Wikipedia online defines a computer virus as "A computer program which reproduces. A computer virus is often simply called a virus. The term is commonly used to refer to a range of viruses, but a true virus does not need to be harmful. To distribute itself, a virus needs execution or otherwise be interpreted. Viruses often hide themselves inside other programs to be executed."

There are two types of protection methods against a virus. The first method is the most highly recommended, antivirus software. Many companies offer antivirus software including Trend-micro, Norton Antivirus, Panda Software, AVG antivirus, etc. The following are links to companies that offer both free and paid versions of their software:

- AVG antivirus software (commercial and free available)

- Avast antivirus software (commercial and free available)

Clam antivirus software (used for Linux, Unix, or similar operating systems) Recommended for advanced users only.

Clam antivirus software (used for windows and i386 systems) Recommended for advanced users only.

 

The following are links to some highly recommended paid antivirus software in order from recommended to adequate:

Norton antivirus (highly recommended but tends to use a large amount of system resources possibly causing a system to slow down.)

kaspersky antivirus
 

McAfee antivirus software


Trend-Micro antivirus software

 

Do NOT download:
StopSign antivirus
winantivirus

 

 

A second approach to tackling a virus issue would be an online virus scanner. Typically an online virus scanner will only alert you to a type of virus found on the system but not remove it. Below is a list of online antivirus systems (most require a java, flash, or active-X plug-in).

Trend-Micro online virus scan (Will detect and attempt to repair virus/spyware related issues)

Norton online virus scan (Does not remove or repair the infected file)

Panda online virus scan (Does not remove or repair the infected file)

 

 

 

 

Anti-spyware covers items such as malware, spyware, and grayware. Spyware is not classified as a virus but can be extremely intrusive to a computer system. This may cause a system to frequently freeze, crash, or simply run slowly. Almost all computers have some form of spyware on their system and is un-aware of it. The tools below will help you to better protect and remove such items.

Windows Defender

Ad-Aware Download

 

 

*more to be added soon*