Intelligent Choice Computers - help articles - regular updates

Past Help! columns:

• Are you prepared?
• Predictions for the New Year
• Protection for identity theft
• Routers - basic & wireless
• Back to School Computers
• Printer Shopping - Part II
• Printer Shopping - Part I
• Viruses - an ongoing battle
• Vista - to do or not to do
• Play it safe - backup, backup, backup!
• Viruses and spyware

Help! for July '08:
Viruses and spyware - they're everywhere

ICC's A+ help
by Shelley Veinot

What is a virus?

Loosely defined, a computer virus is a file or program that is placed on a computer system without the owner's permission or knowledge. When the file or program is executed, the virus goes to work. Symptoms of a virus can include, but are not limited to, extreme slowness or freezing up, the pc rebooting suddenly on its own, programs stop working as they should, unusual error messages begin to appear. Sometimes even the anti-virus program you have installed to protect you from viruses is disabled completely.

While many people assume these are exclusive symptoms of a computer virus, in fact there are many different forms of infection. Most of these fall under the umbrella of malicious software, or "malware." Malware includes computer viruses, spyware, adware, worms, trojan horses and rootkits. Regardless of what is infecting your system, what it brings is frustration and sometimes, fear.

How did my system get infected?

The most common way systems get infected these days is through e-mail, MSN Messenger or by downloading music, programs and movies using peer-to-peer file sharing (i.e. Limewire, Morpheus). How many of us receive daily e-mails from a variety of friends and family containing jokes, photos and videos? Do you download mp3s and the latest movies to burn? You are virtually guaranteed to receive a nice little present along with that free song you downloaded.

If your pc is not on the Internet, there is still the chance of infection. A lot of malware is transferred from one computer to another via removable media such as a USB flash drive, floppy diskette or cd. The malware infects the system easily, usually because it is attached to a legitimate file, such as a program or an operating system file, and the user does not know the infection is there.

But I have an anti-virus program!

The key to all this is to remember - not any one program is the catch-all. That Norton Antivirus or Kaspersky Antivirus you have installed probably won't catch a rootkit or various other types of spyware.

Lately, spyware with names such as WinFixer, WinAntivirusPro, ErrorSafe and SystemDoctor are causing major problems. A user can just be browsing the Internet and may inadvertently go to a site that will drop its payload on the user's system. Programs begin to install themselves, giving incorrect information about the system being infected with hundreds of instances of spyware - when the programs themselves are the spyware. A lot of times it is not the fault of the computer user that their system became infected because they do not visit questionable sites. Unfortunately, legitimate sites can be targeted as well.

1. Remember - No one program is fail-safe against all forms of malware. There are products available that say they do protect your system completely, one example would be Norton 360. Even your Internet provider offers a suite of protection products. But do these really help? Certainly they do help to some degree, but not everything is covered. Also, if your system is a bit on the older side, mostly what you will see is a significant slowdown of your computer, not the safety you were looking for.

2. Build your own suite of products that won’t hog the memory resources of your system AND will protect you from the majority of malware out there.

• Begin with a reputable antivirus program and you don't need to spend any money on a really good one. There is a very good free antivirus program that we at ICC recommend - Avast Antivirus. It scans e-mails as they come in, scans instant messaging and downloading files and it updates itself, all in the background with little or no user interaction required.
  
  
• Second, install a good anti-spyware program. We recommend Spybot Search & Destroy - it doesn't block infections from entering your system, but if you scan regularly, it removes the malware very reliably.
  
  
• Finally, install Adaware 2007.This program is available in two versions, one free and one you pay for. The free one works very well when used on a regular basis along with Spybot S&D.
  
  

3. Once you’ve installed & updated your software, scan your system on a regular basis. It makes no sense to have the right software installed, if you do not use them properly. Every two weeks would be sufficient, unless you are a power downloader!

Malware and what it does is almost an unending topic of conversation; hopefully, we at ICC have given you some tools to get you started on your way to pc safety!

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Help! for June '08:
Are you prepared?

ICC's A+ help
by Shelley Veinot

With summer's arrival comes the thunderstorm and hurricane season. We have all experienced complete power outages and their effect on various home appliances, but in reality, it can take only a small increase or decrease in power to your pc or laptop to have a major effect.

There are two main types of power fluctuations that can affect your system:

Power Surge - An unexpected increase in the amount of electrical voltage in an electrical line. A power surge can provide too much power to a computer or electrical device generally causing damage to that device making the device not operate at all or improperly.

