It is essential to protect your computer against viruses and similar malicious code (viruses and their relatives are software).

Tens of thousands of viruses, trojans and worms exist, and more are created every day. They can be transmitted via email, over the Web, on networks, and on portable media such as floppy disks and CDs. There is a huge range in the effects caused by malicious software.

Most infections occur when someone opens an infected email attachment. Email-borne viruses are commonly cleverly disguised, and will often disguised so as to appear to be sent by from people you know.

Although you can avoid most potential viruses by practicing "safe computing", all it takes is one oops and the results could be catastrophic. To protect yourself, run antivirus software.

Antivirus software is available from many vendors. You can purchase a disk in a store, or download it from the Web. Some vendors offer free trials; AVG offers a free version.

No matter what product you use, remember:

• Antivirus software uses system resources (disk space, memory, processing power). Check system requirements of a product before buying to make sure your machine can handle it.
• Make sure the product you buy will run on your operating system (e.g. your version of Windows). Some products will not run on some operating systems.
• Update regularly via the Internet. Virus writers are busy around the clock. Although antivirus vendors can predict some possible future virus code and protect against it, they can't predict everything. Most vendors provide a year of updates.
• Don't count on any product to be 100% effective - continue practicing "safe computing".
• All software, including antivirus products, can have unforeseen side-effects, such as a slowdown in your system, problems in downloading mail, or conflicts with other software or peripheral devices.
• The BEC runs anti-virus software on its mailserver. While this destroys viruses in email, it is NOT a substitute for at-home antivirus software - viruses can travel in other ways.
  
  There are many Internet resources for further information:
  
• An overview of computer viruses and antivirus software
• Antivirus.com
• National Institute of Standards and Technology, Computer Security Division
• CIAC Virus Information
• Hoaxbusters (They're not all real)

• PC World review
• PC Magazine reviews

• download.com
• Tucows