Tips to Building a Comprehensive Protection Strategy

Computer viruses can harm computer systems to varying degrees; from being a nuisance to crippling a system. Regardless of the extent, when a computer does get infected, it creates an unnecessary expense to either the business or the home. Unfortunately, installing a virus protection program isn't all you need to do anymore to be protected. The following tips will help you to build a strategy for protecting yourself from future infections.

Install antivirus software and keep it up to date. While it isn't all you need to do, it is the minimum amount of protection you should have. A search of the internet for the term 'antivirus software' will turn up numerous respectable antivirus programs that can be used, some of them even free for home users. Regardless of which program you use, make sure it is kept up-to-date on a daily basis. Almost all programs allow you to automate this process.

Keep your software updated. And I don't just mean Microsoft products. Some programs are more important than others but all programs are susceptible to having mistakes that need fixing. Even the Mac OS has patches that should be installed. The Microsoft products can be addressed by using the Automatic Updates software however, we'd recommend contacting your computer administrator on how to best configure your settings.

Use a Spam filtering service for your email. This can benefit you in two ways. First, it reduces the amount of junk mail that comes into your network reducing the chances of a user accidently opening an infected attachment. Second, should an affected file be sent to your email, the service will filter it before it ever gets to your network, reducing the risk of it infecting anyone else.

Create and enforce a policy limiting what software users can install. Arguably the least costly yet most difficult to implement tip, limiting what software your users are allowed to install on their systems can have a big impact on the success of your virus protection strategy. If users are not accustomed to installing software, they will be less likely to accidentally install an affected program if prompted to do so. Additionally, if the users do not need to be installing software, IT administrators can lock down the PCs to further reduce the chance of an infected program being installed.

Use OpenDNS. A free service that allows a business, or home user, the ability to watch and filter all internet traffic. Policies can be setup to block certain types of traffic or even specific sites. The service also maintains its own list of blocked sites to help protect users from going to a site that is known to be infected or contain malicious content. Whether you are trying to protect a small network at your house or the one in your office, these six tips can help you to build a comprehensive strategy to reduce your exposure to a computer virus attack.