Antivirus Software: Protection Versus Nuisance

Everyone who owns a personal computer is well aware that some kind of antivirus software running on the computer is a necessity. Before the widespread use of the Internet, the threat of computer viruses came from users sharing floppy disks that had been infected. Those of us who have used computers since the early 1980s can remember running into virus problems transferred by a disk that contained a free game or other software that friends made copies of to share. It was just like spreading the common cold...one friend to another!

Today, with nearly every computer user having some type of Internet connection, viruses can spread easier than ever. Those malicious programmers who use their energies for destructive purposes have created a wide variety of dangerous viruses. Simply opening an infected email, downloading an infected program, or sometimes even clicking on a pop-up message will render the data on a computer useless. With new viruses appearing at an alarming rate, anyone who is connected to the Internet must install protection software to keep the risk of infection to a minimum.

The first step is to install a well-known, well-tested antivirus program. Since new viruses are discovered all the time, antivirus programs must be updated regularly with new "definitions" for detecting and removing these viruses. Updating can usually be set by the program to occur automatically at certain times, or to allow the user to update when it's most convenient. Automatic updates, for example, may occur right when you are in the middle of working on an important document or project, and even though the updating process may only take a few minutes, the interruption may not be welcomed at that time. If you choose the option to update manually, get in the habit of checking for updates at the very least, weekly.

Often when an antivirus program checks to download the latest definitions, it may also offer an upgrade to the program itself. While you certainly need an up-to-date antivirus program running on your computer, you don't want it to interfere with your daily computing. With each new software update, many popular antivirus programs add new features, but these may start to bog down the computer. The Windows Vista operating system, for example, is already a "resource hog," requiring much overhead before any user programs are run. Add to that bloated antivirus and firewall utilities, and your PC starts slowing down, and you haven't even started to run any of your applications yet!

To help prevent too much protection from getting in your way, here are some suggestions. Never install more than one antivirus program. They will slow the machine down and possibly create other strange conflicts. Some antivirus programs will allow you to update the definition table separate from upgrading the version of the program itself. Subscribe to the virus definition updates, but not to program upgrades. Each new version is bound to have new features, but possibly at the risk of requiring more PC resources (and they may not be features you really need, anyway). Use the firewall utility that comes with Windows, rather than running a third party program. Finally, before installing any antivirus program on a PC that has previously been running another antivirus program, uninstall the old program, reboot the computer, and then install the new software.