Brownout - Condition where the received power is lower than normal values. This occurrence can cause damage to the computer or cause components not to work or function properly.

There is just as much risk of damage to your pc from a brownout (ie. when the lights flicker or dim) as from a power surge (ie. when power comes back on after being out). Symptoms appearing after you have experienced a power surge or brownout can include data loss, spontaneous rebooting and ultimately hardware failure.

You know the sort of failure I'm talking about - you press the power button on your pc and nothing happens. Your heart drops to your stomach as you think about all of your family pictures on the hard drive and can't remember whether you've backed them up to a cd.

The majority of systems we receive for service at ICC after a storm has passed through have either a dead power supply or a dead dial-up modem. This is usually because the average person has their computer plugged into a power bar and the phone line plugged into their dialup modem directly from the wall. In order to avoid this from happening to you, the best solution would be to purchase a good surge protector.

A quality surge protector will provide multiple outlets for standard plugs, along with the option to run your phone line and/or cable through the surge protector. In addition, the best surge protectors will offer replacement insurance up to a specified dollar amount should anything attached to the surge protector be damaged due to a power surge.

Most of the time, the hard drive (where your files are stored) is not affected by power fluctuations; however, there is still a great chance that it could be.

Best practice is to backup your important files to cd, dvd or an external hard drive, on a regular basis. Replacing power supplies, dial-up modems and hard drives can become costly if you have not protected your sensitive electronics with a surge protector.

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Help! for January '08:
Looking ahead into the New Year

ICC's A+ help
by ICC staff

Poof! There goes another year! It always amazes us how quickly time flies. 2007 was quite a year for technology.

If 2008 holds true to past years, we can expect the acceleration of technological advances to continue. There are many new products on the plate, and some significant tax changes with regards to technology. Let's have a look at what 2008 is supposed to bring.

End of an era

AOL, the owner of Netscape, has announced that it will let the Internet's (arguably) pioneer browser die. The question is, who still uses it anyway?

Internet slow-down?

Each year, the experts predict that the network supporting the Internet will slow down. Will it be the dreaded spam, too many web pages, too many users . . . no.

This year, predictions point the finger at the avalanche of streaming video, from, for example, TV sites and YouTube. Some warn the infrastructure behind your cable modem or DSL connection will become overburdened. The need for speed has always driven technology, but could we be reaching a plateau? Ooooh . . . ahhhh . . . we'll see!

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Vista service pack

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is on its way. From a support perspective, and a user's point of view, it's about time! Look for SP1 early in "2008-ish."

Green technology

Technology will get greener. Essentially, manufacturers are working on ways to get more from less, and consume less power in the manufacturing and use of the new devices. This means, for example, that a hard drive could become legacy. Researchers are making significant gains in capacity and speed in hopes to have digital memory replace the power hog mechanical hard drives. Imagine 1 TB (1000 GB) on a device the size of your thumb.

With the move towards greener technology, look for our provincial government's new "environmental fees" to kick in on major electronics in February 2008. This means that even though the HST drops in January, come February it will cost you (for example) $30 more to buy a computer with a monitor and printer. Oh, and of course there is HST on that provincial fee.

Less talk, more text

Look for more options for social networking, where we will see our teenagers talk less and type, "chat" and text even more. You can expect more spam, phishing emails, and just plain crap from cyberspace. There are still talks of imposing a per message charge on all emails, but that won't happen in 2008.

The predictions are endless, but time is not. All the staff at ICC is wishing you a happy 2008 - thank you for making 2007 a banner year. We look forward to bringing you new technology and meeting your needs for years to come.

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Help! for December '07:
Identity Theft - What's it all about?

ICC's A+ help
by ICC staff

My identity. Why would I be a target? I mean, come on . . . I couldn't be a target!

Not true. From pharming to phishing to smishing, to just plain wishing, the criminal mind is always looking for ways to get your personal information. The more connected we become, the more accessible is our valuable data.

Once a criminal has your name, address, credit/bank card number, s/he can gain access to a wealth of other information. If lucky enough to get your PIN or SIN, the effects can be catastrophic. Victims can spend months or years, and thousands of dollars, just to get their identity back.

Should we be scared to conduct business online? The answer is no, just be aware of the threats and take care to not get caught. There are many ways to protect your identity online, here are some of the most common:

• Be cautious of emails from people you do not know. No one has ever died in Nigeria and left their fortune of millions of dollars to a complete stranger.
  
