Here’s a simple question: “Are your virus definitions up to date?”  If the answer is “No” or “I don’t know”, then you are in jeopardy of losing all of the information on your computer(s).

This is not a scare tactic, just a simple truth.  To date, clients have paid us $40 to $200 to have viruses removed from a single computer.  Considering that the cost for an annual subscription to virus definition updates is about $20, this is should be a “no-brainer”.  Some people say, “Well, I only open messages from people I know, so that I don’t have to worry about getting viruses.”  However, viruses these days are able to open your e-mail address book, and send infected messages to your contacts from your e-mail address, so this is no longer a safe assumption.  And, there are other ways of contracting viruses, such as from floppy and Zip disks, and CD’s ... even from websites!

Virus checkers today are quite sophisticated, and they can automatically scan information and e-mail messages as they enter your computer, so that any potential viruses are removed or “quarantined” at the door.  Computer users with this type of protection often feel much less “paranoid” about reading e-mail messages, or using floppies and other types of media obtained from friends or associates.

There are several companies that provide anti-virus protection programs.  The favorite of many industry professionals and consumers alike is Norton Anti-Virus.  The price is reasonable, and it provides a level of protection that is as good as or better than their competition.  NAV as it’s commonly referred to, can be purchased from many retail stores, or from Raymond Rent-A-Nerd.

If you’re having “unprotected internet”, then make it a priority to take care of this situation before you regret it!

Click here for information on Norton Anti-Virus.