. To make a long story short, two days later, I get a cryptic statement flashing on my screen that said “Back up your Hard-Drive - Error” -- than my hard-drive crashed and died. Amazing, they did have $60 in their little old budget to get a new hard-drive. Now, how much do you suppose my supervisor’s statement cost the company?
Fourth line of defense and maintenance, always clean out your temporary Internet files. It uses up memory!
To clear out your temporary Internet files do the following:
1. Open up your Internet connection.
2. Click On Tools, then Internet Options
3. Under the General Section you should see a section labeled “Temporary Internet Files”
4. Click on the button that says Delete Cookies, and then the button that says Delete Files. When you click on delete files, a box will open up and will ask you if you want to also delete off-line files – check that box, as well.
Within the General Section you should also see a section called History. I decrease the number of days that I hold on to the pages that I visited. Again, this helps to save memory.
These simple maintenance tips can keep your computer clean and protected, which is extremely important when you’re making your living on the Internet.