  
• Remember, banks do not email you unexpectedly. If you receive an email that indicates your account needs an update and to click "here" to sign in, don't do it. The link, although it may read http://www.royalbank.com, actually takes you to a look-alike RBC website which is used to gather your card number and password. That's all it takes for a criminal to drain your accounts.
  
  
• Protect your email address. We recommend having more than one email address. Use one (a gmail or hotmail) for all the online forms, and those sites that need an email address to continue. Use another email address for your close group of friends. Change each of them regularly to cut down on the spam you receive. No matter how hard you try to protect your email address, there is always that one friend who sends jokes with all the addresses visible to everyone instead of using the Blind Copy "BC" feature.
  
  
• Protect your credit card numbers. Similar to what we recommend with email addresses, have a separate credit card with a small limit ($500) for online purchases.
  
  
• Don't click on those annoying pop ups, you're not going to win $1000, and you probably aren't the site's millionth visitor . . . Sorry to burst the bubble.
  
  
• Protect yourself from spyware, malware and adware. There are many products on the market for protecting yourself, some are free. Spybot Search and Destroy and AVG Antispyware are two reputable products which help keep your PC safe.
  
  Of course, there are also retail products such as Norton 360 which do a more complete job. If your computer has spyware, malware, or adware have it cleaned by your local computer shop.
  
  Although your neighbour may work for beers, you could get what you pay for. Cleaning your computer of these nasty pests takes time, experience, and a number of software tools. Despite all the above, a full reload of the operating system may be necessary.
  
  
• Don't accept messenger files from someone you don't know. Malicious file transfers can install products on your computer to monitor your keystrokes. As you complete an online purchase, the card number and expiry date is being sent to the criminals' server - all without your knowledge.
  
  
• Protect your wireless network. Did you know that out of the box, your wireless router can make your network available to everyone in range? That's great if you want to play games with your neighbour . . . But how about the guy sitting on the corner "wardriving" (trying to steal information off your computer)? For advice on securing your wireless network, schedule a visit to your local computer store.
  
  

This just touches the tip of the iceberg with regards to protecting your identity. For more information and details on all the scams and scum out there, we recommend you visit the RCMP website or click on their online guide and print it for the family to read.

Until next time, keep safe and stay secure!

PS, while typing this message I actually got an email from the Royal Bank telling me that my account needs to be restored.. of course, it was a fraud.

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Help! for October '07: Routers
Basic & wireless - G & N - let's clear the confusion!

ICC's A+ help
by Nathan Herritt, ICC co-owner

This is my first column as ICC's new co-owner - I'm taking over from former co-owner Shaun - hope you find it good reading!

Let's talk routers - the differences between wireless and wired and between wireless G and the new wireless N routers.

A basic router distributes high speed Internet connection to more than one computer in your home. A wireless router does the same - without wires running all over the house.

Many people think a wireless router is all they need - sorry to disappoint, but this is not so! With wireless routers you can still plug up to four computers into it and still go wirelessly with your laptop or other computers. However, a normal computer will need a wireless NIC card installed to be able to go on the Internet wirelessly.

Another common misconception is buying a laptop with wireless connection delivers Internet access any place, anytime. And finally, buying a wireless router for home doesn't mean the Internet is available anytime, any place, anywhere - most wireless routers only give a range of 75-300 feet.

Here's where it gets fun: most wireless routers people have are called wireless G signal. Now there's an all-new wireless N. It's supposed to deliver two to five times the distance of normal routers: a 75-300 foot range is boosted to 150-1500 foot range.

First things first - to hit your new expanded range, you need a wireless N router and a wireless N card installed in your computer or laptop. Also, and here's the part I don't like, they have made different wireless N routers with different ranges. A cheaper wireless N router does twice the range of the wireless G routers, a step up delivers three times the range and it goes up from there.

Here at ICC we have many different routers such as the standard wired routers, wireless G routers, wireless N that doubles the range expansion, wireless N that triples the range expansion and after that we can order anything in and get it extremely quickly for you.

I hope I have cleared any confusion our readers might have had. The ICC team and I look forward to answering questions on routers or any other computer-related topic.

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Help! for August '07:
Reading, writing and . . . computers!

ICC's A+ help
by Shaun Swim, ICC co-founder

Well everybody it's back-to-school time. It's good for the parents, but not so good for the young ones.

