Do I Really Need an Anti-Virus on my Computer?
I can’t tell you how many times I have heard this question asked. “Do I really need an Anti-Virus program running on my computer?” I am quite sure that it exceeds the several hundred computers that I have had to clean the viruses off of and those computers quite often belonged to many of those who asked me that question before getting infected.
Our associate Anti-Virus laboratories are reporting that they are receiving thousands of samples to review each day. They have told us that this is an increase from 80 to 100 samples a day from 5 years ago to thousands a day currently.
Their investigations have indicated that crimeware has increased significantly and made up the new trends, spyware, keyloggers, rootkits, banking Trojans and more. This new trend of malware has become sophisticated enough to be able to alter its signature string or hash marks so as to become a new undetected malware to the current pattern files in Anti-Virus applications. This is one reason why you should make sure that your Anti-Virus program is always current and updated regularly. Ours updates every 3 hours. Yes, every 3 hours because today it is necessary that your protection be up to date.
While it is possible that you can still get infected even with an Anti-Virus program, the likelihood of getting infected becomes nearly 100% if you have none at all and 60% to 70% if you have let your Anti-Virus expire. And, since the possibility of getting infected still exists even with an Anti-Virus program, you should never become complacent and expect the Anti-Virus to do everything for you. You must still be ever vigilant and be aware of the places you visit on the internet.
Anti-Virus programs are becoming cheaper these days, so, don’t use the price as a reason for not being protected. The Programs that we recommend can be found in the left-hand column of this blog.
Frank Verdusco is the President & CEO of CPU Help, a computer service company located in Kansas City, Missouri.