Virus Detection and Prevention Tips

Tips - click here

Norton (Symantec Security Response) and McAffee  uncover hoaxes on a regular basis. These hoaxes usually arrive in the form of an email. Please disregard the hoax emails - they contain bogus warnings usually intent only on frightening or misleading users. The best course of action is to merely delete these hoax emails. Please refer to this page whenever you receive what appears to be a bogus message regarding a new virus, or promotion that sounds too good to be true.

Just enter the file name, the virus name, a keyword from the message, etc. into the search engine below (in the "limit search to" box) and click on "Search now".

Search for a potential virus Virus Information Library Search Center Search for Viruses beginning with containing ending with   Limit search to: Keyword Search   Advanced Search

If you don't find it there, double check Symantec (Norton Anti-Virus) page: http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html and McAffee's page: http://vil.mcafee.com/hoax.asp 

And McAffee has a great listing of all virus's - real and fake - at: http://vil.mcafee.com/default.asp? 

---

Tips

Click here for a list of real viruses

Click here for a list of fake, hoax viruses

1. Do not open any files attached to an email from an unknown, suspicious or untrustworthy source. Photos ( with .jpg, .gif, .bmp extensions) and sound (.WAV, MP3) and video (.AVI, MPEG) files are safe
   
2. Do not open any files attached to an email unless you know what it is, even if it appears to come from a dear friend or someone you know. Some viruses can replicate themselves and spread through email. Better be safe than sorry and confirm that they really sent it.
   
3. Do not open any files attached to an email if the subject line is questionable or unexpected. If the need to do so is there always save the file to your hard drive before doing so.
4. Delete chain emails and junk email. Do not forward or reply to any to them. These types of email are considered spam, which is unsolicited, intrusive mail that clogs up the network.
   
5. Do not download any files from strangers.
   
6. Exercise caution when downloading files from the Internet. Ensure that the source is a legitimate and reputable one. Verify that an anti-virus program checks the files on the download site. If you're uncertain, don't download the file at all or download the file to a floppy and test it with your own anti-virus software.
   
7. Update your anti-virus software regularly. Over 500 viruses are discovered each month, so you'll want to be protected. These updates should be at the least the products virus signature files. You may also need to update the product's scanning engine as well.
8. Back up your files on a regular basis. If a virus destroys your files, at least you can replace them with your back-up copy. You should store your backup copy in a separate location from your work files, one that is preferably not on your computer.
9. When in doubt, always err on the side of caution and do not open, download, or execute any files or email attachments. Not executing is the more important of these caveats. Check with your product vendors for updates which include those for your operating system web browser, and email. One example is the security site section of Microsoft located at http://www.microsoft.com/security.