Usually when the back-to-school frenzy starts, so does the idea of replacement computers. When your little (well maybe not so little anymore) people get ready to head off to university, they will say a new, or replacement, computer is a must.

Some university students want desktop systems, but I think laptops usually win out. Don't get them anything more than they need and make sure it will last a couple of years. The average university student doesn't need a system that will cook dinner! Let's face it, they are going to school to learn. They do not need a computer that will play the latest games etc, although they may tell you they do - LOL!

Get them a reliable unit with whatever software is recommended by the learning establishment. If an extended warranty is available that covers against disasters such as dropping the unit, it would be a good investment. Laptops are very fragile. A cracked screen caused by physical damage is very expensive to replace, but with a "no fault" warranty, it is covered. Please question the retailer on this very carefully to make sure it is covered.

Buy the software they need, don't get it from a friend - that is illegal - and not dependable. If something happens and their system has to be reloaded, they'll be out of luck. As I said before, laptops are generally more functional for college kids. Please make sure you get a security lock so it is locked to a desk etc when stationary. Also check with your insurance company to insure it against theft. Laptops are a hot commodity these days and love to walk away.

It is good to get a reliable multi-function printer that will scan, copy and print all-in-one. It would definitely be a smart move to get a couple of memory sticks for backing up data in case the system does walk or a system failure strikes. A memory stick is a small USB device that you plug in and save info to it - kind of like a mini hard drive.

As for high school students, generally they only need a desktop computer system for at-home use. Memory sticks are still a good idea so they can transfer info from school computers to home computers.

Another necessary item is a good anti virus program. It should be purchased at the time of system purchase or check with your Internet provider to see if a monthly package is available.

Well people, that is about all I can think of right now to help when you're looking for a "Learning Computer." Please make sure wherever you purchase the unit that they answer all your questions and you are comfortable with their answers.

Take care, have a great summer and a smooth transition to fall!

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Printer Shopping Part II

ICC's A+ help
by Shaun Swim, ICC co-founder

Now that everybody knows the ins and outs of printers from last month, I will tell you more.

As far as quality goes, name brands are pretty comparable. You can get a $50 Canon printer that, to the naked amateur eye, may - or will - print as good as a $200 Canon, Epson, Lexmark, HP etc. The professional, or amateur professional, would say differently and opt for a $400-to-infinite price range to get that little bit of extra quality.

Price per page varies from printer to printer according to the price of ink, paper etc. The cost of cartridges should always be taken into consideration before purchasing a printer. As I mentioned in last month's article, I believe only Brother makes a printer that takes true Generic (or no-name) cartridges which can be as little as a third the price of true name brand cartridges. For some of the other brands you can get "refurbished" cartridges for some of the other brands, but they don't always work well.

Ink prices are the biggest cost of printing, especially in color. For photos, a good quality photo paper will cost the same, no matter what printer you use. Unless you are prepared to use printer specific brands which will cost considerably more. For every day text printing, use the run-of-the-mill paper. For presentation work, a quality heavyweight paper makes a good impression.

Quite honestly, you can go to a local camera store with a photo printing kiosk and print your pictures cheaper than doing it yourself at home or work. But printing is much more convenient at home and can be a lot of fun - especially if you modify the pictures.

I cannot tell you which printer to buy. Talk to people who have printers, get their opinions, then check out your local computer store. I recommend the smaller stores for opinions as compared to the big box stores. They'll recommend the printer they can make the most commission on, or the one they have been told to sell that day. Oops, did I say that out loud? Old age must be setting in I think! Reading on the Internet about printer reviews is another good way to get cost per page and quality opinions.

Well that's it for this month, see you all in July when I write about . ..well, I'm not sure yet . . . monitors may be a good topic!

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Printer Shopping Part I

ICC's A+ help
by Shaun Swim, ICC co-founder

What do I buy for a Printer? That is a question we get all the time. There are a few basic questions you should ask yourself:


1) What will I use it for? Some text, some photos, a lot of text (black), general use or printing money?
2) Do I want a unit that will print only?
3) Do I want a unit that will print, photocopy and scan?
4) Do I want a unit that will print, photocopy, scan, fax and print money?

If you want a printer to print black text at an economical price, go with a laser printer. A good quality one starts at about $175. You can get a basic color laser printer for about $350. They are great for text, but not so great for images as the resolution is not high enough for quality results.

