What do I do if I find out that I have a virus on my computer? Know that it's not the end of the world. As a courtesy, contact everyone (by phone, preferably) you have been connected by email to warn them possible exposure to the virus right away.

Antivirus software is must-have protection. This review picks the best antivirus software based on its virus detection abilities, features, and breadth of protection. Whether you're seeking total system coverage or an ala carte solution, each of the following products provides superb virus protection for Windows-based PCs. Because every system is unique, evaluate several of these antivirus products to find the software best suited for your PC and your level of experience.

Anyone who does a lot of downloading, or accesses diskettes from the outside world on a regular basis should develop an antivirus strategy. The most important weapon in your antivirus arsenal is a clean, write-protected bootable system diskette. Booting from a clean write-protected diskette is the only way to start up your system without any viruses in memory. No virus scanner/cleaner of any quality will run if there is a virus in memory because more programs can be infected by the virus as the scanner opens the files to check them. This diskette should also contain a record of your hard disk's master boot record, partition table, and your computer's CMOS data. Most antivirus packages contain utilities that can store this information for you. Lastly, this diskette should contain your favorite scanning/cleaning software because a virus may have infected this program on your hard drive. Running it from a clean diskette will ensure that you're not spreading the virus further.

I personally use three antivirus packages concurrently. The first is viruscan from Mcafee Associates. I use it mainly because when my company started to become virus-conscious we wanted to get a comprehensive package to guard against them. Everybody we knew seemed to use Mcafee so that's what we bought. I must tell you that after seeing what some other products can do I am not that impressed with Mcafee anymore. One reason is that Mcafee tends to mis-diagnose some viruses. This is a problem because if your computer is infected with virus A, but Mcafee thinks it's virus B, it will attempt to disinfect a virus that's not there, which can badly mess things up on your system. I will say that if you are a casual computer user, Mcafee is probably all you'll ever need because it is easy to use and it does a good job disinfecting most common viruses. I still use Mcafee just because it's there, but I never take its word as gospel.

This code attempts to exploit unpatched security vulnerabilities in order to install malware onto the system. Visited web pages are cached in the Temporary Internet folders and antivirus software scanning these folders will naturally detect the presence of this code in those cached pages. This detection will occur regardless of whether the exploit code was able to run or not. This is a good thing - the antivirus is working as it should. But it does pay to delete the contents of the Temp and Temporary Internet Files folders when investigating the source of any antivirus alert.

Ever since its inception, the Internet has earned a reputation as a haven for freebies: free Web browsers, free e-mail, free music, free product samples, free mortgage quotes, free radioactive iodine blocker. . . . OK, so maybe some of the free items are more desirable than others. Among the most desirable freebies available on the Internet today are Antivirus resources designed to combat malicious code.

Most anti-virus products rely primarily on signatures to stop viruses. These signatures are based on known viruses. Relying solely on this method leaves a dangerous window between the time a virus first appears and the time a signature is developed and deployed. At the moment the outbreak occurs�€�€�"Time Zero"�€�€�a virus has the opportunity to do significant damage to your computer system. Every passing minute until a signature arrives is enough time for a virus to multiply exponentially and compromise another portion of your network.

Protector Plus 2007 is an anti-virus software designed for Windows. It detects and removes all types of malware. The email scan and real-time feature scans all the emails received and files accessed. Virus found are automatically removed. The InstaUpdate feature will download the virus database updates. The interface is attractive and easy to use. It works on all flavors of Windows. Download this 30 day evaluation copy to try it free of cost. Version 8.0.B01 includes unspecified updates.

Every detected infected object should be moved to the Virus Vault. Within the Virus Vault you can explore the object, delete it, or heal and restore the object if the cure has been implemented already. Also, you can send the object to the AVG Free vendor for in-depth analysis.

Launched in the fall of 1998, Staples.com is Staples' e-commerce business unit that serves the home office and small business customer via the Internet. The virtual store offers easy-to-use, customized features and intuitive functions to slash the cost and hassle out of purchasing office supplies. More than 6,000 office supply products are available on Staples.com and it is open for business 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Customers receive free delivery on all orders over $50 and next business day delivery is available in most U.S. markets.