What`s a computer geek 2 Do
an article by R Lipsky

Whew! All this can make you think "I won't even use the internet, and avoid it all." That's like saying, I won't drive my car, because I might get into an accident. If you're careful and you have insurance, you are as safe as you can be, while going about the activities that you wish to indulge in.

So far we've discussed the electronic means that we can use to keep our systems out of the hands of virus writers and hackers. Now we need to address how to use common sense to thwart off potential problems.

First thing that is of primary importance is to remember to back up your important data often. Back it up onto media outside of your system so that it is not vulnerable to anything that may mess up your system. If a virus wipes out the entire contents of your hard drive it would be bad, but if you have a copy of your data you can restore your computer back to the state that it was in before the damage was done.

Be careful about what you download. Only open up email attachments and downloads from reputable sources. If you must open an unknown attachment scan it with an antivirus utility first just to be sure.

These days there are a selective group of viruses that can unleash themselves upon your system, not by downloading anything, but simply by opening the email and reading it, or by just viewing a website. Emails written in HTML code, just like websites can execute code on your system that can reek havoc by doing anything on your system that you can do with a keyboard and mouse. This is scary. Thankfully those viruses, and unscrupulous websites at this point are in the minority. Make sure your security package has a utility on it that will alert you when scripts are being run on your machine. As always, when it comes to anything on the internet, error on the side of caution.

Another potential threat to deal with is called the macro virus. A simple office document that looks benign can contain macros that can execute viruses on your machine. If you have to open an office document created on someone else's machine, be sure to scan it with your antivirus utility, and as an added measure make sure to turn off the macro function in your office site. Macro viruses were very popular a couple of years ago, but thankfully virus writers have found better ways to deliver their payload. Hence the popularity of these macro viruses have waned.

While it may not be possible anymore to keep our systems 100% virus free, by taking the proper steps we can keep the risk of exposure to a minimum. Frequently update your virus protection software and it's virus definition files, and when a virus is indicated and your software can't remove it, consult a professional. And please remember to always backup the data that you create, if a problem should ever occur on your system you'll be glad you did.

If you should need assistance eradicating bugs on your system, or if you need some help coming up with a backup plan for your files, click here and explain your problem on the message board ,
or you reach an IT Professional on the phone at
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If you prefer, you can eMail at Lipco@aol.com.