As far as popular brands, there's Lexmark, Canon, Epson. HP and Brother. Dell has their own "branded" printer (made by Lexmark). I understand Dell printers require Dell ink as there is a slight difference from the regular Lexmark product. Of course Dell's price is at a premium. As far as quality goes, they are all good in my opinion.

The sad part about basic printers and any printer up to $300 or so (no matter what brand) is that they are throw-aways after warranty is over. If they break, they are not worth getting fixed. This is not good for the environment. You tree huggers out there know what I am talking about!

Generally all of today's printers have the printer head built into the cartridge which of course drives up the price of cartridges. This is still a benefit to the person who only uses their printer every couple of weeks.

I always tell a customer "The more you use your printer, the longer it will last." This is very true if it has the print head built into the printer. If you don't use the printer a lot, then the print head clogs with ink and generally you can never get it clean again, thus you throw the printer away.

If your printer has its print heads in the cartridges, and is rarely used so the ink dries in the print head, you'll be forced to replace the cartridge. This prolongs the life of your printer, but the cartridges are very expensive. As far as I know, Brother has the only printer (actually an all-in-one) that has the print head in the printer. Its cartridges are much less expensive.

If your printer is used often, you can get generic (no name) cartridges at a much reduced price. I know of a local store that has a sale on the Brother all-in-one which will take generic cartridges! You will have to make the Intelligent Choice and figure out which one. That's it for this time.

Next month I will talk about quality and price per page. Until then, Happy Printing!

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Those . . . Viruses!

ICC's A+ help
by Shaun Swim, ICC co-founder

Winter is soon gone, but computer viruses never leave us. This month I thought I would talk about the dreaded things and how to partially inoculate your "Burden of Joy" namely the computer. Viruses are nasties brought to us by people who have nothing better to do than make them and pass them around through music download sites, chatrooms, web sites and any other way they can dream up.

At our business, probably half of our service work involves viruses and "spyware." Yes we make money at it, but that doesn's make me any happier about either. Every day people ask us how to avoid viruses. The only 100% guarantee for it is to have a computer that is not connected to any form of Internet, don't borrow a disk from anybody - no matter what it is, and lock your system in an air tight room!

Now we all know that's no solution! You can download freeware Virus programs work fairly well.

Another option is to pay a monthly fee to your Internet provider for a package that will assist in saving you some headaches.

The third way is to purchase a virus protection package from your nearest computer store. If you are running Windows XP or newer, I recommend Symantec Anti Virus 2007. Norton is a great package and will do as good a job as it can at keeping you safe. One thing you will notice with pretty well any brand you buy, it will slow your access to email etc. a bit as it is does scans on virtually everything you look at to make sure it is safe to do so. The new antivirus programs also assist with stopping pop-ups and spyware programs. Any which way you decide to go, in my opinion you will only be about 50-60% protected from viruses.

Here's why: A virus has to be produced, then sent out. The Virus "police" have to discover it, then find a cure. Next they post the fix on their web site for your virus software to download on its next update then install on your system. Finally you will be protected from that particular virus.

This can take weeks. Meanwhile, the virus has been infecting many many systems.

If you purchase virus software, make sure the updates are always done and that you keep your subscription up-to-date, otherwise your "solution" will have no value.

Generally, purchased virus software has to be renewed every year for a fee - or it will not be kept up-to-date. If you use the software through your Internet provider for a monthly fee, it will be updated for you as long as you make your payments. The freeware generally has to be updated manually and is not as thorough at doing its job unless you pay for their full version.

Spybot and ad aware are free spyware programs that work well, but only protect you from spyware - not most viruses. People, the best advice I can give you is to enjoy your computer, keep the best possible virus protection on it, be careful of certain emails and stay away from questionable web sites.

If you think you will never get a virus, then happy dreams in la la land! Please make sure you keep all important data backed up at all times as some day your computer will be infected!!

Have a great month and see you in May . . .

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Vista - To Do or Not to Do

ICC's A+ help
by Shaun Swim, ICC co-founder

By now you have heard all the hype on Vista. I am sure most of you are thinking should I or should I not. I have - and hope this column will help with your decision making!

First thing I would recommend to anyone considering this significant upgrade is to go to the Microsoft web site and run the compatibility program on your system. I recommend this only if you are truly legal - you know what I mean - if you are not, call us and we can advise you.

