The quality of your front door will affect your insurance policy, not to mention how you feel when you are alone at home late at night and hear news of burglars on the loose. While most people would refrain from using a simple shower curtain as their front door and relying on the hope that unwelcome visitors simply won’t find the address, they leave their computers pretty much open to any interested parties. If your computer has a virtual shower curtain as protection against computer viruses, you should look into antivirus software programs that will help keep your computer healthy and the information that you store in it safe.
The purpose of antivirus software
Today many businesses and private computer owners assume that they don’t need to protect their computer. While they keep highly sensitive information stored on the computer it never occurs to them just what could happen if someone with bad intentions got their hands on email passwords, bank information, login details to online banking and so on. Today virus attacks are highly advanced. They are also targeted to reach a certain type of person or business. If that person or business is you and you have only a shower curtain as protection against the intruder you are not in a good position. Remember, there is no such thing as being too small or insignificant to be the target of a cyber-attack. Since the technique behind the attacks allows the criminals to operate automatically it is worth it for them to attack targets even for just a few dollars. And let’s not forget that some attacks are purely for the sake of disturbance and destruction since there are people out there who take pleasure in knowing that you and a thousand other people will not be able to log into their email again.
The purpose of antivirus software is to keep attackers out of your virtual home by making sure that it has a door which is impossible for nasty viruses to get through. For businesses this is also a way to ensure that company websites won’t be hacked and taken over by strangers. Originally the antivirus programs detected and removed viruses that entered the systems but today these programs can do a lot more, like detecting and warning you when other threats appear, such as someone trying to hack your online CMS or take over your email account. When Trojans, spyware, worms and other intruders show up at your computer’s door you will know about it if you are using a good, updated program.
Updates and improvements
Unfortunately there is always someone thinking about how to make a virus to outsmart older antivirus software. Plenty of computer users think that it will be enough to install an antivirus program and then stick with the same version of the program for a decade but this is a bad idea. The best antivirus software is constantly updated with improvements that can withstand new tests. This doesn’t mean that you have to remember to contact the software producer for possible updates. The programs can be set to automatically let you know when a new version is available and when your computer could use an update.
Can Macs also get viruses?
An Apple Macintosh computer can get a virus, so the short answer to the question is yes. But it is less likely for an Apple Macintosh computer to be infected by a virus when compared to a Microsoft Windows computer. However, as Apple Macintosh computers gain market share and are used by more people, virus infections are becoming more common than they used to be.
Below are some of the reasons why Apple Macintosh computers previously did not have as many viruses as Microsoft Windows computers and still are less likely to be infected by a virus today:
1. Newer Macintosh operating systems, such as the Mac OS X, are built on the Unixkernel, which is one of the oldest and most secure operating systems available.
2. Microsoft Windows is used by a lot more people than the Apple Mac OS. Because more people use Microsoft Windows, it is a much better target and makes it easier for viruses to spread.
3. Most of the computer virus writers are more familiar with the IBM platform and Microsoft Windows, which means it’s easier for them to create a virus for that platform.