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Do I need anti-virus software on my computer?

This is a very common question, but our answer may surprise you. The truth of the matter is that anti-virus (or AV) software may be somewhat helpful in making you feel secure, but it will never fully protect you from the most recent or virulent viruses. It may even give you a false sense of security, which is worse than having none at all.

Instead of purchasing or renewing expensive anti-virus software, you should follow these rules:

• If you get an email with an attachment from someone you don't know, don't open the email and immediately delete it. You don't take candy from strangers, and you should behave the same with email attachments.
• If you get an email with an attachment from a friend, don't assume it's harmless! Many viruses spread by automatically sending themselves to the addresses found in the victim's address book, and they often include something in the message body that looks like a personal message from your friend.
• Unless you are very computer savvy, and you can tell for sure from the name of the attached file that it's not a virus, then CALL or EMAIL your friend and ask if they meant to send you an attachment.
• When in doubt, do not open anything you are unsure of. Just delete the entire email and move on.

While email is the most common way computer viruses are spread, you can also get a virus by downloading infected software, usually billed as "freeware" from the internet and usually found on "free" download sites. Can you guess what our take on this will be? That's right, don't download software from these sorts of sites!

In fact, we suggest not downloading software from the internet at all unless it is software you are purchasing from a known, reputable source. That keeps things nice and simple, and offers 100% protection.