The test takes a few minutes and in the end will tell you if your system is worthy of Bill Gates' latest must-have (in his mind anyway). It will check your machine for speed, what hardware you are running, software that may be in question for compatibility issues etc.

If you are not running a newer video card, one will be recommended. Vista does not like Nero burning software; probably because it wants you to run their software. Unless you have purchased a new Anti Virus in the past month or so, you will need to upgrade it. If you are running Symantec (for security), there's a patch that will fix your anti-virus to run on Vista.

Once you have run the test and learned what you may need to do to run Vista, then you can decide whether it is worth the upgrade. Vista likes lots of ram (random access memory). MS will tell you it only requires 512 MB to run it, but
I recommend 1 GB to 2 GB to make it perform reasonably. If your computer is slower than 1.5 GHz, then I suggest you don't bother with Vista. Save your money instead.

I did the upgrade version of Vista Ultimate. I closed a few programs that Vista told me to close, then went out for the evening. Vista did the entire install, rebooting several times as necessary. When I came home, it was up and running. A few final setup items and it was done.

Some programs that will not run on Vista. I tried installing GPS software for my car's new GPS (so I don't get lost around the big city of Bridgewater) and it was a no-go. I will have to contact the vendor to see if there is a fix for the incompatibility.

As for my opinion on Vista, I think it's nice. I cannot say it is a "must-have" because I have not found anything that has stood out for me. The ultimate version has a nice media center feature and organizes pictures for viewing. With a TV viewing card, you can watch TV on your computer.

One recommendation I will make: to be honest, I do not suggest buying the Home Basic version as it comes with few features including the option to burn CDs.

If you would like to see Vista running on a machine, drop into our store and take a look. Our staff will be glad to show you how it works and demonstrate the personal and business-use versions.

If you chose to upgrade to Vista, you can either buy the upgrade version to run over what you have, or invest in the full version for which you will have to format your hard drive and start with a clean slate. If you are nervous about doing the Vista upgrade, our knowledgeable service staff will give you a quote on doing it for you at one of our two service locations.

I have rambled on long enough. I hope this article will help you decide on the "To do or not to do" decision.

Take care and see you in April . . .

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Besides viruses & spyware, the hard drive is the weakest point in a system. Sometimes new ones are bad right out of the box. Some fail a little down the road . .
by ICC staff

There are a couple recommendations to avoiding disasters with your data. The first one is to backup, backup, backup. Even if it just means burning photos, documents etc. to CDs or DVDs. If you are going to backup pictures on CD, make two copies and keep one off site.

You don't need to backup your programs - if there is a catastrophic failure you can reinstall them from the manufacturer's CDs you (hopefully) have somewhere handy.

CDs & DVDs are fairly durable and can store data for a long time. Rewritable CDs and DVDs (CDRW & DVDRW) are good for regular backups where your data is changing on a regular basis and you can erase and reuse the CD or DVD. They are not recommended for long term storage. These disks are meant for storage of up to five years before needing to be re-burnt, after which they are good for up to another five years.

Many newer motherboards have built-in RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks). The most popular is RAID 1, also called mirroring. Two identical hard drives write the same data to both at the same time in real time. If one of the drives fail, the other is ready to go. Some people think if they mistakenly delete something, they can retrieve it off of the 2nd drive. Sorry, but no.

The biggest problems with backups is no one does them! Especially home users. Most, as in 70%, don't know how to do a backup of their data, period.

Some services can recover data off of bad hard drives, but they are not cheap. Hard drives are completely sealed units, no dust can get in or out of them. An ICC customer had two hard drive failures over 10 years. It cost her $2,000 the first time to get all her data back. The second time it was $1,500 because there was less data to recover.

Another ICC customer's hard drive crashed. He was running his business on it for three or four years and he lost it all, no backups.

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Virus & spyware - some antidotes are free
by ICC staff

I'd like to think that every computer linked to the Internet has an anti virus program installed, but I know it isn't so.

Most of us have heard about computer viruses, the malicious software that can appear unexpectedly on your computer in many different forms. Their effects range from mildly annoying to downright destructive.

Norton Antivirus is a good program. It will help protect your system _ and for greater service, Norton Internet Security includes a firewall.

But that's not the end of the story. You need to keep your virus definitions up to date. If you don't want to schedule yourself a regular check-in with your anti virus provider for updates, buy an anti-virus software that automatically updates daily.

If the problems persist, call your service technician - it could be time to get your system checked.

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