Protection


 * How to Protect Your Computer from Viruses**

You can protect yourself against viruses with a few simple steps:

1. Buy a virus protection software

2. Avoid programs from unknown sources (like the Internet), and instead stick with commercial software purchased on CDs, you eliminate almost all of the risk from traditional viruses.

3. Make sure that Macro Virus Protection is enabled in all Microsoft applications, and you should NEVER run macros in a document unless you know what they do. There is seldom a good reason to add macros to a document, so avoiding all macros is a great policy.

4. Never double-click on an e-mail attachment that contains an **executable**.

Attachments that come in as Word files (.DOC), spreadsheets (.XLS), images (.GIF), etc., are data files and they can do no damage. However, some viruses can now come in through .JPG graphic file attachments.

A file with an extension like **EXE**, **COM** or **VBS** is an executable, and an executable can do any sort of damage it wants. Once you run it, you have given it permission to do anything on your machine. The only defense is never to run executables that arrive via e-mail.