Anti-Virus protection is your first line of defense from malicious programs that put your data at risk. If you do not have an anti-virus program get one now:
These anti-virus programs are all free for personal, non-commercial, use. All of them come highly ranked and any of them will protect you from the vast majority of threats.
Once you have an anti-virus installed take advantage of their automated update feature and set it to update at least once a week.
Then set a schedule for the anti-virus to scan your computer.
If you are experiencing the following your computer is infected and should be
cleaned.
- Pop-ups that say your computer is infected, usually followed-up by a "click here to upgrade to remove" or "click here to remove", then with a certain virus or Trojan listed.
- List of several viruses, often in the dozens, that your other antivirus software does not show.
- "Windows Security Center" that pops up after you start your computer. It then tells you that you need to upgrade to XP Antivirus 2009.
