Install an anti-virus in your home PC

This third article in the home PC security series focuses on an almost omnipresent security element in most PCs at home, namely anti-virus software. Most of us think that just by having the software installed we are safe and sound when browsing the Internet. Actually, something else is required. Let’s go through it now.

Wikipedia.org defines anti-virus software as “a computer program that attempts to identify, thwart and eliminate computer viruses and other malicious software (also known as malware)”. How do anti-virus programs work? Most of them are based on a virus dictionary, i.e. the anti-virus program compares files residing on the PC against a dictionary of known viruses. If any piece of code corresponds to one entry in the virus dictionary, then the anti-virus program tries to either repair, delete or quarantine the file containing that code.

Therefore, the key for effective malware protection is to keep the virus dictionary up to date. This is what companies always try to do. So, think about this when you see the automatic anti-virus update window appearing on the screen on your workstation. It is updating the dictionary of known viruses. The more up-todate the dictionary, the lower the probability of getting infected by a piece of malware.

You can also do the same with your PC at home: try to keep the virus dictionary up to date. There are many freeware and commercial anti-virus providers. A freeware example for Windows is www.clamwin.com. An example of commercial anti-virus program is ... well, there are many of them ;-) Check whether you can also use your corporate anti-virus at home (home use by staff members is included in some corporate licence).

Select one provider, but please do not install two of them simultaneously as they could be incompatible.

Some anti-virus programs include an auto-update feature. In this way, you can also keep your home PC updated with the latest virus dictionary. By default, the auto-update functionality will normally check for updates on the Internet every some minutes (provided that the PC is on and connected to the Internet).

Nowadays, the reaction time of anti-virus providers between the public release of a new virus and its inclusion in the virus dictionary usually varies from a few hours to a few days. Thus, as you can imagine, anti-virus software does not protect us against brand new viruses (what security experts call zero day exploits).

Finally, if you receive a file attached to an email or in a memory drive and you would like to ensure that it does not contain any virus, www.virustotal.com offers a free service for scanning suspicious files now with twenty three different anti-virus providers. You need to upload the file to be scanned onto that site (so don’t use it with confidential files). This service can be of help when you are not certain whether your home anti-virus software is working properly.

By Secure home PC