Preventive Maintenance Pays Dividends
Q: When it comes to protecting my computer system are there any preventative maintenance techniques I should employ?
A: Today, anyone who has the latest operating systems and anti-virus software programs doesn't have to worry too much about performing maintenance on their computer. It is still recommended to perform defrag and scan disk of your hard drive, but there is not as much worry as there was with older operating systems.
The latest headache, however, is spyware, which is not the same as a virus, but can cause a tremendous problem for users. While not fatal to the operating system, like a virus, it can get so bad that it can make an individual computer almost inoperable.
Unlike a virus, most spyware tracks a user's visits to sites on the Internet for marketing purposes or to distribute pop-up advertisements on the user's computer. While many of these spyware programs?which can be picked up from using file-sharing programs like Kazaa or just visiting many Web sites?are harmless, some do create links to pop-up ad messages. Pick up enough of these types of spyware programs and there can be enough pop-up ad messages produced to make your computer useless. It's not a virus, but it is a nuisance.
Sometimes the problem can get so bad that the only way to solve it is to have a technician come in and re-install the computer?s operating system to get rid of all the spyware. The problem affects individual hard drives and generally does not affect network systems.
The following are suggestions for users to protect their computers:
? Be careful where you browse. Many spyware programs will install automatically when you visit a Web site.
? Be careful what you download. Most really annoying spyware comes from downloading free programs like toolbar add-ons or file-sharing programs.
? Run spyware scanning software regularly. A good free program is Spybot Search and Destroy, which can be downloaded from www.spybot.info.
This answer was supplied by Steve Willits, president, Willits Technologies in Houston (e-mail Steve@wti.cc), a computer network company dedicated to working with independent agents.
Reproduced from National Underwriter Edition, July 1, 2004. Copyright 2004 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.
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