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Another reminder

For nearly ten years, I have preached the importance of keeping your anti-virus software up-to-date. Two of my clients today alone were not keeping their software updated and problems arose because of it. Every month more than 500 new viruses are released by hackers and their ilk. If your anti-virus software doesn't know about these new problems (via updates), it can't protect your computer from them.

If you have a high speed Internet connection, chances are very good that your software is staying updated by itself. However, you need to check it at least weekly to make sure the program is updating. When you open any anti-virus program (we recommend AVG and vigorously oppose the use of Norton), you will see a date next to a section marked "Virus definitions or database". This date should never be more than two week old. If it is, initiate an update immediately.

Dial-up Internet users are most susceptible to not being updated. If you are a dial-up user, be extra diligent.

Related articles:

  1. Don’t confuse Updates with Scans
  2. Update your virus protection
  3. Learn to stay safe with your email
  4. Windows Update? Yes, you should…
  5. AVG Releases New Updated Programs

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This entry was posted on Thursday, July 6th, 2006 at 9:39 pm and is filed under Internet Tips, Riding Shotgun with Rick. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.

5 comments

  1. Anonymous
    July 7, 2006 at 12:54 pm

    I used the free version of AVG for quite a while and it worked just fine but I didn’t like the way it put the notice on the bottom of each email (what do you expect for free.) I switched to Picobackup (www.picobackup.com) and have been happy with it.

    I might add, Pico found some virus’s on it’s first scan of my computer that AVG didn’t find. Of course these may be false positives. I suppose every AV program has it’s own idiosyncrasies. The important part I would think is if the program actually catches virus’s BEFORE they do any damage.

    So far I’m happier with Pico than with AVG.

    Jim

    Reply
  2. Rick
    July 7, 2006 at 4:36 pm

    The Picobackup link you listed is for a backup program NOT ANTIVIRUS software. If you aren't using anything but Picobackup, then you are leaving your computer (and hundreds of the rest of us) at risk. As for the AVG message on the emails…it is easily removed with a checkmark in the program's settings…call us on the show and we'll tell you how.

    Reply
  3. Anonymous
    July 7, 2006 at 4:42 pm

    AVG saved my computer 2 times sofare

    Reply
  4. Anonymous
    August 20, 2006 at 5:54 am

    I recently bought my pc (win xp) with norton installed. However I am asked to renew my subscription after 2 months or else no new updates.
    should i install AVG

    Reply

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