In order to keep your computer running smoothly and save a lot of time and troubleshooting it is important to keep your computer free of Malware. When your computer becomes infected with viruses, spyware, grayware, and other forms of Malware it begins to run slower, you can loose data, experience random errors, and even infect other computers using the same ISP (Internet Service Provider) as you.
What is Malware/Viruses/Spyware? Click on the link below to read about what these things are and how they can affect you and everyone on your network.
How Do I Detect an Infection?
You can keep your computer safe and detect possible threts and infections using Virus & Spyware scanners. These scanners can be set to run on your computer at certain times every day or as little as weekly, they find and remove infections from your computer and warn you about possible security threats. It is important to have a scanner that looks for both spyware and viruses, most scanners on the market today search for both. It is even a good idea to have two programs because some programs find things that others miss.
Aside from just having a Virus & Spyware scanner you need to be proactive to make sure that it works for your. The number one thing that you should do is make sure you download the updates at least once a week, most programs can be set to auto update, just make sure that you have administrative priviliges to auto download the updates to your computer, otherwise your updates will fail.
Can I Prevent Infections?
Aside from routinely running Anti Virus and Spyware scans on your computer there are things you can do to avoid getting infections. The most common viruses are attached to emails. Never open email attachments from someone you don't know, even if it is an email claiming to be from a bank, credit card company, ISP Administrator, Paypal, etc. There is lots of junk email out there claiming to be from someone they are not.
Downloading things onto your computer is another common way to get infected. Only download things from trusted sites.
It is very common to have a small amount of spyware on your computer and sometimes even if you are careful you can still pick up some form of malware, keeping up to date antivirus and spyware programs with the latest definitions and running them regularly is your best defense against Malware.